Tasuki Co., Ltd. President and CEO Koji Murata

It's okay to be clumsy. Use your strengths to forge ahead.

■ Profile

Born in July 1967.
Joined Meiwa Real Estate as a new graduate in 1991.
He joined Shin-Nihon Tatemono in 2002 and worked mainly in the real estate development business.
In 2016, he joined TN Estate Co., Ltd. (now Tasuki Co., Ltd.), which was launched as an in-house venture.
After becoming independent from Shin-Nihon Tatemono in 2017, he became the CEO of Tasuki Co., Ltd. in 2018 (current position).
The company went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market in October 2020.

Tasuki Co., Ltd. continues to grow using its own unique methods, hoping to bring the winds of digitalization to the real estate industry and make it more accessible and open to many people. President Murata says that although he doesn't have much knowledge or experience, he has been able to grow to this point by using his strengths as a real estate development professional as a strong trunk. We spoke to him about the appeal of his job and his future prospects.

During my university years, I didn't particularly enjoy studying and always tried to find ways to avoid it. My love for motorcycles led me to start working part-time at a gas station, where I worked for four years. During my first year, the manager of the place I worked encouraged me to take the "Class 4 Hazardous Materials Handler" certification exam, which I successfully passed. Obtaining the certification raised my hourly wage, which was 700 yen at the time, to 1100 yen. At that moment, I realized the incredible power of certification. I vividly remember being shocked by how it allowed me to prove who I was and even change the value of the same amount of time I spent on the same work. Then, when I was looking for a job and wanted to build on my part-time experience by obtaining some kind of certification, the "Real Estate Broker" exam boom coincided with the boom. I passed the exam in my fourth year of university, and although I didn't have any other high aspirations, I wanted to utilize the certification I had and decided to work in the real estate industry. I joined Meiwa Real Estate in April 1991.

■Special experience gained thanks to qualifications

At the time, there were about 100 new employees, but it was rare for someone from my same year to have a license as a real estate agent, so rather than doing the same mundane tasks as everyone else, such as finding new customers and cold calling, I was present at "contract meetings" from the very beginning. As a new employee, I was often taken advantage of, such as contracts in rural areas or late-night contracts, but more than anything, it was a great experience to be able to work directly with customers from an early stage. They say that "real estate is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase," and it was a great experience to be present at many of these precious moments from a young age, and it is also the starting point that has allowed me to continue working steadily in the same industry to this day.

■ Make the one thing you can never lose your core value

He then moved to Shin-Nihon Tatemono in 2002, where he started TASUKI Co., Ltd. as an in-house venture, becoming its president and representative director in August 2018. He is focusing on three businesses: "TASUKI IoT Residences, which provide compact, lean yet fulfilling products to niche areas," "TASUKI FUNDS, which expands the real estate industry to more people through crowdfunding," and "TASUKI TECH, which aims to automate the creation of architectural plans and business income and expenditures, and ultimately achieve complete digitalization of the real estate industry."
The first project focuses on small-scale properties within five minutes of a station in Tokyo, providing IoT residences equipped with smart houses as standard. While offering ample functionality, the rent is kept at the same level as the surrounding market, and with this new approach, we have been able to capture a niche market where major companies have given up on supplying properties due to poor investment efficiency.
The second is crowdfunding, which breaks down real estate investment into smaller shares of 100,000 yen each and digitalizes it. By making the first project a licensed nursery school, a facility with a high level of social responsibility, we were able to capture the needs of new customers who had not previously been interested in this industry. The response was unexpectedly large, reaching our target amount in just three minutes after the crowdfunding campaign began, attracting attention. We hope that this type of real estate involvement, which begins with small investments, will lead to the purchase of IoT residences in the future.
The third initiative was started with the desire to improve the "analog side" that has long been ingrained in the real estate industry. This technology allows users to select a construction site on a map, without actually visiting the site, and then the system can propose appropriate building plans based on the vast amount of big data it has accumulated. We would like to sell and supply this to small real estate businesses across the country. There are approximately 350,000 companies nationwide that focus on real estate, but currently, approximately 90% of these are run by small teams of four or fewer employees. We hope to close the gap in work efficiency that comes with small teams and help the real estate industry as a whole grow.
Whenever I take action, what I value, both now and in the past, is the attitude of working with one strength as my core: "I am a real estate development professional." I have never studied management or accounting, but in the two years since I became president, I have been able to overcome opportunities and decision-making situations because I have always believed in the core I have built from my experiences. I work every day with pride and confidence in what I have continued to do, even if I am clumsy.

■ Aiming for an open and clear industry

Although we are expanding into various businesses and trying to grow, my goal is to open up the entire real estate industry and make its systems more transparent. This industry is still closed off due to its large scale and the need for specialized knowledge. I believe that by using technology to solve these problems, we can encourage customers who are worried about making a once-in-a-lifetime purchase and make real estate more accessible to more people.

■Message to university students

I want to convey that "being able to do one thing" is better than "being able to do everything." Try to master that one thing thoroughly and form your own core. A core can also be useful for demonstrating your expertise and making yourself known to those around you. "A crisis is an opportunity." With that ultimate weapon in hand, boldly take on challenges.

Student Newspaper WEB February 10, 2021 Interview Rion Kanda, 2nd year, Japan Women's University