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Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, Part 3: Strategy, Tactics, and Execution

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2026.08.12

At D-POPS GROUP, our corporate mission is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society, and our core value is to grow and learn together through sincerity, humility, and gratitude.

Genta Sugihara, who serves as an advisor to our company, set a goal for himself: “Conquer all of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains while wearing our company’s iconic unicorn T-shirt.” Balancing his work commitments, he travels to mountains across the country on weekends, having summited 48 peaks as of writing this article. In this series, we reflect on the successes, failures, judgments, and lessons from his journey, drawing parallels to venture management and organizational leadership.

In Part 1, we discussed the importance of defining your vision and making the necessary preparations to achieve it.
In Part 2, we covered detailed planning and focusing on steady execution along the trail.

In this third installment, we will explore the respective meanings and importance of strategy, tactics, and execution in business, comparing them to the challenge of conquering the 100 Famous Mountains.

7. Formulate a Strategy First: Launching a Startup Without a Business Strategy is Reckless

Last summer, when I set my goal to “Summit all of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains by around 60 years old”, I immediately began thinking deeply about how to actually achieve it. To accomplish this around age 60, I needed a plan to finish within three to four years, by about the time I turn 62. However, I wondered: Can an amateur who has only hiked low hills really climb 100 mountains across Japan—including extremely difficult peaks—in such a short timeframe?

So, I first gathered information on every single one of those mountains from various books and media:

・What are their elevations and difficulty levels? (There are publicized trail difficulty metrics for the mountains in Japan, known as “course constants”.)
・What is the specific climbing season for each mountain? (Many peaks are impassable or dangerous in winter.)
・Which mountains can be climbed back-to-back? (Some can be traversed together or accessed on consecutive days by driving.)
・Which mountains should be climbed sooner than others? (To gain experience or appreciate the appeal of mountain climbing.)

Once that research was complete, I devised the following strategies:

1. Start with mountains that have lower course constants, gradually building up knowledge, technique, and physical stamina.
2. Summit the mountains scattered across various regions first, leaving the highly challenging Japanese Alps for the second half.
3. For regions requiring significant travel time, like Tohoku or Kyushu, climb multiple mountains in a single trip.
4. Prioritize scheduling mountains with limited seasonal windows, making sure to book accommodations and transportation early.
5. Train my body, identify the challenges, and learn about required gear as I gain experience.

Based on this strategy, I mapped out when I would climb each mountain over the next three to four years, which peaks to group together, and what transportation to use, recording everything in atlases and note apps. Then, for the mountains scheduled for 2025, I created individual detailed plans—as described in the previous article—taking into account transportation methods, travel times, climb durations, and difficulty levels.

So far, I have climbed 48 peaks. Today, simply looking at the course constant and contour map of a mountain gives me a clear idea of its difficulty. I have also learned the patterns of how I get fatigued and how I can best recover.

Although I’ve climbed nearly half of the 100 mountains, I know that the most difficult peaks were saved for the second half. The real test—the climax of this challenge—begins now. However, I am now confident in the correctness of this strategy, and I feel fully prepared to take on the challenging mountains that lie ahead.

A list of every mountain, showing its course constant value and elevation (left); my 3 to 4 year climbing arrangement (right)

In the same way, gathering sufficient information, reflecting deeply, and formulating a strategy before creating detailed plans is the single most critical activity in managing a startup company.

Startup founders often fall into the trap of thinking, “If we make a good product, it will sell.” In reality, your strategy—defining who you target, in which market, and through what sales channels—heavily dictates the outcome. Pricing is also a key component of this strategy.

In growth markets or areas with clear unsolved social issues (opportunities), there will either already be incumbent players (threats) or competitors will inevitably enter the field later. You must clarify how your own strengths and weaknesses weigh against these factors to build your strategy. Furthermore, to align the entire team in the same direction, you need clear milestones for revenue and customer acquisition after a set period.

For founders and executive teams, thinking about strategy day and night is one of the most essential steps in the early stages of a startup.

Of course, once you enter the execution phase, shifts in the internal or external environment may force you to realign your strategy. But starting and running a business purely on gut feeling, without any strategy at all, is sheer recklessness.

