Tyson Batino’s Story

Tyson Batino is a Japan-based entrepreneur, revenue growth advisor, mentor, and speaker with more than two decades of experience building and scaling businesses in Japan. Since arriving in 2004, he has worked across education, consulting, market entry, AI, and B2B growth, giving him a practical operator’s view of what it takes to build and scale companies, manage teams, and grow revenue in the Japanese market.

He is the founder and operator behind Scaling Your Company, a bilingual B2B and B2C growth consultancy that provides advisory, peer group coaching, and digital marketing services. He is also co-founder of SmartStart Japan, which helps foreign entrepreneurs set up a corporation in Japan, secure financing through government programs or private investors, and manage post-incorporation processes like bookkeeping, visas, and corporate bank accounts.

Before these ventures, Tyson built One Coin English and Japan Switch from scratch, growing the two language-education businesses to serve thousands of students combined. Today, he advises founders, mentors managers, speaks on market entry in Japan and business scaling, and hosts the Scaling Japan Podcast, where he shares insights from entrepreneurs and operators building in Japan.

Tyson’s Story

2004 – Arrived in Japan

Tyson came to Japan at 22 with a two-year plan: save money, go home, study psychology, and become a therapist. He started teaching English, found himself drawn into the business side of things, and never left. That two-year plan stretched into twenty.

2005-2010 – Japanese language and early career

While working full-time, Tyson studied Japanese on his own and reached the N2 level in three years. He then enrolled in a full-time language school for nine months to close the gap to N1, which he passed after another 3.5 years of focused study.

At the time, few Westerners in Japan were taking Japanese that far. Tyson saw language as a way to open doors in business, management, and life in Japan. It became one of the foundations for his later work, building bilingual teams and companies.

2010-2013 – HR and management experience

After applying for headhunter and corporate roles and getting turned down across the board, Tyson went back to teaching and joined Interac as a substitute. Within three months, he was promoted to HR Assistant Manager and Trainer. He ended up leading a team of 150 full-time employees in Yokohama.

He describes these three years as the hardest of his career. He came in with no management background and had to build the skills from scratch, watching hours of YouTube, asking for feedback constantly, and studying HR on his own time. It was also where he developed the management frameworks he still teaches today.

2014-2022 – One Coin English and Japan Switch

In 2014, Tyson founded One Coin English, an affordable English school in Japan. He later launched Japan Switch, applying a similar model for Japanese learners. He built both companies from the ground up and ran them simultaneously for years, growing to 8,000 students across 12 locations in 4 prefectures.

These two businesses are where Tyson learned what it actually takes to build and scale a company in Japan: customer acquisition, retention, hiring, pricing, operations, and the specific challenges of running a bilingual business in a market that doesn’t always make things easy for foreign founders.

2022-2024 – Scaling Your Company

In 2022, Tyson launched Scaling Your Company, a bilingual B2B growth consultancy focused on revenue growth, Japan market entry, marketing strategy, sales systems, positioning, and operations.

The company works with founders, growing businesses, and corporate teams that need practical support entering or expanding in the Japanese market. Tyson’s advisory work draws directly from his experience as an operator, not only as a consultant.

That same year, he launched the Scaling Japan Podcast, where he interviews entrepreneurs, operators, and experts on what it takes to build and grow a business in Japan. The podcast reached 100 episodes in June 2026, strengthening its authority around Japan market entry, revenue growth, and entrepreneurship in Japan.

October 2024 – Co-founded SmartStart Japan

Tyson co-founded SmartStart Japan to solve a problem he kept seeing: foreign entrepreneurs wanted to start businesses in Japan, but were getting stuck in bureaucracy, unclear information, and slow processes.

SmartStart Japan supports founders with company incorporation, including KK, GK, and branch office setup, Business Manager Visa applications, and post-setup compliance, all in English.

2025-2026 – AI Market and recent speaking

Over the past two years, Tyson has spoken at Venture Cafe Tokyo, Venture Cafe Global, and Tokyo Digital Marketers, covering topics including Japanese media strategy, revenue growth, and scaling multiple businesses in Japan simultaneously. He continues to advise a range of B2B and B2C businesses across Japan on growth strategy, leadership, and market entry.

See Other Projects Tyson Has Worked On

Scaling Japan Podcast

See Podcast

Case Studies

See Studies

Testimonials

See Testimonials

Work With Tyson

Coaching: Revenue growth advisory, leadership coaching, and business strategy for founders and managers in Japan.
Link: https://tysonbatino.com/coaching/

Appearances: Speaking engagements, podcast guest invitations, and panel discussions.
Link: https://tysonbatino.com/media-appearances/

Contact: Get in touch directly via the Tyson Batino contact form, the Scaling Your Company contact form, or LinkedIn.

Review

See what clients say about working with Tyson on Scaling Your Company’s Google Business Profile