"Interesting, Because Nothing Is Decided" — From Life Insurance to Space, and On to AI Agents

Kubo joined mign in September 2026. After individual sales and sales planning at a life insurance company — including a posting in India and a stint in recruiting — and business development at a space venture, he now leads business development at mign. We asked him why he jumped in when "AI was new to me" and "the construction industry was new to me," what worried him before joining, and what he has seen since he started.

1. What I Am Responsible for Now

— Tell us about your role and what you are working on these days.

My title is business development. In practice, though, my mindset is that I do everything except system development, finance and accounting, and HR. I believe the many facets of an organization should align organically — both logically and passionately — toward its goals, so I see little point in slicing them apart. Rather than dividing things up, I think my job is to connect them.

Recently that means setting business strategy — whom we serve and how, and, working backwards from that, what we should do — building proposal materials, putting internal foundations such as customer information management in order, and sitting in sales meetings with customers. You need a bird's-eye view, a worm's-eye view, and a fish's-eye view all at once.

And since AI, software, real estate — everything in this domain — is new to me, I am also still catching up on all of it, with plenty of help from our CEO and the engineers.

2. From Life Insurance to Space: My Career So Far

— What did you do before mign?

My previous company was a space venture. I did business development for a service that sold rideshare launch slots on rockets to satellite developers and handled the technical coordination with the rockets. I was also involved in supporting local governments' space industry programs and in astronaut training.

Before that, I was at a life insurance company. My main work was sales and sales planning for individual insurance, covering both the tied-agent channel and the agency channel. That led to a posting in India, and I also worked in recruiting.

3. Why I Considered Changing Jobs, and Why mign

— What prompted you to start thinking about changing jobs?

It was when a major project at my previous company had just wrapped up. The company had been gradually growing and was entering a phase of running on organizational structure. My interest in a new frontier was stirring right when mign reached out to me.

— Were you considering other companies as well?

Given how it started, I was naturally talking mostly to startups. To be honest, while I was still hearing the others out, mign's selection process simply raced ahead.

— What was the deciding factor?

It was not that I had a strong interest in AI or architecture as a method or an industry in itself. What drew me was being present where society changes at scale. Construction and civil engineering are a blue ocean still untouched by AI and DX, and we ourselves get to step into it and transform the industry. On top of that, each of us holds broad discretion, and a small team can make that transformation happen. That settled it.

4. What Worried Me Before Joining, and How It Actually Went

— Was there anything you were anxious about before joining?

In general, the biggest worry in changing jobs is whether you will get along with the people you work with. I did not have that worry, because I had been able to meet every member of the team during the selection process.

My actual worry was that I had never been involved in software, AI, the AI-agent business, or the world of architecture and real estate, so could I contribute there? Could I catch up with a domain and an industry I did not know?

— And after you joined?

Catching up really is the hardest part. New technology is difficult, and keeping pace takes several times the effort. There is a constant tension in knowing that anything less than serious effort would leave me unable to keep up.

On the other hand, precisely because I did not know this field, I can share with customers the very path by which I came to understand it. That has become a strength. The moment it clicks for the other person is the joy of this job — paradoxically, my background is now my weapon.

5. Gaps from My Previous Jobs

— What was the biggest gap compared with the space venture?

Between two ventures, the gaps outside the industry and the product are actually not that big. What I appreciate is the density of the organization. It is a smaller team than my last company, so communicating with everyone is easy. Everyone is busy, yet if you ask, they will teach you and talk things through with you.

The hard part, as I said earlier, is catching up with new technology.

— And compared with the life insurance company?

The good kind of gap is that I can discuss an idea on the spot the moment I think of it, move my own hands, and carry it through to the end. The freedom and discretion are large, both vertically and horizontally.

The hard part is that so much is undecided that it is hard to set a course. You do not know whether you are allowed to do something; it is abstract and hard to map out. But that is exactly what makes it interesting.

6. From a Big Company to a Venture — How Did the Family React?

— When you moved from a stable company to a venture, how did your family react?

I have explained a job change to my family twice: when I moved from the life insurance company to the space venture, and when I moved from the space venture to mign.

My parents were against it both times. They found the stories themselves fascinating, but still: "Isn't that unstable?" "You don't know anything about it." "Aren't things going well as they are?" It was the worry of watching a hard-won, stable foundation give way.

My wife... says that as long as I take care of my health, I will manage everything else anyway — she supports me without objecting. The one thing I want to avoid is ever stopping facing my family.

— How have you dealt with those voices?

I have exactly one criterion: whether the work itself holds enough appeal to answer those voices. If it does, I go. If it does not, I do not. That is all there is to it.

Put another way, I do not think you should strain yourself over anything other than the appeal of the work itself. Getting a raise to persuade your family is not the essence of it. My old employer even has a program that accepts returning employees, but preparing a fallback and deciding whether to go are separate matters.

I think the same applies to anyone wavering over a career move right now.

7. What Kind of People Are at mign

— What are the people like inside the company?

First of all, they are earnest. Their stance toward work is to treat everything as their own responsibility and tackle it seriously — and to enjoy it on top of that.

On AI adoption, partly because our product is AI, I feel we are far ahead of most of the world. And they do not simply pass AI output along as is — they properly stand on the shoulders of giants and debate. There is a real sense that people do the parts AI cannot.

One more trait: each person has their own worldview and their own reasoning. Nobody's thinking depends on the company. Individuals remain individuals, and still build a united team.

8. What Comes Next, and What I Expect of mign

— Where do you want to be in one to three years?

I want to make this company and this service the platform of the industry. I want to see with my own eyes the moment the service visibly spreads through the industry.

I have no need to become famous. I want to be the strategist quietly contributing behind the scenes as we win our share.

— Is there anything you expect from mign?

That everyone's self-driven effort keeps going. I want us to hold on to the venture spirit we have now, overflowing with the feeling of "I will make it happen myself!"

Right now, I am having a tremendous amount of fun.

9. Who I Want to Work With

— Finally, what kind of people do you want to work with?

People who enjoy change and effort.

Experience with AI or architecture is nice to have, but I do not think it is required. I am proof of that. What matters is whether you have the disposition to enjoy change, learning, and the effort they demand — and whether you can think that through logically. If anything, there are things only someone who entered knowing nothing can tell.

A dream, and the fun of chasing it. If that appeals to you, I hope we will move forward together.

mign is looking for new colleagues across several positions, including HR and BizDev. For the list of open positions, see the careers page. Let's start with a casual conversation.