Behind every successful business is a strategy that the management team considered so thoroughly, their heads felt like bursting.

Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains cannot be conquered with only enthusiasm. Neither does a business grow purely on passion. If you aim for a high and steep summit, start by creating a strategy. The challenge begins before you take a single step on the trail.

8. Equipment that Covers Your Weaknesses: Tactics Based on Self-Awareness Increase Your Chances of Success

Before I was crazy about mountain climbing, my hobby was going to the gym, where I focused mainly on upper-body strength training. As a result, my heavy, muscular torso pulls my center of gravity up high. Moreover, because I was slim as a child, I have a narrow skeletal frame with thin lower legs, knees, and ankles that get injured easily. In other words, my balance and body type are not particularly suited for mountaineering.

Following the strategy outlined earlier, I started with the mountains that were flatter and easier…but even so, I frequently experienced knee pain when descending.

So, I devised the following tactics: relying on trekking poles and upper-body strength, and always protecting my knees and ankles with taping, regardless of what mountain I’m climbing.

When I first started hiking, I thought, “It looks cooler to not use trekking poles.” But that was the wrong mindset for me. The correct decision was to swallow my pride, acknowledge my weak knees, and choose tactics tailored to me.

Now, when I climb, I always use trekking poles and rely on my upper-body strength. I also researched various taping products and wrapping techniques to arrive at my current climbing style. Thanks to these tactics, I almost never suffer from knee pain anymore, enabling me to take on challenges like climbing three of the 100 Famous Mountains on three consecutive days.

The trekking poles I always rely on (left); knee taping for injury prevention (center); knee braces for steep descents (right)

Then, what about tactics in business management?

Just like when I was a beginner hiker, early-stage startups do not possess everything right from the start. Some companies are weak in sales; others lack financial capital. That is precisely why understanding your weaknesses and developing tactics to compensate for them is essential.

Tactics are specific, creative solutions designed to cover your weaknesses and maximize your strengths. For example:

・If the CEO is an engineer confident in building dev teams but weak in sales, hire an experienced head of sales.
・If the entire team is young and inexperienced, making it hard to gain trust, bring on well-known advisors with rich track records and networks across industries.
・If lagging behind leading competitors in capital and talent, form strategic partnerships with big corporations.

In reality, tactics will vary depending on product lines, a company’s growth stage, and market positioning. Unlike overarching strategies, tactics are something you construct as you execute, continually coming up with the best option for each moment. To do this, you must not turn a blind eye to your company’s shortcomings. Rather, you must constantly think about how to compensate for them. This requires true resolve from the founder to make tough decisions.

In mountaineering, trekking poles and taping are not signs of weakness. They are tactics rooted in self-awareness to offset vulnerabilities.

The same holds true for business. A strong company is not one with zero weaknesses; it is one that understands its weaknesses and deploys the right tactics to overcome them.

9. Get Comfortable with Your Equipment:
Familiar Tools Are Essential for Execution

Once you have a well-crafted strategy and tactics tailored to your strengths and weaknesses, you finally head out onto the mountain. In mountaineering, you select different equipment depending on the mountain type, season, and weather.

Of course, that includes rain gear and headlamps, but you must also choose high-cut boots and gloves for rocky terrains, helmets for areas prone to falling rocks, and chain spikes, crampons, or ice axes for snowy mountains. I personally choose between four or five different pairs of hiking boots depending on the mountain.

However, simply preparing the required gear does not mean you are ready to use it.

In practice, being proficient with your gear is much more important than merely having it.

Whether it’s new boots, crampons you’ve never used, or new trekking poles, you should only tackle a real mountain after becoming thoroughly accustomed to your gear.

I learned this the hard way. I once climbed a tough snowy mountain in a pair of boots I hadn’t gotten used to, and then I slipped and sprained my foot. I had thought, “They’re new, so they must be safer than my old pair.” That was a mistake. Muscle memory matters far more than the equipment’s performance on paper.

Even if your strategy and tactics are spot on, you will lose winnable opportunities if you aren't ready for action.

A glove for a baseball player, cleats for a soccer player, and climbing gear for a mountaineer—you can only prepare for difficult challenges by mastering tools you are accustomed to using.

