Today, I will talk with Naoya Nosaka, the Director of the Business Development Division at ERAKE. Originally, Mr. Nosaka was working at a large corporation, "Recruit." I asked him about his reasons for moving to a startup, his current roles, his daily work, and his thoughts at this moment.

#If you are interested in topics such as moving from a large company to a startup, innovation, and building something from scratch, please give it a read.

ーーCould you please introduce yourself and tell us about your background?

I am Nosaka, belonging to the Business Development Division at ERAKE. I joined Recruit as a new graduate in 2019 and gained experience in new advertising sales for new graduate and mid-career media within the HR field. After that, I was seconded to Indeed Japan. Upon returning, I was in charge of business planning and product planning in the dispatch and BPO business areas, and I have now joined Trifa.

ーーWhen we think of Recruit, we picture it as a "company that produces entrepreneurs". Were you indeed interested in starting a business?

Rather than starting a business, I was interested in "creating a business and delivering value to the world." Until my first year in university, I had a strong aversion to business and money and aspired to be a diplomat. However, during my first year of university, when I was allowed to stay in Seattle for a month and a half through the Microsoft scholarship program, I learned about social business and became aware of its importance and excitement.

Since then, I have taken an interest in various fields and became involved in business creation. During my time in school, I worked on a food waste project as a new business for a major food retailer for about a year, but I was unable to make it profitable. I also attempted to start a life and employment support project for foreigners, but I couldn't find meaning in it, and through these failures, I was picked up by Recruit.

ーーDid you not consider starting new businesses or entrepreneurship?

I've been planning to do so since I joined Recruit (laughs). I participated in the new business contest "RING" at Recruit, and I also raised functional requests through my daily work and came up with product proposals at Indeed. Additionally, since Recruit allowed side jobs, I created products with several colleagues every year and conducted PoC validations.

In my third year, I successfully raised a total of 105 million yen through two rounds of funding for an entertainment service I created, which also allowed me to produce a sustainable business for the first time.

However, I believe my success in business creation was due to the comprehensive skills I honed at Recruit. I think my communication skills, which are necessary to motivate those around me, improved significantly from being largely negative at first.

During my student years, I was surrounded by very ambitious individuals and was the type of person who felt like a "lone wolf." However, pushing a business forward quickly would have been impossible alone, and I couldn't lead those around me either.

Thus, I began by changing myself, starting with understanding the positions and feelings of others, refining my daily approach to what actions would make them move.

As a result, I think I improved my overall abilities, including the ability to engage people necessary for creating and expanding a business from "1 to 10," as well as my mental resilience to continue. Especially in large corporations, there are many stakeholders involved in a single business, making it an excellent environment to enhance my entrepreneurial qualities.

ーーIt seems there wouldn't be a reason for you to change jobs. How did you come to know about ERAKE?

At first, I really had no intention of changing jobs. Honestly, my work at Recruit was busy but satisfying, as I was assigned as a media person for the new cross-HR product "Indeed PLUS" and was able to maintain connections with the outside world through spot requests beyond my main job.

It was around the end of 2023 when I received a sudden message from my university friend, Oe. He is fluent in languages and was participating in the U.S. business expansion of Japanese products, and he invited me to dinner, which I eagerly looked forward to.

It was an ordinary izakaya in the city, but the time spent there was very stimulating. We discussed not only business topics from his experiences of continuously challenging the zero to one at a startup and the learnings he gained in a rapidly expanding organization but also about my future career and how I wanted to contribute to Japan. Time flew by.

This led to a discussion about the next challenge I was considering, which was ERAKE. Its office was only a 5-minute walk from my home, so I decided to drop by on my way back. By greeting the representative, Kana, I gradually became involved in some of ERAKE's operations.

ーーHow did you perceive ERAKE?

The company's mission is "MAKE A NEW ERA -Creating a New Era-" and I saw it as a company that is diligently and tenaciously moving toward that realization like an energetic young man. That image was very radiant, and I wanted to test my own capabilities as well.

The turning point was around mid-February. I was officially approached by Kana regarding joining ERAKE. Honestly, I was surprised and very troubled.

ーーHow did you consider the axis for joining ERAKE?

