Money Forward President Yosuke Tsuji Interview: Part 1 The Journey from an Unwanted Accounting Department Position to Starting a Business

In this third installment of our series exploring startups, Dentsu Inc. Business Development Director Fumihiko Nakajima spoke with Yousuke Tsuji, President and CEO of Money Forward—the company behind the personal asset management service "Money Forward" for smartphones and PCs, and the SME solutions "MF Cloud Accounting & Tax Filing" and "MF Cloud Invoicing." They discussed everything from the origins of the company to the realities of a growing startup.

 

Nakajima: First, congratulations on winning the Good Design Award. This time, you won for both your personal and business services, right?

※Furthermore, the same service (consumer-facing) was also selected in the app category for Google Play Best of 2014.

 

Tsuji: Thank you. Winning both awards was truly gratifying!

Nakajima: It's impressive. Few startups offer both B2C and B2B services. So, first, could you give us an overview of Money Forward's services?

Tsuji: Our personal asset management tool "Money Forward" currently has 1.7 million users, making it one of Japan's largest services in this field. Our cloud service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provides accounting systems and invoicing services. We plan to expand further to cover payroll and expense management, aiming to become the number one cloud service provider for SMEs.

At Sony, I handled accounting and the AIBO division—work that differed from my aspirations.

Nakajima: Mr. Tsuji, what led you to start a startup?

Tsuji: Honestly, I never planned to start a company. But during university, I helped a senior from my club launch a cram school, and that's when I discovered the thrill of building a business from scratch. I lost at rock-paper-scissors and ended up in charge of English. Creating the textbooks, recruiting students, and teaching classes myself from zero was incredibly exciting.

My university major wasn't really related to my current work; I studied biotechnology in the Faculty of Agriculture. Almost everyone around me went on to graduate school aiming to become researchers, but I wasn't particularly gifted as a researcher. My professor once said researchers spend 30 years doing research and get only three big opportunities. It's a really tough world, right? Also, experiments like those with E. coli take forever to show results—24 hours, a week—and I just felt it wasn't suited to my temperament. Having experienced the excitement of business through starting a cram school, I wanted to pursue a business path. After graduation, I joined Sony.

Nakajima: What kind of work did you do at Sony? Given Sony's broad business scope, you must have had diverse experiences.

Tsuji: Not really. Being a large corporation, it's very siloed. Perhaps because my university major was in science, I spent the first three years in the Accounting Department – a completely indirect function, which wasn't what I had hoped for. In Accounting, I handled corporate headquarters accounting and departmental accounting for AIBO.

Assignment to Monex Securities: What I Gained Working Closely with President Dai Matsumoto

Nakajima: After that, you were seconded to Monex Securities and then transferred there permanently, right?

Tsuji: Sony held a 50% stake in Monex at its founding. An internal recruitment opportunity arose, I interviewed, and was seconded to the CEO's office. I was drawn to President Matsumoto's vision of transforming Japan's financial markets and took on the challenge.

Monex had only about 40 employees at the time, and even though it was called the CEO's office, I was the only one there. My immediate superior was suddenly Mr. Matsumoto.

Nakajima: Working right alongside Mr. Matsumoto and learning business management must have been a valuable experience?

Tsuji: Yes, in a venture company, you see the decision-making process up close. Decisions were made with a speed unimaginable in a large corporation, right before your eyes.

I learned something else too. I used to think super-managers were just talented people who made things happen effortlessly, but I realized that wasn't true. I was naive. Mr. Matsumoto is someone who takes things step by step, steadily and diligently. He thinks more deeply than anyone and works harder than anyone. Seeing that, I was shocked to realize it's all about the daily accumulation of effort. I despaired, thinking, "I could never do that!"

Studying in the US on a company scholarship, where I learned a spirit of challenge

Nakajima: You were at Monex for nine years and earned your MBA through a company-sponsored program, right? What led to that?

Tsuji: It was Monex's first company-sponsored study abroad program. I'm still paying back that money (laughs). There wasn't necessarily an obligation to repay it, but it's a matter of honor, I suppose...

There were three reasons for studying abroad. First, Monex had acquired a retail FX company that was operating at a loss. Before deciding to study abroad, I was sent there as the marketing head to turn it around. While I managed to bring it from loss to profit, I couldn't create any new value beyond that. I acutely felt I needed new input at that point. Second, Monex embraced globalism. I sensed the board meetings would eventually shift to English, making it essential to learn the language. Third, since our future competitors would be global leaders, I wanted to understand who they were and meet them.

I learned a lot in America. I interacted with people from diverse backgrounds. Also, America is a country of challenge, so there's a culture that praises taking risks. That influence is part of the background for starting my own business.

Back then, I felt there was a need for consumer-focused financial services in Japan, so I wanted to create one. I proposed the idea to Mr. Matsumoto when he visited New York on business. However, at that time, Japanese stock prices were falling, making it very difficult to launch a new business, and my proposal wasn't accepted.

The first service I excitedly built was a huge failure

Nakajima: So that proposal led to today's Money Forward. Did you come up with Money Forward's slogan, "Move your money forward. Move your life forward."? It's a great tagline.

Tsuji: Thank you! The founding members and I came up with it together.

The very first service we built after starting the company was much more social. It was a service where people could anonymously share their asset management strategies. We thought others could learn from how successful people managed their assets. Back then, influenced by Facebook, we were really excited about the idea that "being open is a good thing." We developed and launched it in just six months, but it was never used at all. We completely shut that service down.

Nakajima: Had the company already been established at that point?

Tsuji: The company was incorporated, but after returning from studying abroad, I was working at Monex as the Marketing Director and CEO Assistant, focusing on things like restructuring costs. So I asked the company to let me work on Money Forward part-time. I worked on Monex during the weekdays and only worked on Money Forward on weekends. Later, I created Money Forward as a service that solves money problems just by using it.

After company-sponsored study abroad, he launched Money Forward. Next time, we'll explore what work he does as a startup CEO and delve into startup marketing strategies.