Familiar hiking boots (left); my indispensable trekking poles (center); and crampons I haven’t gotten used to (right)

Being comfortable with your tools, beyond just having them, is equally vital in startup management.

・For a sales pitch, practice role-playing until it becomes muscle memory.
・For an AI tool, test it thoroughly before adopting it as a core asset.
・For a new sales method, test small before expanding across the entire company or client base.
・For a new company policy, rehearse operating according to it before fully rolling it out.

If you throw untested proposals at clients, write critical reports with AI tools you haven’t mastered, or introduce trendy internal policies without preparation, your overall readiness for action will not improve—no matter how sound your strategy or appropriate your tactics may be.

Mastering an AI tool is not a strategy in and of itself. Establishing winning sales patterns is not a tactic in and of itself. Rather, these are examples of capabilities that can be used to execute strategy and tactics on the front lines.

These are simply means to increase efficiency and win rates and advance your business. Yet, when every team member masters their tools, even a team without star individual performers can produce extraordinary results.

For early-stage startups that are small, lack brand credibility, and operate on limited resources, the key is to build on a solid strategy, adapt tactics based on self-awareness, and continually refine each individual’s readiness for action to drive the business forward.

We can summarize strategy, tactics, and execution in startup management as follows.

Strategy is the overall blueprint to reach your target peak.

Tactics are choosing the best way to fight, factoring in your own strengths and weaknesses.

Combat is about the ability to reliably carry out strategy and tactics on the front lines.

When these three elements are operating smoothly together, you can tackle a difficult mountain peak or a highly-competitive business market.

This concludes Part 3 of “Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains”.

Having completed nearly half of my goal, I will be taking on increasingly steep and rugged mountains from here on out. Taking utmost care to avoid further injury, I will continue moving toward the finish line, one peak at a time, with an unrelenting spirit, and bringing you honest updates through this series.

In the next installment, “Extend Your Antennae”, we will explore paying close attention to external and internal environments, as well as making critical decisions at crucial junctures.

D-POPS GROUP Advisor Genta Sugihara

March 2026: Mt. Sobo (#29), Mt. Kuju (#30), Mt. Aso (#31);
April 2026: Mt. Hotaka (#32), Mt. Miyanoura (#33), Mt. Ryokami (#34), Mt. Nantai (#35)

May 2026: Mt. Ishizuchi (#36), Mt. Nasu (#37), Mt. Tanzawa (#38), Mt. Bandai (#39), Mt. Adatara (#40), Mt. Ena (#41);
June 2026: Mt. Shibutsu (#42)

