This is Yoshinaga Naoyoshi.
I'll leave Osaka to you.

I still remember very well the first time I met Yoshinaga.

At the time, I was the head of a service called Coding Factory . Compared to now, Coding Factory was still relatively unknown at the time, and we were busy every day dealing with budgets, projects, and management work, but we were passionate about achieving our goals and lived fulfilling lives every day.

One day, I was approached by a company in Osaka about a large project. It was a website renewal project for a private university in Osaka. They were about to enter a competition, and asked if I could be the coding specialist and make a joint proposal.

Because it was a large-scale project and it was my first time working with the company, I felt that I needed to meet and discuss the matter in person first, so I immediately booked a flight to Osaka.
Our destination was an office building in Tenma, Osaka.
There was no elevator so I had to climb the stairs to the third floor.
Ring the bell and wait for a few seconds.
The person who came forward to consult was Yoshinaga Naoyoshi himself.

that's right.
He was originally an employee of the company with which we were about to begin a relationship.

Unfortunately, the joint proposal project did not end up being awarded, but we wrote the proposal together, adjusted the estimates, and worked together in preparation for the competition.

A sudden email.

It was about two or three months after my first visit.
I received an email from Yoshinaga.
It was sudden.

This time, with his permission, I will present the original email he sent me at that time.

What will you do? Everyone.
What if you received an email like this from someone you work with?

If he had only said that he wanted to join Monosus, that would have been fine, but
"Why don't you set up an Osaka office?"
"Can I leave that to you?"
That's what I'm saying.

It's almost reckless, brazen, or innocent.

However, all I could feel was their feelings and immeasurable passion.

Be prepared and be angry.

In the email, you asked, "Do you have any plans to do activities in the Kansai area?"
At the time, there were no such plans at all.

However, I am originally from Hyogo Prefecture and spent 10 years in Osaka, from university to my fifth year of working life.
I have a special attachment to Kansai, and I had a secret desire to expand into Osaka in some form someday.

When I saw the email, I was shocked.

I was expecting it to be interesting, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was suspicious. To be honest, I was equally excited and wary.
While discussing with my boss at the time what to do, I remembered that I had the impression that he was a sincere worker when we worked together. So I decided to meet him on the 27th of next week, as stated in the email, to hear what he had to say.

On the day of my first interview, I don't remember what we talked about at all.
After that, I think we met about three times.

In parallel with my meeting with Yoshinaga, I also had many discussions within the company.
And finally, I made up my mind.
Yoshinaga joined the company, which meant the decision to set up an Osaka office.

Once that was decided, things were hectic.

Without morality, we cannot live.
I visited the president of the company where Yoshinaga works and said hello.
My boss and I quickly put together a business plan for Osaka.
A member of the sales team put together an education plan for Yoshinaga,
The CEO, Hayashi, asked me to proceed with the office arrangements.
All involved parties worked together to make preparations.

After joining the company, instead of starting work in Osaka straight away, I had them live in Tokyo for the first three months and undergo on-the-job training. This was not "on-the-job training" but rather "apprentice training."
During those three months, we explained about Monosus and Coding Factory, let them experience it, and also had them thoroughly learn about practical matters such as sales and how to proceed with projects.

And so it was January 2014.
And so, we were able to successfully open our Osaka office.

The source of the past and the future.

Two and a half years have passed quickly since we opened our Osaka office.
It goes by in a flash.

Now, the Osaka office has steadily grown into a force that supports Coding Factory, and there are times when it even leads the Tokyo team.

However, it wasn't easy to get to this point.
After all, starting something new from scratch is difficult.
Moreover, from the time the Osaka office was established until now, Yoshinaga has been the only member there.
Although I'm alone, I'm doing really well.

Personally, there were some tough times.
There must have been times when things didn't go well and you were worried.
They may have felt anxious at times about the gap with the Tokyo team that they could not close.
However, these emotional instability will not cause your work activity to decrease or your performance to suffer.
This is Yoshinaga's greatest feature.

Where is its source?
Now that I've looked back on it, I feel like I understand it a little better.
"Maybe the source of it was already in the email that day."
"I think this person has been keeping that feeling and passion burning ever since."

And yet, that passion shows no signs of fading.
I am confident that this will help take our Osaka office to the next stage.

I'll leave Osaka to you.