RAKSUL INC. is revolutionizing digitally untouched industries such as printing, logistics, and advertisements. By introducing new tech into these kinds of fields, this company is creating brand new industry structures.

Last time, we asked Mr. Izumi, the CTO, about the business of Raksul and his previous career. (Vol.1 is here)

In this blog interview, we asked him about the engineering team of Raksul and the company’s approach to hiring. 

RAKSUL INC. is revolutionizing digitally untouched industries such as printing, logistics, and advertisements. By introducing new tech into these kinds of fields, this company is creating brand new industry structures.

Last time, we asked Mr. Izumi, the CTO, about the business of Raksul and his previous career. (Vol.1 is here)

In this blog interview, we asked him about the engineering team of Raksul and the company’s approach on hiring. 

- I think everyone in your company possesses that rare quality of appreciating the excitement and complexity of something that others think is disinteresting.

Exactly. And if I may add one more, I think respecting a long-established process is another key point. After all, it’s not easy to change the structure of an industry. It took us 4 years to reach this level in the logistics industry, which is in contrast to most engineer’s tenure in a company. 

Most engineers typically change jobs within three years but people at Raksul understand the importance of patience and reaping the fruits of your labor after a long and well-structured process.

I started getting involved in the logistics service called “Hakoberu” around October 2017, but at that time, I instantly realized that I needed to commit to this project for at least 2 to 3 years before I could see its completion – and I was right. It took 2 to 3 years to finish one project. 

This is why I think patience is very important when managing projects.

In contrast, those people who think ‘I can hit a home run with 60% batting average only in 2 or 3 chances’ can’t win in this industry. 

I think the guts to ‘Hit a bunt and, step-by-step, move a runner to another base’ is something required here. 

- So you mean that although it’s not a bad thing to try to accomplish something quickly it would be better if one can stay focused on one goal and be persistent and dedicated to its long-time pursuit. 

That’s correct. It is always better to have a long-term outlook. 

If someone gets worried because the result didn’t come in 2 or 3 months, it can be a problem.

- Which means 2 to 3 months would be nothing in this industry.

Right. It took 10 years for us to achieve this much. I really think it is necessary to be patient. 

Of course, it is good to be passionate about one’s skill or personal development, but if you want your product to have an impact, understand that perceivable results really do take time. 

Sometimes the plan you started and implemented 2 years ago will barely even have an impact now.

- It is quite interesting that your perception on time is rather different from other web services. 

Yes. I think it’s actually an advantage because we have the time to ensure that everything is properly implemented. 

We wouldn’t launch a product until we’re fully satisfied and have removed all possible concerns that we’ve previously identified.

And we’re also given the advantage of time when we’re clean our system – I mean, what’s a delay of one or two days when we’re always thinking long-term? (laughing)

However, it doesn’t mean that we tolerate complacency at work. 

Last time, right before the release of a new service called ‘Hakoberu Connect’, one of my team members told me “Hey Izumi-san, isn’t the end-point of this plan a bit messy?” After talking about it for 30 minutes, we decided to clean up everything. 

During the two weeks before the release, we cleaned the endpoint for a week and changed the URL shown on smartphones so that it can be moved. As a result, the system expansion became way easier.

- Does it mean you prefer not to rush things?

It means that we stay level-headed (laughing). We do hurry but we never get worried. 

- I see. Since you are focusing on making high-quality products, you don’t feel pressured to produce it quickly.

I think there are some people who enjoy creating products quickly, but I want the product to endure the tests of time. 

I also don’t want to say or be told “this code sucks” after a year – although frankly, I’m not that worried to be told so (laughing).

I think it is important not to leave this kind of problem behind. You see, this is why patience is important for Raksul.

- It might be the same question, but what kind of people do you want to join your company? 

The answer will be the same. We want people who can stay focused on making a high-quality product. 

One of my team members told me “Hey Izumi-san, isn’t the end-point of this plan a bit messy?” After talking about it for 30 minutes, we decided to clean up everything. During the 2 weeks before the release, we cleaned the endpoint for a week and changed the URL shown on smartphones so that it can be moved. As a result, the system expansion became way easier.

Does it mean you prefer not to rush things?

It means that we stay level-headed (laughing). We do hurry but we never get worried. 

I see. Since you are focusing on making high quality products, you don’t feel pressured to produce it quickly.

I think there are some people who enjoy creating products quickly, but I want the product to endure the tests of time. I also don’t want to say or be told “this code sucks” after a year – although frankly, I’m not that worried to be told so (laughing).

I think it is important not to leave this kind of problem behind. You see, this is why patience is important for Raksul.

It might be the same question, but what kind of people do you want to join your company? 

The answer will be the same. We want people who can stay focused on making a high quality product. 

Something that I haven’t mentioned is we also need people who can understanding our vision. 

When we are doing this kind of time-consuming work, it is necessary to share the same belief and outlook, ‘Better System, Better World’. It is also essential to be driven by the same mission, which is to revolutionize industries by addressing inefficiencies through technology. 

I think these are indispensable if you are going to be engaged in this type of business for a long time.

- Yes, that’s true. I did notice that among the candidates we’ve introduced to you, you’ve hired those who demonstrated a good understanding of your products and your company.

