BuddyBoard (a spin-out from Brother Industries)
A ten-person execution team, from internal venture to independent company.
BuddyBoard began as a new business inside Brother Industries. HAKKI's involvement started in September 2023 with a single sales manager, and grew role by role into today's ten-person execution team. After the spin-out in May 2026, HAKKI also built the accounting process the parent company's consolidated reporting requires.
- Client
- BuddyBoard (spun out of Brother Industries in May 2026)
- Period
- September 2023 to present
- Team
- 10 people: 1 overall lead, 3 marketing, 3 sales, 3 back office
- Scope
- Marketing, inside sales, back office (accounting and labor administration)
Background
BuddyBoard started as a new business inside Brother Industries. HAKKI's involvement began with one person: Hiroyuki Saito, HAKKI's CEO and an experienced salesperson, joining as sales manager. That was September 2023, three months after HAKKI itself was founded.
From there the scope grew with the business: inside sales to create more meetings, then marketing centred on digital advertising to widen the pool of prospects. After the spin-out, accounting and labor administration were added, bringing the team to its current ten.
What has kept BuddyBoard with HAKKI for three years, we believe, is that its venture lead could pull in exactly the resource the business needed at each point, through HAKKI, and reshape the team at every turn.
The team
One overall lead, with the team organised into three functions.
Overall lead
- Lead responsible for the whole engagement
Marketing
- Marketing director (strategy and team management)
- Digital advertising specialist
- Designer
Sales
- Inside sales manager
- Inside sales representative
- Salesforce administrator
Back office
- Back-office manager (passed four subjects of the Japanese tax accountant exam)
- Accountant
- Labor administration
Timeline
- September 2023
HAKKI's CEO joins as sales manager. The engagement begins with one person, three months after HAKKI was founded.
- 2023 to 2026
Scope grows with the business: inside-sales operation, then marketing strategy, digital advertising and Salesforce administration.
- May 2026
BuddyBoard spins out of Brother Industries and needs its own accounting and labor functions.
- After the spin-out
Accounting process built to fit the parent company's consolidated reporting, including the affiliate reporting package delivered on time for each quarterly close.
Today
About three years in, the engagement continues with ten people. Since the spin-out, HAKKI runs accounting and labor administration at the standard expected of a listed company's subsidiary, alongside sales and marketing. Delivering the affiliate package on schedule for the parent's quarterly close is one example of what that means in practice.
What this case shows
It started with one person and became ten
The first hire was a single sales manager. Each time the business needed a new role, HAKKI added it, and the contract stayed the same while the team grew to ten. Hiring individually would have meant an approval and a contract for each.
A lead is what makes it a team
Above the nine specialists sits one person who owns the whole. The venture lead does not chase individual progress and can spend the time on decisions.
Accounting at a large-company standard
After a spin-out, the books feed into the parent's consolidated results. HAKKI supplied people who can handle quarterly closes and affiliate packages.
The same shape of team, for your venture.
Tell us where the venture stands and what you would like to hand over. Thirty minutes is enough for us to describe the team we could put together and a rough monthly figure. We reply within two business days.