Every day, I am working on various initiatives to make "Menu", our food delivery service, more successful. This includes considering our users, our services, our organization, and working with various teams to improve user experience and scale up our business. In particular, I often engage directly with our users (general consumers who order delivery through our app) and our delivery staff (Menu's delivery staff). I always think about how to make users and delivery staff use "Menu" and satisfy them.

Well, the food delivery market is currently very dynamic, with many players investing significant amounts of money. So, we need to understand the current state of this market, what kind of experiences the users are looking for, etc., down to the smallest details. Based on that, we plan our actions with each team, such as what kind of service "Menu" should be, what kind of product it should be, what kind of communication we should have, and how we should operate.

Also, because we have many projects running simultaneously, we have to make sure that everyone is able to work properly in the different areas such as proper manpower placement, budget allocation, problem-solving when issues arise. So, rather than looking at one project, we often have to move the entire work. Also, to realize the business and services we are aiming for, we define the types of people we should hire, the skills these people should have, and design the appropriate environment such as processes and training modules for those people to gather and build their careers.

To acquire skills, we deliberately make our training hands-on, based on the "7:2:1 rule". This rule indicates what percentage of our growth comes from where, with 70% from "experience", 20% from "feedback", and 10% from "classroom study". Thus, we believe that skills are acquired through experience, with repeated "classroom study" for theoretical input and "feedback" such as "We expect you to work more like XX because we expect OO".

Yes, although there are common elements, I think there are many parts that are designed for each individual. The situation of the business and the organization is changing drastically and what is required for the organization and the individual changes accordingly. Therefore, we consider what skills they should acquire according to the situation, taking into account their strengths and preferences.

Looking back on my life, I think I was always curious and always concerned about how things work. From a very young age, I was interested in the structure of complex things. I liked my father's video camera and shoes when I was young.

Then, around the third year of junior high school, I became interested in life sciences. I thought I wanted to be a life scientist in the future. The reason was that I found it interesting that the human body is made up of a tremendous number of cells, it was just like my curiosity from my early childhood, I consistently had a strong interest in complex phenomena.

After entering university, I majored in bioengineering, and there was a turning point when I was in my fourth year of university. The Great East Japan Earthquake led to planned power outages, and the operation of research facilities was halted. I couldn't do any research at all, and by a stroke of luck, at the time I was thinking I would like to do something other than research, a business seminar for science students was being held. I had the time, so I participated in the seminar, and for the first time, I had a chance to experience the world of business.

Until then, I had kept my distance from the business world, thinking that it was not as complex as the natural sciences and was somewhat more simple and mundane. However, when I actually got involved in the business world, I found that many people are moving in various ways and the world is incredibly complex and dynamic. I found it interesting.

I was at P&G for about six years, but the fact that the category I was dealing with was consumer goods, and the fact that it was a market for necessities that would never disappear, made me vaguely start thinking that I wanted to be involved in a more dynamic expanding market like IT. I had originally started a business in IT, and I wanted to try my hand once again in a dynamic and bizarre field.

When I returned to Japan from my assignment in Singapore, I was looking for a job change, but I couldn't find a company that matched the image I had in mind. On one occasion, I had the opportunity to go out for a drink with the CEO of Reazon and a senior from my student days who is also an employee at Reazon. Through our conversation, I learned that at Reazon, they are expanding their business at an unprecedented level in the Japanese market, executing something sizable with a very small team at an overwhelming speed. I distinctly remember thinking it was a fun company. With "The goal of becoming the World's Number One Company," they were sprinting in one straight line, and it seemed simply fun. I felt that the company matched the dynamic world I had imagined, so I decided to join Reazon.

Launching the food delivery business from literally nothing was probably the most memorable experience I will ever have in my career. New businesses cannot be created with half-hearted efforts. It is only by pushing hardworking, outstanding people to their limits that a new business can finally get off the ground. Having had that experience myself was truly invaluable. There was something exciting about a previously unknown venture entering the fray in a food delivery market teeming with powerful competing companies each worth over a trillion yen.

I believe it's really the result of many people's efforts and a combination of various factors, but there are two main ones.

The first is our ability to develop our business. The food delivery business involves many variables and is highly challenging. The ability to launch a business from scratch by combining strong sales skills, product development skills, and operational skills is indeed a strength that we have.

The second is the presence of KDDI Corporation. In the food delivery market, where foreign companies with market capitalizations exceeding one trillion yen are thriving, "menu" had the challenge of not having the scale of the operating company. Meeting a large partner like KDDI Corporation, one of Japan's leading corporations, which sympathizes with our vision, was a very impactful event.

I think it will diversify.

The concept of delivery has really only emerged in the last few years, and until then, delivery was mainly done by chain stores with home delivery formats. Amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, individual stores also started delivery all at once, and the choices of stores that deliver have increased dramatically, opening up various possibilities. For example, delivery may mainly involve ordering meals from restaurants when you're hungry. But in the future, experiences like using food delivery when you want to eat something for a 3 o'clock dessert, or creating a culture of having your own "slightly good drinking party" by purchasing only alcohol from a nearby supermarket and delivering snacks from several stores for an online drinking party that was popular before, may be born.

Also, delivery of non-food items has started recently, so it is expected to create even more new experiences. The food delivery industry is a new industry that has emerged, and I think we are in a phase where the range of possibilities is expanding rapidly, so I feel that this state will continue for a while.

I think there are mainly three.

1. Curiosity: The ability and attitude to deeply understand various things, such as users, business, market, etc., is important.

2. Ownership: I think people who can take the areas they are involved in as their own and work on things with a sense of ownership will grow. As a venture company, the situation changes dramatically, and the roles expected of each individual are large.

3. Honesty: I think the most important thing is "honesty". The hurdles of things we have to challenge are getting higher every day, so it's a big premise that we can't reach the roles we're expected to fulfill without learning something every day.

Facing your own lack of ability head-on, not being pessimistic about that lack of ability, but properly understanding what is being demanded of you now and challenging and absorbing everything is important, I think.

Speaking of the near future, first, I want to create "Japan's best service", and eventually, as our vision states, I want to create "the world's best service".

As I mentioned earlier, the food delivery market is changing very large and dynamically, there are many competitors, and each company is trying hard to create a service that matches the Japanese food delivery market. In that, I want to create a service that is closest to the users and satisfies them, and I am serious about achieving it.

This is just my personal opinion, but I think there is nothing beyond being the world's best because becoming the world's best is the goal itself. If asked, "Why do you aim to be the world's best?" I would answer, "Isn't it the hardest but the most fun to aim for the top?" I find joy in the very act of aiming for the top in the complex and interesting world of business. I think it's something that's derived from the intellectual curiosity I've had since childhood.