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Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, Part 5: Balancing Persistence and Caution
At D-POPS GROUP, our corporate mission is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society, and our core value is to grow and learn together through sincerity, humility, and gratitude. Ever since setting his goal last summer to “conquer all of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains while wearing our company’s iconic unicorn T-shirt”, Genta Sugihara, an advisor to our company, has continued climbing mountains across the country, reaching 56 summits as of writing this article. In this series, he reflects on the successes, failures, decisions, and lessons from his journey, drawing parallels to startup management and organizational leadership. As this challenge enters its second half, Mr. Sugihara has begun attempting mountains he lacked the strength to climb last year. Naturally, this includes an increasing number of peaks that are so hard, it makes you want to quit. During his time at a startup, there were also many difficult moments when he wanted to give up. He recognizes that if he had given up back then, his life would be completely different now. At the same time, he has learned firsthand that reckless action or a lack of caution can be fatal. In Part 5, we will look at the necessity of having both a persistent, unyielding spirit and a cautious, cowardly mindset in both business and mountaineering. 13. The Paper-Thin Line Between “I Can’t” and “Just One More Step”: Face Hardship with a Persistent Spirit This is bad...my head is burning. I feel nauseous. My legs have no strength left in them... My smartwatch shows my heart is racing at over 170 bpm. That is definitely not an optimal number. It was early August, on the day I challenged Mt. O-Asahi, the main peak of the Asahi Mountain Range in Yamagata Prefecture. Faced with a steep climb of about a kilometer to reach the summit, I collapsed at the final checkpoint on the trail. An hour earlier, I had gotten cramps in both of my thighs, and by the time I reached that spot, I was suffering from what appeared to be heatstroke, and my body refused to move anymore. This route, written in my mountain guidebook as an “advanced itinerary with extremely high physical difficulty”, was truly difficult. The temperature that day was extremely high all over Japan, and the weather was already hot and humid when I set out early in the morning. Immediately after starting, I was sweating buckets, and the rugged mountain path with extreme ascents and descents seemed to be endless. Four hours later, I found myself in the condition written above. A veteran climber passing by even suggested I descend, telling me, “The mountain isn’t going anywhere.” However, before deciding to retreat, I resolved to stay calm and do everything I could to help my body recover. To replenish my electrolyte levels, I washed down miso soup powder and a rice ball with water, cooled my head with a towel soaked in water from the spring, and lay down on the rocks to rest. After about 30 minutes, my body temperature and heart rate dropped, and I felt much better. When I collapsed, I felt weak and thought, “I can’t do it.” But as my physical condition returned, so did my willpower, and that thought transformed into, “One step at a time. Let’s just try a few more steps.” Of course, if my condition hadn’t improved, I should have retreated. Being persistent does not mean ignoring danger and pushing forward recklessly. (I will touch on this point again later). However, in this case, my condition improved with rest, and I was ready to move forward once again. After that, I took it one step at a time, eventually reaching the summit of this highly difficult Mt. O-Asahi. Overwhelmed by joy, a sense of accomplishment, and the relief of being freed from fear, I broke down in tears. (Despite leg cramps and symptoms resembling heatstroke, I managed to reach the summit after resting and recovering) What was I thinking as I dragged my heavy legs forward? “I’ve overcome numerous crises in my work before. Situations where I wanted to run away, or when I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore’ and wanted to quit. Every single time, I pushed through with strong persistence, didn’t I? Compared to those struggles, I can manage this. This is where my adventurous spirit shines!” Once, when I was at a mobile phone company in its launch phase, I worked through endless all-nighters preparing for the release. Immediately after launch, a massive incident occurred where radio waves from the antennas completely stopped, forcing me to deal with a flood of complaints from the agencies I was in charge of. When Google only had about a 30% market share in Japan, I scrambled to negotiate business alliances with PC manufacturers and major portal sites to take market share away from what was Japan’s largest search portal at the time. Negotiation over conditions became fierce, and almost every week, I had to take things up to the executives over in the US while it was in the middle of the night here in Japan. If I had given up halfway or run away from those painful situations, I don’t think I would have the fulfilling life I have now. To the readers, especially the entrepreneurs taking on massive risks, I am sure you have faced countless hardships up to this point. In your memories, there are likely experiences where you think, “I’m so glad I didn’t give up then,” or “I am where I am today because I overcame that crisis.” There are countless startup companies out there in the world. Many of them try to launch products or services in growth areas or with business models that reflect the era, which inevitably leads to the birth of many similar companies. Yet, the