I started by reconsidering what kind of presence I would like to be when I end my life. Within that, I decided to join ERAKE based on three points: 1. Opportunities for my own growth 2. Direct involvement in management 3. Contribution to innovation.

1. Opportunities for my own growth
At ERAKE, I have felt rapid growth and change in just a few months since meeting everyone, and I strongly felt that I could lead that growth from a position close to management. The discretion and responsibilities that would take time to gain at Recruit, I felt I could experience immediately at ERAKE, which I saw as a tremendous opportunity to significantly expand my skill set.

2. Direct involvement in management
One of the attractive points at ERAKE is the ability to be directly involved in management decision-making. I could easily see my opinions and ideas reflected in corporate strategies and products, allowing me to feel that I was shaping the future myself. At the same time, I also felt the responsibility towards shareholders and employees, which is something ERAKE greatly values.

3. Contribution to innovation
Even at Recruit, we fulfilled our responsibility to society as a large corporation and created new norms. However, I felt that both the speed of this and my involvement were not as substantial. On the other hand, at ERAKE, I felt I could bring innovation to the market using new business models and technology like eSIM.

Additionally, I considered other aspects such as the ease of taking on challenges at my age, income, work-life balance, and so on, so feel free to ask me personally (laughs).

It took about six months to negotiate my resignation and consume annual leave within the company before I actually joined. At one point, I thought that Recruit, which suggested a four-day work week, was a really great company.

ーーWhat kind of tasks are you responsible for at ERAKE?

I have a lot of things to do! My main tasks include: - Building new domestic and international partnerships for communication, maintaining and operating communications with existing partners, and price negotiations.

- Launching new services for corporate clients.

- Exploring and negotiating alliances to expand sales channels for individual services.

- Creating recruitment plans, selecting recruitment channels, and creating job advertisements,

and I am currently entrusted with various tasks. Additionally, I handle unexpected occurrences as they come up. Consequently, I've become very conscious of choices and concentration—much more than at Recruit.

ーーDo you feel a difference between large corporations and startups?

Of course, there are differences in closeness to management and operations, but overwhelmingly different is the sense of speed. In a startup, the brevity of the decision-making process and changes in external and internal environments often require flexible movements. Therefore, I try to plan best/worst scenarios and make quick decisions if they fall within that range.

ーーHave you had any challenging experiences after joining?

Right after joining, I was quite surprised at how much responsibility I was given. Large-scale proposals to new major clients felt acceptable as they were similar to my past sales and planning experiences, but negotiations with new and existing partners, which greatly influence the management's profit margins, were nerve-wracking. Especially the latter, I was lacking in domain knowledge, and the market environments and communication infrastructures of each country differ significantly, as do commercial customs. I thought it would be quite challenging, but I managed to pull through with a spirit of just getting it done.

The fundamentals of any job are about setting challenges, proposals, and reaching agreements while considering the other party's position. I can never thank my seniors and superiors at Recruit enough.

As a result, I was able to greatly increase the profit margins in specific regions.

ーーWhat moments do you find most rewarding when working at ERAKE?

One moment is when I work closely with my colleagues from a management perspective, maintaining a tactile feel for building the business. Amidst the advancement of eSIM, we aim for Trifa to become a "normal" presence for more users around the world. The moments when we engage in business development discussions always starting from the customer standpoint make me feel truly dedicated to the business.

Another is when I set high goals and continuously seek reasons to achieve them, even under seemingly impossible situations. Honestly, there are more times when I feel frustration from my own inexperience or growing irritation from my inability to achieve something. However, when the solutions I struggled to reach manage to bridge the gap to my objectives, I feel a sense of accomplishment.

ーーFinally, please send a message to those considering joining Trifa in the future.

I strongly recommend it from the perspective of the business domain and your personal growth environment. In terms of business domain, I believe there are not many companies rapidly growing in the toC x global space like this in the world. Because of this state, there are always high-level demands placed on the organization and its people, necessitating that we constantly step outside our Comfort Zone.

For those who are currently thriving in large corporations, I hope you will take a peek into ERAKE's environment. The skills you've cultivated in large companies will serve as a foundational base, and I believe you'll significantly boost your growth trajectory at ERAKE.

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