The leadership layer Tokyo SMEs have been missing.
The company is real and the owner knows the trade. What it lacks is senior judgement in finance, operations or sales that a firm this size cannot yet carry on the payroll.
Why a full C-suite does not fit a company this size
A permanent CFO, COO or CMO looks like the obvious next step. For most Tokyo SMEs it is not:
A full salary for part-time work
A permanent executive costs a full salary, employer social insurance contributions and a recruitment fee, for work that may fill two days a week.
The search takes too long
Recruiting a permanent executive is a long process, and the problem on your desk will not wait for it.
The risk sits on you
In Japan a wrong senior hire is slow and costly to correct, which makes the first one matter.
The need is for days, not a full week
Most firms this size need two or three days of real senior input a week. Paying for five is an expensive answer to a part-time need.
A fractional executive is an operator with prior experience in the seat who spends a fixed part of each week inside your company. They sit with your team, make the decisions in their domain and answer for the result, rather than filing a report and leaving. For a company your size in Tokyo, where large corporations and foreign firms attract much of the senior talent, it is a practical way to reach that level.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Founders carrying a C-suite function themselves with no time left to lead
- Businesses that need senior capability two or three days a week, not five
- A specific gap in finance, operations, marketing, technology or people that is holding growth back
- Teams that cannot yet justify, or afford, a full-time executive salary
- Owners who want an operator accountable for outcomes, not a consultant with a deck
Not for
- A junior or purely execution role a full-time manager should own
- A one-off project an agency could deliver and hand back
- Businesses wanting a figurehead rather than someone who does the work
- A pre-revenue idea with no function yet to lead
How the model fits a Tokyo SME
A leader found by search, embedded for the days the work takes, with our governance alongside the owner.
Owner reviews on a rhythm
We review progress with the owner regularly and name drift while it is small.
More than one head
Your executive can draw on others in our collective of 800+ when a question falls outside their field.
Your company keeps the engagement
The engagement belongs to your company rather than one person; the brief and the governance around it stay with us.
Matched to the owner
In a small firm, how someone works with the owner-president matters as much as what they know, so we match for both.
What an engagement looks like
From first call to an embedded operator in weeks, not months.
Discovery
We spend time understanding your business: challenges, goals, team dynamics, and what 'success' looks like in 90 days.
Match
We introduce the right fractional executive from our vetted collective. You meet them, ask hard questions, and confirm the fit.
Scoped engagement begins
The engagement launches with a defined scope, clear deliverables, and a structured cadence. Your fractional is embedded, not advisory.
Adapt and evolve
As your business changes, the engagement changes with it. Add hours, shift focus, introduce a second specialist, all without restructuring.
Which executive do you need first?
You do not need to know the answer before you call. Match the problem you feel most to the operator who owns it.
Each fractional role maps to a different SME challenge
Start with the gap that is costing you most, and the roles below show which leader owns it.
Backed by executives who have led at