startups that continue to grow and survive are exceptionally rare. What separates a successful startup from one that vanishes halfway? Management ability, business sense, fundraising skills, personal networks, luck…I believe there are many factors. But among them, a strong will to never give up—that is to say, the persistent spirit possessed by the CEO, the other executives, and every single worker—is one of the greatest factors determining a company’s success or failure. When faced with a difficult situation, everyone thinks “I can’t do this anymore” at some point. But is it really your limit? Or will the scenery you see, and the results you produce, change if you just take one more step? The line between “I can’t do it anymore” and “just one more step” is razor-thin. It is exactly when you face a crisis that the true value of your accumulated efforts and the underlying strength of your organization are tested. Instead of giving up easily, try taking just one more step forward with a persistent spirit. That single step might be the catalyst to overcome a massive wall, leading to your next stage of growth and ultimate success. 14. Be Bold and Adventurous, but Cautious: Do Not Be Ashamed of Cowardice In the previous section 13, I said to never give up and to push forward with a persistent spirit. However, there is something very important that may sound contradictory at first glance. Executives and business leaders need a bold, adventurous spirit to forge ahead. But at the same time, they must also be cowardly towards danger and careful enough to stop and think. The rainy sky suddenly burned bright red. Elevation: 2,400 meters. This was the sunset seen from Tsurugizawa Hut in Japan’s Northern Alps. Even the mountain hut staff said, “We’ve never seen a sunset this red before.” It was beautiful. But for some reason, that bizarre redness filled me with a sense of dread. I had been planning to climb Mt. Tsurugi (elevation 2,999m) the following day, known as one of the most difficult mountains in Japan. Since that morning, warnings regarding heavy rain, flooding, and landslides had been issued across Toyama Prefecture. By the time I arrived at Tateyama, intense rain was lashing down alongside severe thunderstorms. Still, believing the weather forecast that said, “The rain will stop tomorrow and turn to a cloudy sky,” I trekked through the heavy rain to reach the mountain hut. Resting in the hut before dinner, these thoughts were running through my head: “I’m going to climb this no matter what.”“Don't give up, it takes guts.”“Have a persistent spirit.” But then, I saw that bright red sunset. It was certainly magical and incredibly beautiful. But to me, it felt almost like a warning message from the mountain god: “There’s a difference between boldness and recklessness.”“Tomorrow is going to be a truly dangerous day.”“Make a prudent decision.” So, I chose to see that crimson sky as a red traffic light, telling me not to proceed. Ultimately, even when morning came, the sky did not clear to clouds as forecasted, and the rain continued to fall. Mt. Tsurugi is not a mountain where you simply walk up a trail. There are sections where you climb up rock walls, grab onto chains, and carefully traverse sheer drop-offs. If the rocks and chains are wet from rain continuing since the previous day, the level of danger increases dramatically. Given the situation, not a single climber staying at the hut attempted the summit. Taking the judgment of those around me into account, I made the decision to abandon the summit without hesitation. (In the center, Mt. Tsurugi is hidden by clouds. The rain didn’t stop the next morning, so I decided to cancel the climb.) What would my decision have been if the rain had stopped that morning? It still scares me a bit to think about it. Even if it wasn’t actively raining, the rocks would still have been wet from the heavy rain the day before. The rocks I grabbed by hand, the rocks I stepped on, and the chains I relied on would have all been slippery. If I had forced myself to climb anyway, thinking, “I came all this way,” or “I want to climb this no matter what,” and ended up in an accident, I might have been forced to abandon my 100 Famous Mountains challenge entirely. Once I descended and calmed down, the thought struck me again. There is a difference between being bold and adventurous and being reckless. And one more thought. It is precisely because we have this cowardice and fear of danger that we can connect to our next challenge. On Mt. O-Asahi, mentioned in the previous section, I confirmed that my condition had recovered through rest, and made the decision to take just one more step. On the other hand, here on Mt. Tsurugi, I assessed the situation and made the decision to retreat for the time being. There is courage in advancing, but there is also courage in retreating. I believe that calmly evaluating the right course of action is the true meaning of courage. I believe there are similar situations in business. Sudden headwinds can batter an industry due to legal revisions, technological innovation, or shifts in global affairs. If a CEO becomes stubborn in such moments, thinking, “This is the policy we decided on, so we’re seeing it through to the end,” and drives the entire company into a dangerous direction, it can lead to an irreversible disaster. The strategies and tactics that were right yesterday are not guaranteed to be right today. (Refer to Part 3 of this series.) That is precisely why business leaders need not only the boldness to move forward, but also the sensitivity to detect environmental changes and risks, and the cowardice to stop when they sense danger. (Refer to Part 4 of this series.) In fact, looking at the books and statements of exceptional business leaders, there