Travel back in time－A look back at 20 years of GDO history (Part 2)

After 10 years in a trading company, it was time to start something new.

Golf Digest Online (GDO) was founded in 2000 on the idea of leading a golf revolution through the power of the Internet. Even now, as the company heads into its 21st year, that drive to lead a golf resolution is as strong as ever. With the upheaval of 2020 behind us and 2021 ahead, the question on people’s minds is what new shapes golf will take. In part 2 of “Travel back in time,” CEO Mike Ishizaka looks back on the history of GDO and tells us in his own words about the company’s beginnings and how it got to where it is today. 

Ever since I was in college, I always wanted to start my own business someday. But first I got a regular job so I could get experience working in a company. The work in the trading company I joined was dynamic and satisfying, and it made me feel like I was constantly learning new things. Still, I couldn’t quite picture what exactly I would do if I quit my job and started my own company. I was vaguely looking for some kind of big break; at the same time, my work was fun and my life was fulfilling. As the months and years went by, though, little by little I started to get impatient.

Then, as I talked about in part 1, going to grad school in the US changed my life. 

In business school, I was captivated by the allure of the Internet, and as fate would have it, I hit on the potential of a Net-based golf business. I’d always assumed I needed a clear sense of what I wanted to do before I could strike out on my own. What I realized then was that all I really needed was a clear sense of what kind of position and role I wanted to be in. What I wanted, more than the satisfaction of having a bigger impact on society as part of a larger company, was the dynamism of having all the responsibility and authority vested in me, even if it were on a smaller scale. And with that realization, I sensed that everything had fallen into place for me to face this challenge head on. 

Quitting a company I’d worked at for 10 years—that decision took more courage than I expected. After all, it was a step few people took. At the time, working your whole life for the same employer was very much the norm, both in my company and in society writ large. 

I returned to my company after I finished business school, but my desire to pursue my dream was growing stronger every day. The thing was, I had mixed feelings about leaving behind my company and all the relationships I’d built with my bosses and coworkers, and I couldn’t summon the resolve to do it. Then someone came and gave me the push I needed. It was a senior coworker who knew I wanted to go independent, and one day out of the blue he passed me the below article. 

Basically, the article said that you couldn’t start a business in the true sense as long as you thought like an employee. It was only when you made a break with the sense of security that comes with being an employee that you could start to think seriously about whether your business would really succeed. 

At last, I made up my mind. In November 1999, I announced to my boss and my coworkers that I was quitting. I didn’t ask for their advice. I told them I was starting my own company, period, and thanked them for all they’d done for me. And in February 2000, I formally resigned. 

The time had come to go solo. My first task was to get business cards printed with just my name on them. My feelings were a jumble of anxiety and excitement; taking on this new challenge was the only thing I could think about. The sense of anxiety was huge, but the excitement I felt about what lay ahead was even bigger. I was brimming with energy and committed to moving full speed ahead. 

One thing I’ll never forget is experiencing what it’s like to suddenly be without a company affiliation. I was trying to arrange to meet various people, and every time I’d call their company, I’d run into the same wall. I’d say, “Hi, my name is Ishizaka. May I speak to Mr. X?” and the receptionist or secretary or assistant or employee who answered the phone would reply, “Mr. Ishizaka from where?” Just getting my call put through was like pulling teeth. It felt like a kind of baptism. And as this pattern repeated itself over and over, the era of the Internet bubble dawned. 

Back then, the big buzzword in the media was “Bit Valley.” This was when people like Masayoshi Son of Softbank were launching the first Internet business boom. The whole world was losing its mind. If you had a business plan and a launch team, it wasn’t hard to raise \50 million, \100 million, \200 million in venture capital. My last job at Mitsubishi was handling an Internet business investment, and I couldn’t believe how fast things were heating up.

And then there was the IPO boom. The beginning of 2000, when GDO was founded, is also when many of today’s biggest names in IT—Rakuten, Livedoor, CyberAgent—were first listed. The huge increases in market value venture companies were posting made them investment darlings almost overnight. These were the kinds of times I was going independent in. 

My business plan as of February/March 2000 was actually for an Internet portal site that would cover sports in general, not just golf. Then we got funding from one venture capital firm to launch the Japanese version of an American startup sports site in combination with my business concept, and we settled on the category of golf as the centerpiece of that site. 

Among the people I called on as I was starting out were Genichi and Masahiro Kimura, CEO and managing director of Golf Digest (GD). As I described in part 1, Masahiro helped me out a great deal with a survey I did for a business school report. When I visited them to let them know I’d quit Mitsubishi, I also took the opportunity to tell them about my concept for a golf-focused sports portal site. The net bubble I touched on earlier hadn’t quite collapsed just yet, but the golf industry was already in a slump, memberships were plummeting, and people were starting to whisper about golf courses going under. I remember being told, “You’re quitting a trading company job and going into the golf industry? I can’t tell whether you’re crazy or serious.”

At first, my plan was to get the business up and running by myself and then eventually ask GD to partner with me, but to my surprise they approached me and said, “If you’re serious about starting a golf business, let’s do it together.” We shared a desire to shake up the industry, which was facing a variety of challenges. As both a highly trusted information source and a venerable industry player, GD boasted not only exceptional name recognition, but also an uncommonly powerful brand. Needless to say, being able to start an Internet golf business with such a distinguished partner was quite an enticing prospect. 

We started talks around March, with me presenting the business concept and such. I made it a point to emphasize that I didn’t want to treat this business like it was just another publishing company. The key to success, I argued, was to create a business framework tailored to the Internet and offer something truly unique. 

As for myself, I felt a strong motivation to create a new golf business that could break through the various challenges and image problems that golf traditionally suffered from. Originality and independence would be essential to accomplishing that goal. 

Another thing I insisted on was agreeing in advance on a capital policy that would let us accept outside investments from companies and funds in the future. Internet businesses live and die on speed and financing; if you rely wholly on your own funds, you risk getting off to a slow start and not being able to make the upfront investments you need to develop systems and so forth. I stressed that point as I explained my intent to have a substantial starting capital stock. That way, we could have zero revenue for the first six months and sill have enough leeway to concentrate on building the foundations of the business. As it turned out, six months was exactly how long that initial capital stock lasted... We finally reached an agreement with GD to launch Golf Digest Online, a portal site devoted to golf. The agreement was that GDO would take over the rights and domain of GD’s existing website and serve as owner, planner, and operator of that site. And so, just as the Internet bubble was about to burst, a new company was born. 

To be continued.