Currently, Raksul has an offshore branch in Vietnam. What role does this offshore branch play in the business? Could you please tell me more about your rapport with this offshore branch?

If the headquarters in Japan tries to do everything using its limited resources for three different industries (printing, logistics, and advertisements) that are different from each other, we will end up stifling the development of our business. 

Our Japan office is also experiencing a shortage of talent. Currently, the speed of hiring new talent does not really match the speed of the company’s growth and we are trying to resolve this.

The business yearns to continually improve and also innovate. However, there are certain improvements that our business would like to focus on and this involves a lot of effort and difficult tasks. 

Due to the limited resources provided to the Japan office, we have chosen to use our offshore branch strategically.

You see, if preparing for the future has the same meaning as trying something new, we can say that we’ve been doing it by utilizing our Vietnam team. 

We will ask the team to create a new innovation rather than to rebuild or improve our existing system.

If we can’t work on a new system because we lack the engineering resources, I think it is better to leave it to the overseas branch rather than frustrate our business team members in Japan because of overwhelming tasks.

- While most companies are using their offshore branch to maintain their system, your company is using it the opposite way. 

Exactly, it is completely the opposite because it would be an additional cost to properly and efficiently relay the knowledge and concept of our services to an offshore branch. 

Our business approach leans more towards B2B than B2C, which may initially seem complex for members of our offshore team. 

As such, we try to break down our business and let the Vietnam team handle new projects autonomously.

- I see. So, that means that the role to create new things will fit those in your offshore branch more. It is very interesting that you have a different way of using your offshore branch compared to other companies.

I know there are some foreign employees working in your company. While I got the impression that it is quite difficult to understand the market you’re in, I also want to know what kind of people you hired. 

Regardless of nationality, everyone’s thinking that our business model or the approach to the model is interesting. But it really depends on each person, whether they like its uniqueness or simply the culture itself.

■Voices from foreign employees

• There are many fellow employees from my previous workplace, so it seems like I can enjoy working here. 
• I wanted to work here because the business itself looked very interesting.
• I share the same understand of the company’s vision. 

 - While listening to the real voice of your foreign employees, I can tell that everyone has joined Raksul because each of them liked different aspects of your company. 

In terms of the future business and hiring plans, are you intending to move on to a global path or to stay and challenge yourself within the Japanese market? 

To be honest, we haven’t had a clear thought yet to go global. We think that there is no need to hurry since the e-commerce conversion rate is still quite low in the Japanese market.

As for overseas markets, at this moment, we don’t have any plan to establish other branches and other businesses abroad. 

There are a lot of failed offshore ventures brought about by wrong judgment and insufficient assumptions. We don’t want to overestimate our overseas market.

On the other hand, when it comes to hiring, I don’t think we are going to close our doors to the tech industry’s labor market. However, before we do decide to expand globally, it seems necessary to make the company culture open to this global concept first. For instance, we need to gradually increase the ratio of foreign employees. I think the process should start with hiring foreigners who can speak Japanese and then lower the barrier step-by-step. At the same time, we should become more tolerant, enhancing the awareness of our current employees towards this global shift.

I think that one good way to increase our competitiveness in the global space is to be able to communicate with more people. With this in mind, we are also trying to not only learn English but also change the way of thinking and culture by inviting a professional English teacher to our office. 

- So you mean that expanding globally involves two things: adapting foreign employees to the company’s culture and also adapting Japanese employees to the global culture.

Nowadays, more and more Japanese people who don’t speak English are wishing to work in an environment where they can learn English. In that sense, Raksul thus provides this opportunity to its employees.

- Finally, please give a message to those who are thinking about joining Raksul. 

Although I’m giving you the message, this mirrors what our CEO has said in the past: we give high priority to those people who are able to think long-term and are willing to work hard while patiently awaiting the results. 

It is true that technology is changing fast, but it doesn’t mean that every business should be processed at the same pace. 

Don’t you think it would be a good choice to be able to think patiently in a time like now?

Plus, it might sound a bit offensive, but I think one reason why digitization hasn’t proceeded in some areas can be linked to some software engineers and their lack of proactivity. 

In practice, many things have been commoditized. Even within the retail industry, there are some parts where digital optimization has advanced further. On one side of the industry, things like the barcode were invented and since then, it became possible to manage inventory by POS, and improve marketing. 

On the other side of the industry, the speed of data analysis for advertisements has become faster and faster. 

Given these advancements, now, we have come to the question: “Why hasn’t anyone focused on industries such as logistics or printing”. 

It’s interesting to see the potential because as of today, neither folding printouts nor the proper allocation of vehicles to shipping locations have been automated and standardized. Everything is so separated that phrases like ‘by 2t Power Gate Truck’ appeared. 

It is also essential to implement the standardization by normalizing these parts in the form of data so that everyone can communicate using a common language. 

If we ask ourselves who made this possible, we’re hoping that one answer would be the small number of people who are working in the business right now. 

I think there are still a lot of areas where technology can show so much potential and performance as long as we focus on conceptualizing and making a newly created standard that had not previously existed as well as further developing the technologies that exist now. 

- So it means Raksul welcomes anyone who agrees with this idea! Thank you!