Shay sits down with Takeshi Aida, Founder and CEO of RevComm, the Tokyo-based AI voice intelligence company behind MiiTel, to explore why he believes data is the last real moat in the AI era, and what building a self-coaching sales culture from the ground up can teach any organisation trying to close the gap between its best performers and everyone else.

LinkedIn Profiles:

• Takeshi Aida
• Shay Khosrowshahi
• Lewis Stock
• NXL Company Page

00:00 - Intro. From automotive M&A and government deals at Mitsubishi Corporation across the Middle East, Ukraine and the Caucasus, to the sales productivity problem that wouldn't go away no matter how much training TK threw at it
02:44 - The 20-60-20 Problem. Why coaching, shadowing and playbooks never closed the performance gap and the moment TK realised nobody could actually see what happened on the call
04:59 - Betting on Voice AI. The two-lens framework for choosing what to build, and why "Attention Is All You Need" gave TK the conviction to leave a comfortable executive career in 2017
07:47 - Building Ahead of the Category. Cloud telephony, improving speech recognition, and Japan's labour shortage - and why the hardest early challenge was creating a market category from nothing
09:52 - Is SaaS Dead? TK's four-layer view of the AI stack, and why he believes each company's data - not the application - is the only moat that survives commoditisation
13:05 - KGI vs KPI Data. Why text captures the conclusion but voice captures the process, and why leading indicators will matter more than lagging ones
14:42 - RevComm Eating Its Own Cooking. How MiiTel runs self-coaching and real-time AI assistance inside TK's own sales team
17:51 - Building a Self-Coaching Culture. Why the best MiiTel customers treat the platform as a daily ritual, not a management dashboard
20:07 - Selling in Japan vs the West. Consensus-driven decisions, reading between "we'll consider it" and an outright no, and why a slow start builds the most durable relationships
22:42 - Hiring Hunters, Not Order-Takers. What TK looks for beyond product pitching, and how to spot reps who build their own internal champions
25:29 - What Real Sales Coaching Looks Like. Why most "coaching" is really just pipeline inspection, and what evidence-based coaching actually requires
27:17 - Scaling from 5 Reps to 50. Standardising the interview bar across managers, and the offboarding advice from a US investor that changed how TK protects company culture

We sit down with Stephen Barnham, Group Chief Digital and Information Officer at Dai-ichi Life Group, to explore what high performance really looks like inside one of the world's largest life insurers and what 124 years of history teaches you about the speed required to survive the next decade.

A quote from Stephen which has inspired a life of world adventures, continuous learning and adventure... "We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time." T.S. Eliot

LinkedIn Profiles:

• Stephen Barnham
• Shay Khosrowshahi
• Lewis Stock
• NXL Company Page

Stephen sits on the Council for JA Asia Pacific - one of the world’s largest youth-serving NGOs dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. For more details check out their website.

00:00 - Intro Stephen's journey from computer science to technologist across Japan, China, India, Singapore and the US, and what drew him from investment banking into life insurance

02:46 - About Dai-ichi Life Japan's largest listed life insurer, the road to ¥6 trillion, and why a 124-year-old company thinks of itself as a three-year-old startup

06:48 - What High Performance Looks Like. The Hiroshima sales office and why the best performers build complete financial ecosystems around a single customer relationship

11:49 - Revenue Targets and Startup Mindset. Bold ambition at every stage, what Stephen looks for in early-stage companies, and why missing a target is not the end of the road

16:56 - AI and the Legacy Problem. How AI is making it feasible to modernise decades-old life insurance infrastructure faster than anyone thought possible

21:50 - The Biggest Internal Blocker. Why mindset rather than technology is the hardest thing to change, and the management principle that stops organisations automating what they should have stopped doing entirely

26:16 - What Separates Winning Startups Speed, lack of bureaucracy, and why the best Silicon Valley teams have stopped writing manual code altogether

34:34 - The JA Asia Pacific AI Council Junior Achievement, the digital divide, and why AI risks widening inequality for the next generation if education does not keep pace

37:28 - The Philosophy Degree Returning to university after three decades and why the best leaders study things that have nothing to do with their job

42:34 - Leadership and Closing Reflections. Two ears, one mouth, what Stephen would tell his younger self about runway, and why we should never stop exploring

We sit down with Vlad ex CMO, now Founder, to unpack what it really takes to build a lean, AI-enabled service business in one of the world's fastest growing startup hubs.

LinkedIn Profiles:

• Vlad Sharuda
• Shay Khosrowshahi
• Lewis Stock
• NXL Company Page

00:00 - Intro Vlad's background, his journey from finance and consulting into startups, and how he ended up in Dubai
03:33 - Battle Wounds Lessons from scaling and failing across travel, hospitality and digital accounting startups
12:57 - The Scrooge Model How AI is transforming the unit economics of professional services and why tech-enabled service businesses are the next big wave
19:50 - Growing from Zero Early stage growth tactics, warm outreach, events, and why founders must sell first
27:36 - Building the Revenue Machine CRM discipline, AI in the sales process, signals-based outreach and coaching through call recording
37:42 - Life as a Founder The mindset shift from CMO to co-founder, extreme ownership, and why sales is the skill every founder needs

Enterprise Sales Across Cultures: Ike Tateyama, General Manager Asana Japan

Shay sits down with Ike to unpack what it really takes to win in one of the world's most complex B2B markets. From navigating the Ringi process to building high-performing teams.