is a school of thought that considers ‘cowardice’ to be a necessary trait for executives. Shoshi Arakawa, the former CEO of Bridgestone, titled his book Strength in Being a Cowardly Executive, and argued in it that timidity and fearfulness are actually tools for surviving in an uncertain world. Similarly, when the global spread of COVID-19 began to throw markets into chaos, Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank Group, posted on X: “When facing a storm, it’s better to devote yourself to defense to the point where you’re laughed at for being a coward. I think that is true courage.” It’s the same, both for climbing Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains and for running a startup company. Courage is not simply thinking optimistically that things will work out and charging ahead boldly. Always prepare for the worst-case scenario (section 4 from Part 2), fear the possibility of risks and failures, and stop if you sense dangerous signs (sections 10 and 11 from Part 4). Then, when you determine you must still proceed, take a bold step forward. What is required of executives and leaders is not an “either/or” choice between being bold or cowardly. You must possess both of these contradictory traits, wielding the courage to advance and the courage to retreat depending on the situation, in order to sustain your challenge over the long term. 15. The Fallacy of “I’ve Come This Far, So…”: Have the Courage to Discard Sunk Costs If the rain had stopped on the morning of the planned climb, I might have thought, “Well, since I came all this way...” In truth, this very way of thinking is another massive factor that disrupts one’s ability to calmly make the decision to retreat. I had been planning that climb for months, booked my stay in two different mountain huts, and finally arrived in Toyama—far from my home—after taking multiple overnight buses, sinking a considerable amount of time and money into each step. Then, I hiked up to the mountain hut at an elevation of 2,400 meters in the pouring rain, carrying a heavy backpack. “I went through all this to reach this point. Am I really going to turn back with the summit right in front of me?” Such thoughts were going around inside my head. In economics and business administration, these costs that have already been paid and cannot be recovered are called ‘sunk costs’. While a veteran climber would see those poor conditions and easily make a judgment, an inexperienced climber like myself was hindered from making an immediate decision by my bold and adventurous spirit—which, at that moment, was actually a reckless sense of competition—along with the sunken cost fallacy. On the front lines of business management—especially at startup companies—there are many situations where sunk costs negatively affect your judgment. Deciding whether to retreat or pivot an unprofitable business. Deciding whether to release a new product or business even though a critical issue was discovered. Deciding whether to hire a highly capable candidate who has doubts regarding the company’s philosophy and values. During executive discussions at such moments, what happens when you focus too much on sunk costs, saying things like, “Since we’ve already invested this much,” “Since we’ve worked this hard,” or “Since we’ve spent so much time on this”? It can lead to irreversible management decisions such as failing to retreat from an unprofitable business and expanding losses; launching a new business or product while harboring potential issues; or hiring personnel who do not fit the organizational values, creating friction down the line. To avoid this, when making critical decisions, executives must be highly conscious of whether they are falling into the sunk cost trap, and make calm, rational judgments. Do not give up when you shouldn’t. But when you should give up, gracefully retreat without letting yourself be trapped by the time, money, and effort you have spent up to that point. I believe that being able to do both is the true essence of having a persistent spirit while wielding cautious judgment.     This concludes Part 5 of “Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains”. Over a year has passed since this challenge began. I chose to call this series “Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains”, but if you look behind the scenes, my true intention was to prove a point: “If I apply my startup management experience to mountaineering, even an amateur climber can conquer the 100 Famous Mountains in a short period.” So far, I believe that experience has been put to great use. The next installment is entitled “Learn from Failures and Continue to Grow”, and will explore what it means to continuously grow by gaining experience, accumulating training, and learning one step at a time. For those who have not yet read the previous articles in this series, please check them out here: Part 1: Define Your Summit, then PreparePart 2: Detailed Planning, Steady ExecutionPart 3: Strategy, Tactics, and ExecutionPart 4: Extend Your Antennae, Pay Attention to Your Vitals D-POPS GROUP Advisor Genta Sugihara August 2026:Mt. Gassan (#49), Mt. O-Asahi (#50), Mt. Zao (#51), Mt. Fuji - Kengamine (#52), Mt. Hakusan (#53), Mt. Yotei (#54)
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Visiting the Shinsaibashi and Umeda Chayamachi Locations of The Salons Japan
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Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, Part 4: Extend Your Antennae, Pay Attention to Your Vitals
