Our 22 years together, from the firm’s first client to a fresh start

My relationship with Mr. Yanagisawa goes back to 2004. The company where we imported and sold furniture and interior goods was his firm’s very first client. We chose his firm because he understood international tax, something that mattered to an importer like us. He had recently started his own practice and was keen to work with startups. He joined our company as a director and CFO. That was the beginning of our 22 years together: he was part of the management team as well as our tax adviser.

It was my co-founder Yasuda who introduced us. Yasuda and I have known each other since kindergarten. At university, he belonged to the same golf club as Mr. Yanagisawa, who was a year ahead of him. Our other co-founder, Yashiro, also worked with us at the furniture company. He was the person who originally built the website for Mr. Yanagisawa’s firm.

The furniture business grew, then ran into difficulties. When Yasuda and I were thinking about what to do next, Mr. Yanagisawa let us use his office meeting room on weekends. Was it during Golden Week? He wasn’t there himself; the two of us stood at the whiteboard talking things through. That was where we came up with the idea for a virtual office.

We wanted to give people what they needed to start a business without carrying stock or taking on large fixed costs ourselves. That idea became One Stop Business Center, which we launched in 2010. For us, his office was the place where we figured out our next step.

From planning the company’s future to handing it on through M&A

Since June 2019, we have worked with Yanagisawa Research Institute on how to organize the company, expand overseas and eventually hand over the business. Our conversations about its future have covered much more than M&A.

Mr. Yanagisawa knows what we were thinking when we started and what we have been through since. When we talk, we can start with the story behind the numbers and the terms. That is one of the benefits of having known each other so long.

When I decided to step back from day-to-day management, I asked him to help us with the M&A process. On October 30, 2026, Yasuda and Mr. Yanagisawa became representative directors and took joint responsibility for running the company. I remain involved as its founder.

▶ Play

Some of our staff, business partners and customers may not have met Mr. Yanagisawa yet. He has been a friend since our first venture and knows how One Stop Business Center came into being. I am entrusting the company to two people who know its history and remember why we started it. I hope they will look after the relationships we have built and keep developing the services that help others take their first steps in business.

Helping more entrepreneurs take their first step

Under the new structure, Mr. Yanagisawa will be involved in running the business as a whole, alongside his work in finance and corporate planning. Together with Yasuda, he will build new partnerships, reach new customers and develop services that offer more to the people already using One Stop Business Center.

We also have overseas expansion in mind, including a possible location in Singapore. In Japan, we have built our business around helping people take their first steps as entrepreneurs. I look forward to seeing where these two, who know that history, will take it next.

We started working together in 2004. Since then, we have started again, grown a business and now handed it on. The relationship has changed over the years, but it continues to open the way for our next undertaking. That is what this handover means to me.