Hiroki Murakami, CEO of Tsukuruba Inc.

2025.03.07

Do the things you've been thinking about doing someday right away ~To build a happier home~

CEO of Tsuruba Inc. Hiroki Murakami(Hiroki Murakami)

■ Profile
He founded Tsukuruba in August 2011 and expanded the business as a design firm. In 2015, he launched Cowcamo, a used and renovated housing distribution platform. The service has continued to grow since its launch, and four years later in 2019, he became the youngest person in the real estate industry to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers (and is currently the youngest CEO in the industry). With the motto of "Freely own your home. Change it as many times as you like," Cowcamo is currently growing, with over 500,000 registered members.

After managing dance events during his student days and working for a company affiliated with Recruit, he founded tsukuruba, an IT company that is revolutionizing the real estate industry. We spoke to Hiroki Murakami, who is creating new options for Japan's housing market and driving change in the industry, about his career so far, his experiences as a student, and his message to university students.

■ Hosting a dance event that even Nike took notice of

I was devoted to dance during my student days. I fell in love with rock bands in elementary school, started playing instruments in junior high, and in high school, not only did I play in a band, but I also gathered my bandmates and rented out live music venues for events. I loved festivals. When I was in high school, I was frustrated that I wouldn't be able to go professional if I continued with the band, and I was feeling depressed, when I discovered street dance. When I actually tried dancing, I found that some student dancers were as good as professionals, but they didn't have the opportunity to interact with professional dancers. So I thought that if I held an event that mixed professional and student dancers, more student dancers would take off in the world, so I organized the event myself. The scale of the event grew and grew, eventually reaching a capacity of 1000 people and even receiving sponsorship from Nike.

■Discovering the path to entrepreneurship after the Lehman Shock and the Great East Japan Earthquake

I planned and managed events as a student, but I began to feel like it was just a fluke at starting a business. I wanted to create a service that would be used by more people and have a greater impact on more people than what I had done up until then, and create a business that would contribute to society on a larger scale. To achieve this, I first thought I would go and train in a place where there were many people more talented than me, and then find future colleagues. During interviews, I told them I would start my own business in three years, and looked for a company that would be interested in that idea. I ended up working for a recruitment company. However, the first company I joined was on the brink of collapse due to the Lehman Shock, and around 50 new graduates were laid off. I had originally intended to start my own business, but I came to a strong realization that I would not survive unless I became a person who could be employed anywhere.
After that, I started looking for a new job at an IT company and worked frantically without taking a break. Then, after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, I realized, "I had always wanted to start my own business, but I'm going to die someday, so I might as well do it sooner rather than later," and so I decided to start my own business.

■What kind of people do you want to work with?

In the people we are looking for, we value three elements of "STO."
S: Honest
Someone who is flexible in their thinking and willing to learn from others in order to grow.
T: Teamwork
Someone who understands that work is not an individual battle, but rather a team effort to achieve results.
O: Ownership
Someone who can take responsibility for something as their own decision, rather than as something they are being forced to do.

When hiring, I look people in the eye during the interview and intuitively judge whether I want to work with them based on the aura they exude.
It's difficult to hire people who are overconfident and can't be honest. It's also difficult to hire people who say, "I have no confidence in myself, so I want to join a company, work hard, and change myself." I think people who want to change themselves because of pressure from others simply "admire people who are ambitious." Or, "admire themselves, who are ambitious." It's also difficult to hire people who say, "I sympathize with the company's philosophy," but aren't prepared to put in the effort to make that philosophy a reality.

■ Tsukuruba aims to provide "new housing options"

Currently, Tsuruba is focusing on the market for renovating used condominiums, and provides a platform for buying and selling renovated properties.
Unless you're a transfer employee, most people will live with their parents for 10 or 20 years, in one or two homes. Next, when you become a student and start living alone for the first time, you'll likely rent a home. In that case, you'll live in an apartment that's no different from the one next door, with no access to the walls or floors. There's no concept of "enjoying your home." Later, when you enter the workforce, you'll either get married, or, since marriage isn't on the horizon, buy a house on your own—and that's when you start thinking about your own home. Even if you're told, "You can do whatever you want with your home," you still won't feel like a home is something to enjoy. However, many of our users tell us that owning a home has made their lives more enjoyable. We'll continue to strive to provide a service that makes buying and selling properties even easier. Furthermore, we want to create a world where more people can find the lifestyle they want and experience even greater happiness.
This business is a service that will become part of the infrastructure of this country, so I would like to take responsibility and expand it five or ten times in scale.
Also, rather than just thinking about the business in my generation, I would like to pass the baton to the next generation and ensure that even when we leave this world, the company is still contributing to society.

■Message to university students

The best thing I did as a student was to pursue something. Whether it's a hobby or a part-time job, find something that you can be passionate about and devote yourself to it.
Rather than spending your time half-heartedly "taking classes aimlessly," "working part-time aimlessly," or "looking for a job aimlessly," it is definitely more beneficial for your life to have the experience of immersing yourself in one thing.
When you're young, the future seems limitless, but if you were given 1 yen every day that would disappear in 24 hours, and you had to spend it all by the end of the day, surely everyone would try their best to spend it. That's what life is like for you.
Life is short, so if there's something you've been thinking about doing someday, you should do it now. Give it your all and live it to the fullest.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 29, 2025 by Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University