At D-POPS GROUP, our corporate mission is to multiply the number of growth companies (so-called “unicorn companies”) that will revolutionize society, and our core value is to grow and learn together through sincerity, humility, and gratitude. Ever since setting his goal last summer to “conquer all of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains while wearing our company’s iconic unicorn T-shirt”, Genta Sugihara, an advisor to our company, has continued climbing mountains across the country, reaching 53 summits as of writing this article. In this series, he reflects on the successes, failures, decisions, and lessons from his journey, drawing parallels to startup management and organizational leadership. In the mountains, accidents can happen even with perfect planning and gear. Often, they occur when signs of change are missed and decisions are delayed. In this 4th installment, we will explore the importance of detecting external and internal changes and translating them into appropriate decisions—a principle that applies directly to startup management. 10. Extend Your Antennae: Be Sensitive to Changes in the External Environment Unlike indoor sports like basketball or table tennis, mountaineering is heavily influenced by the weather, and your opponent is nature itself. During the planning stage, it is obvious that a climb should be postponed if there are forecasts for typhoons, severe winds, or lightning. However, even after clearing the forecast stage and beginning the climb, mountain weather is highly changeable, and you cannot let your guard down. In deep mountain forests, you may encounter not only bears—which have been a hot topic recently—but also wild boars, bees, and leeches. On rocky mountains, you might face sudden rockfalls. While it is essential to deal with these appropriately when they happen, you should ideally sense them in advance as much as possible. Your skin feeling a sudden change in temperature; a rustling sound in the grass; strange movements in the trees; the sound of pebbles rolling down from above: all of the above could be the precursors to a major impending crisis. I myself once experienced this. Despite a sunny forecast, a thick fog suddenly rolled in, and all I could see was white. As a result, I lost the trail, but kept walking for another 30 minutes. Upon later reflection, I should have checked my current location with GPS much earlier, the moment visibility started to drop. Another time, while walking along a mountain path thick with bamboo grass, the grass suddenly rustled wildly. I thought, “Am I finally going to encounter a bear?” I braced myself, stopped in my tracks, and mentally prepared myself to react. Instead, a large deer emerged from the bushes, but that moment reinforced the importance of noticing small external changes. A rocky path with poor visibility due to fog (left); a monkey that followed me (center); a deer that suddenly appeared (right) As you can see, you must constantly keep your antennae extended toward your surroundings while climbing. Preventing accidents on the mountain depends on whether or not you can maintain high sensitivity, objectively accept the changes you detect, and make appropriate decisions. This can be directly compared to startup management. If indoor sports are like the classroom lectures you get at a business school, outdoor sports affected by external environments are like actual business operations, and mountaineering—which is totally affected by nature—is the closest equivalent to managing a startup. The impact of the external environment on a company—changes in market conditions, the emergence of new technologies, legal revisions—is too extensive to measure. It is no exaggeration to say that every company operates amid shifting external environments. Customers sounding less excited; usage rates starting to decline; salespersons all asking the same question: these small changes often appear before massive market shifts. If even a large corporation can be affected, then for a startup company, these changes can be so severe that they may threaten the company’s very survival. Recent examples include the rapid spread of AI agents, the expanding power of global platforms, and changes in investor policies due to rising interest rates. A startup’s management team must sensitively detect these changes, proactively revise strategies and plans, and take appropriate action. In some cases, they must be bold enough to turn a crisis into an opportunity. This requires immense resolve and the ability to execute. Crises may seem to happen suddenly, but in most cases, they give off small warning signs beforehand. Whether in mountaineering or management, the ability to notice those signs separates those who survive from those who do not. 11. Pay Attention to Your Vitals: Notice Changes in the Internal Environment Just as important as keeping an eye on the external environment is noticing changes in your internal environment. In mountaineering, “internal environment” refers to your own physical condition if climbing solo, or the conditions and changing biodata of each individual member if climbing in a group. While climbing, you must be able to detect the various signals your body sends. For recording biodata, it has recently become possible to use hiking apps and smartwatches to check walking pace, monitor heart rate on the move, and measure blood oxygen levels during breaks. At the same time, you must also be sensitive to changes that these sorts of devices cannot measure, such as the condition of your knee and lower back joints, muscle fatigue, and how much you’re sweating. Changes that cannot be measured by digital devices must be captured by your own physical senses. In my case, shortly after I started climbing and my knees were weaker than they are now, there was one time when I felt, “If I keep climbing like this, I won’t be able to make it back down.” I mustered the courage to turn back midway. Looking back, that was a far better decision than pushing forward and becoming stranded. Normal