[Employee Interview: Consultant] Where Entrepreneurial Spirit and Freedom Coexist — Takahashi on the Challenge at enableX

The appeal he discovered after joining — an entrepreneurial firm that does not feel like a typical consultancy

2025.06.30

Current position and areas of responsibility

Currently active as a consultant at enableX, Takahashi joined a major consulting firm after completing graduate school, where he engaged in organizational reform of R&D organizations, new business development support, business due diligence, and PMI (post-M&A integration processes). He subsequently accumulated sales and M&A experience at an operating company.

At enableX, he primarily handles the marketing domain. Alongside steady delivery on each engagement, he is deepening his expertise across a range of projects. He says his current role is "delivering value to clients."

Meeting enableX

Takahashi first learned about enableX through an outreach from a headhunter during his job search. Looking back on his first impression, he says: "Despite being a new firm, it was providing sophisticated strategy formulation support and new business development support to major corporations on a level comparable with top-tier firms — I felt it was a highly specialized firm."

The deciding factor in joining

Returning to a consulting firm was one of the options Takahashi was considering. So what made him ultimately choose enableX from among many candidates?

Takahashi: Everyone was extraordinarily capable, yet also courageous in taking on new challenges — with an atmosphere of passionate "entrepreneurs." In that sense, although enableX is a consulting firm, I felt it gathers people who don't fit the typical consulting-firm mold, and I found that compelling enough to make the decision to work here.

On the fact that it is a venture-stage company, Takahashi candidly says: "I wasn't deliberately looking for a startup at this stage." Even so, he was drawn to the "relatively high degree of freedom" and "the sense of building new services from zero."

The gap after joining, and ease of working

After joining, the gap he felt most strongly — in a positive sense — was "ease of working," he says.

Takahashi: It has been nearly five years since I last worked at a consulting firm, and I feel that ways of working have changed dramatically since then. At enableX I sense real freedom in when and where I work. Also, because it is a new company, there are no legacy entanglements, and I find the environment — where I can develop clients with a fair amount of latitude — quite appealing. And even though it is a startup, there is a composed atmosphere, which suits my personality well.

On internal communication, he says there is a characteristic of "being able to communicate on a flat footing regardless of position," and that a "freedom in a good sense" has taken root as part of the culture.

Challenges and what makes the work compelling

One of the challenges Takahashi is currently working on, he says, is a marketing-support project that leverages AI. The engagement uses data from a major telecommunications company to support the marketing of client companies.

Takahashi: Designing new services by harnessing technologies such as AI goes beyond the bounds of the consulting work I have done in the past. My own knowledge grows in the process, and being able to deliver new value to clients by applying new technologies is what makes it so compelling.

On the other hand, the sheer speed at which AI evolves brings its own difficulties. In an industry where a new service can appear within a week, keeping up is hard. Whenever technology is involved, since I don't claim to have sufficient knowledge myself, keeping up with the daily shifts is demanding.

Takahashi and his team therefore avoid being thrown by every shift in technology. Instead, they drill down into "what business challenge are we actually trying to solve" and approach the work from the angle of how AI can be applied. On the project, they are building concrete business models — including techniques that use AI to generate quasi-personas from data to derive consumer insights, and the use of chatbots to improve efficiency in contact-center operations.

A real sense of business creation

Takahashi has been actively engaging — leveraging his network from previous employers to develop business, and planning outreach to overseas operating companies through university alumni connections. Since joining enableX, he says the moments when he truly feels he is "creating a business" have grown more frequent.

Takahashi: I've had a strong interest in human connections since my student days. I have always felt that a chance encounter can bring about a fascinating future, and I enjoy meeting friends regularly and going out into the city to strike up conversations with people. New connections are fun in themselves, and if those connections end up contributing to someone's happiness or to the world's progress, I'd be delighted.

Career to date, and the path ahead

Takahashi has built up experience at a major consulting firm, in corporate PMI (post-M&A integration processes), and in sales.

Takahashi: My consulting experience has served as a foundation in my work at enableX, and the sales experience from my previous role is also coming through when I build new partnerships.

On future career, I would like to be more deeply involved in the phase of actually building businesses. Even so, consulting skills are absolutely essential — they are also my weapon — so I intend to keep sharpening them.

The kind of people he wants to work with

Finally, I asked Takahashi what kind of person he would want to work with at enableX.

Takahashi: It would be ideal to work alongside people who have high ability and who unstintingly bring their full strength to bear for the client. I want to be that kind of person too, and I intend to keep raising my own skill level toward that goal.

At enableX, we are looking for people who want to take on a wide range of challenges in a high-autonomy environment and bring their full capabilities to bear. Even though we are not yet widely known, we are looking forward to meeting colleagues with whom we can share the joy of creating new value.