This episode is essential listening for anyone scaling revenue for Enterprise Sales teams around the world.

LinkedIn Profiles:

• Ike Tateyama
• Shay Khosrowshahi
• Lewis Stock
• NXL Company Page

00:00 - Intro Ike's introduction, his journey from the US to Japan, and his role at Asana

03:33 - Selling in Japan Enterprise sales differences between Japan and the US, the Ringi process, budgeting cycles, and the role of executive alignment

12:57 - Proving Value Demonstrating ROI to CEOs and the importance of customer success in driving retention and expansion

19:50 - Building the Team Hiring strategies (hunters vs. farmers) and navigating early-stage sales challenges

27:36 - Running the Machine Sales manager coaching, compensation design, methodologies, and forecasting techniques

37:42 - Pipeline & GTM Pipeline generation strategies, balancing sales teams with support functions, and staying close to the field

This episode is Republished from The Scaling Japan Podcast, hosted by Tyson Batino https://scalingyourcompany.com/the-scaling-japan-podcast/

Most foreign SaaS companies struggle to land even a handful of enterprise clients in Japan.

Shay Khosrowshahi helped scale Yulife to 50+ B2B customers in just 18 months.

In this episode of the Scaling Japan Podcast, we break down how he did it.

Shay is now the Co-Founder of NXL and former Managing Director of Yulife APAC. After a $100M investment, he was sent to Japan to launch and scale the business in one of the most credibility-driven markets in the world.

We explore what partnerships really mean in Japan, how to align incentives with distribution partners, and why most founders underestimate the level of commitment required to succeed here.

Shay shares tactical insights on discovery calls, partner qualification, internal champions, cultural misalignment and how to create momentum that compounds over time.

If you are a SaaS founder, CRO, or GTM leader, this episode offers a practical partnership blueprint grounded in real execution.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• What a partnership actually means in the Japanese market

• Distribution partners vs strategic alliances
• Why hunger and ambition matter more than brand size
• The 70/30 discovery framework for qualifying partners
• How to forecast revenue impact to align incentives
• Managing harmony culture while still driving urgency
• Why early wins create long-term momentum
• When to double down or exit a partnership
• Why getting direct customers first gives you leverage

Guest Appearance:

🔗

🌐 NXL : www.yournextlevel.io

Show Notes :

00:01 Introduction to Shay and his Japan scaling journey

02:09 Defining partnerships in the Japan context

03:11 Types of partnerships that worked

06:39 How to vet partners and why hunger matters

10:47 The 70/30 discovery call framework

17:21 Training partners and building internal champions

29:20 Cultural hurdles and harmony-driven challenges

38:21 Measuring partnership health beyond revenue

45:32 Final advice on commitment in Japan

Lewis and Shay reflect on hosting 35 C-Suite leaders at a private breakfast in Dubai. The discussion centered on a singular challenge: "Deploying AI Workers for Revenue Growth".

In this episode, we dive into Shay’s keynote on the "Revenue First" framework and why core business principles matter more than ever amidst the AI noise. We also share key insights from our panel of experts who are currently building AI-native businesses.

From the shifting math of CAC and LTV to the practical deployment of Voice AI, we break down exactly how to move from AI experimentation to tangible ROI.

LinkedIn Profiles:

• Shay Khosrowshahi
• Lewis Stock
• NXL Company Page

00:00 NXL Podcast Intro

00:36 Dubai Trip Reflections

01:56 NXL Dubai Breakfast Event Debrief

02:32 Core Business Principles - Revenue Engines

17:48 Practical Steps to Build an AI-First Business

35:55 The Future of AI in Business

This is part of a mini series diving into the best performers across Go To Market teams. We want to uncover what defines the best, and how we can build AI products that recreate their impact.

In this episode, we explore the characteristics of high performing SDRs, building an AI outreach system and the future of the role.

Linkedin Profiles:

Shay Khosrowshahi

Lewis Stock

NXL Company Page

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:30 What is an SDR and what makes up the best?

14:16 Applying AI to supercharge Outbound Sales

21:35 The Future of the SDR Role

31:53 The Verdict

This is the first in a new mini series diving into the best performers across Go To Market teams. We want to uncover what defines the best, and how we can build AI products that recreate their impact.

In this episode, we explore the characteristics of high performing content marketers, the importance of authenticity in creation and how to build AI systems that actually enhance content effectiveness.

Linkedin Profiles:

Shay Khosrowshahi

Lewis Stock

NXL Company Page

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to AI in Go-to-Market Strategies

0:36 Identifying High Performers in Content Marketing

10:26 The Importance of Authentic Content

13:24 Leveraging AI for Content Creation

16:42 Ensuring Authenticity in AI-Generated Content

25:17 Practical Applications of AI in Content Marketing

29:01 The Verdict

On this podcast you will get the latest in AI technology for Go To Market teams, hearing from leaders and exploring how to use the evolving opportunity for generating Revenue for your business.

It is hosted by Shay Khosrowshahi & Lewis Stock. Over the past 5 years they have built a $20 million revenue engine for one the top startups in the UK and most recently used the latest in Revenue tech to launch a business in Japan where in 9 months we won 50 B2B clients and $200k of revenue. Most Recently they have founded NXL an AI Revenue business

This episode discusses the practical examples of how they built their AI revenue engine in Japan.

Chapters:

• Why AI, Why Now?
• Practical Uses of AI in GTM
• The Importance of Context in AI

If you are a Marketing, Sales and RevOps leader or executive this podcast is for you.