Guillaume Hansali
Helping first-time entrepreneurs build businesses that serve a greater purpose.
Founder, educator, and mentor with a passion for kind entrepreneurship. I believe business can be a force for good when built with intention and care.
Get the free handbook →
The First-Time Entrepreneur Handbook
The handbook I wish someone had given me when I started.
This is for you if:
You're considering starting a business but don't know where to begin.
You've just started and everything feels chaotic.
You're struggling to get on a path to profitability.
Entrepreneurship is hard. But the mechanisms are the same across businesses, which means we can learn from each other's mistakes.
This handbook distills what I've learned from 18 years of building, failing, and rebuilding—into practical frameworks you can use today.
Inside you'll find:
- Why focus is everything (and how to actually maintain it)
- How to think about value—and why most entrepreneurs get it wrong
- The constraint framework for knowing where to put your energy
- When to spend time vs. money
- How to buy back your time as you grow
- Marketing basics that actually matter
- The exit door conversation most founders avoid
How I think about mentorship
I don't believe in creating dependencies. My job is to help you find your own answers, not to make you need me.
I learn by teaching. Every entrepreneur I work with teaches me something too. This isn't a one-way street.
I believe in what I call "kind entrepreneurship". Building businesses that contribute to community wellbeing, not just personal enrichment. The world has enough extractive founders.
There are two things every entrepreneur must know better than anyone else:
1. Your offer
2. How to sell it
This is non-negotiable. Everything else can be learned or delegated. These two cannot.
The path that brought me here
I came to Japan in 2006 with a thousand euros, no job, and a lot of naivety.
In 2008, I founded Wizcorp with ¥1 of capital (literally the legal minimum). We grew it into a game development studio trusted by most major publishers. We made every mistake possible along the way.
Wizcorp was acquired twice. First by a French company in 2014, then by Keywords Studios in 2019. I stayed on and eventually became Country Manager for all Keywords operations in Japan, overseeing 450 people across three service lines.
In 2025, I'm stepping away from corporate leadership to focus on what matters most to me: education and mentorship.
I now serve as the incoming President at Seibu Bunri University, where I teach entrepreneurship to hospitality students. I coach first-time founders. And I'm building Fulcrum Consulting to bring this work to organizations.
I'm French, fluent in English and Japanese, and I've called Japan home for nearly 20 years.
How I can help
1:1 Entrepreneur Coaching
For first-time founders who want a thinking partner. Someone who's been through the chaos and can help you see clearly. I focus on fundamentals: your offer, your priorities, your constraints.
Corporate Training
Workshops and programs for organizations that want to develop entrepreneurial thinking in their teams. Based on frameworks I've developed and battle-tested over 16 years.
Speaking & Guest Lectures
I speak on entrepreneurship, leadership, value creation, and building businesses in Japan. Available for universities, conferences, and corporate events.
Stay in touch
I write about entrepreneurship, learning, and the occasional existential tangent on my Substack.
Haven't grabbed the handbook yet? Get it here.