climbing conditions (left); abnormal heart rate (center); blood oxygen level at 2,700m altitude (right) In startup management, it is obviously important for the CEO to manage their own physical health, but on the other hand, it is equally vital to sense subtle changes in the company’s internal environment. Casual conversations and greetings have decreased; the office is starting to look untidy; bottom-up information flow has stopped; unexcused absences or resignations with unclear reasons are increasing: all of these are warning signs seen before a company starts to decline. A business leader must possess not only a strong business sense, but also be able to detect these internal shifts. Without keeping a finger on the pulse of the company, the CEO may be full of energy, highly motivated, and charging forward, only to look back at some point and realize no one is following, or that everyone else is too exhausted to perform. A leader must not only look forward but also have the bandwidth to survey the entire organization and not miss minor anomalies. Organizations do not collapse suddenly; they crumble as a result of small, accumulated tears in the fabric. 12. Stay Calm Especially in Emergencies: Assess the Situation and Make the Best Move So, what should you do when your extended antennas pick up information or you detect something wrong going on inside you? In both mountaineering and business management, the worse the news and the more dangerous the signal, the more important it is to stay calm. In mountaineering, you face emergencies born from shifts in both external and internal environments, such as taking the wrong path in thick fog; a sudden downpour; a sprain or bruise on a rocky stretch; or muscle cramps from fatigue. In startup management, you receive similarly diverse danger signals: dramatic shifts in customer needs due to the spread of AI; the announcement of a merger between competitors; changes in relevant laws; the sudden resignation of a key executive; or a customer data leak. In such moments, you must absolutely not panic. You are required to maintain your composure, make a careful yet appropriate judgment, and act rapidly based on that decision. Panicking and running around aimlessly can lead you further in the wrong direction, waste precious energy, or make an injury worse. When a crisis occurs, the first thing to do is calm down, gather information, grasp and then assess the situation. Next, assuming the worst-case scenario, figure out how to keep your business afloat or safely get back down the mountain. Also, once you decide which action to take, move quickly. You have to think deeply, but if you continue to have second thoughts after making a decision, your response will be too late. I myself once slipped and fell while descending a snowy valley on Mount Gassan. For a moment, my mind went completely blank. However, I quickly regained my composure, crawled to a stable spot, took off my socks, and checked the injured area. Instead of panicking and hastily trying to walk, I assessed my physical condition, calmly determined that I should not continue to climb, and took a solid rest before beginning my descent. Additionally, on Mt. Kuju, after a successful summit, I was feeling fatigued on the way back down. Combined with poor visibility from fog and a bushy trail that is easy to miss even on a clear day, I repeatedly took the wrong trail. In each instance, I followed the fundamental principle: stop, check my current location, and turn back to the point where I made the mistake. Thanks to this, I avoided any serious trouble. In both cases, if I had panicked and acted recklessly, I might have made the situation much worse. Bushy trails on Mt. Kuju where I lost my way twice These principles are identical in mountaineering and startup management. When you face a critical crossroads or sense danger, that is exactly when you must respond calmly, determine the best course of action, and execute it. Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains include many types of peaks, each hiding its own unique dangers. The natural environment changes by the season and the day, just as your own physical condition fluctuates daily. In the case of startup management, as well, the market, competitors, customers, and internal team members are also changing every single day. Extend your antennas. Pay attention to your vitals. When you detect danger, do not panic; assess the situation calmly. Once you have thought it through and decided on your course of action, rapidly execute the best possible move. These habits form the foundation for a startup company to survive and achieve exponential growth.     This concludes Part 4 of “Startup Management Lessons Inspired by Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains”. More than a year has passed since I began this challenge. In the beginning, I started serious mountaineering with some hesitation, but now it’s become something I have the bandwidth to enjoy, appreciating every route and landscape. At the same time, the mountains that I face are gradually becoming steeper, increasing the risk of injury and accidents. Keeping my antennae extended, paying attention to my vitals, and maintaining an unrelenting spirit, I aim to continue this series while tackling each peak one by one. The next installment is entitled “Balancing Persistence and Caution”, and will emphasize the importance of having a spirit that never gives up while still being careful. D-POPS GROUP Advisor Genta Sugihara July 2026: Mt. Norikura (#43), Mt. Aizu-Komagatake (#44), Mt. Hiuchigatake (#45), Mt. Senjogatake (#46), Mt. Ontake (#47), Yatsugatake’s Mt. Akadake (#48)
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2026.08.26
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