JP EN

COLUMN

[Founder Interview #4] Tsuyoshi Tateishi (SpeakBUDDY) – Part 1

  • Interview
2026.04.15

From 280 Points on TOEIC to a Perfect Score and 5,000 Hours of Studying, Forming a Belief in the Necessity of AI English Conversation

In December 2025, D-POPS GROUP invested in SpeakBUDDY Ltd., the developer and operator of the “SpeakBuddy” AI English conversation app. (Read more about it here.)

How did someone who was once considered the worst English student in his grade go on to build a cutting-edge, AI-powered English conversation service? In this three-part series, we look into the entrepreneurial journey of SpeakBUDDY’s founder Tsuyoshi Tateishi and the future he envisions for language learning.

In Part 1, we explore his incredible transition from a low TOEIC score of 280 to 5,000 hours of dedicated study, his experiences at a foreign investment bank, and how a trip around the world sparked the idea for AI-driven English conversation. (This interview was conducted in March 2026.)

◆“Worst at English in the Entire Grade”

Sugihara:
To start off, could you tell us what gave you the initial push to develop the SpeakBuddy app?

Tateishi:
First of all, the biggest reason I chose the field of English was because I was actually terrible at it during my student years. English requires consistent, cumulative effort, but I hit a wall in my first year of junior high school and just couldn’t keep up with my classes after that. By high school, my teacher told me I was “the worst at English in the entire grade.”

Sugihara:
So the student who was the worst in his grade became the CEO of an English conversation app company, ha ha!

Tateishi:
Exactly. That was my reality in high school, but the turning point came during my job hunt in university. I received a tentative offer from a foreign investment bank, and starting my career there was what finally forced me to start learning.

Sugihara:
It was a foreign-owned firm, so didn’t they interview you in English?

Tateishi:
Oh, they did. The final interview was in a boardroom with the then-CEO of Citigroup Global Markets Japan and a row of executives from various departments. At the time, they were testing whether candidates could handle that kind of pressure. Since investment banking is a business where people are the only real assets, they were looking for character.

That 10-on-1 interview was mostly in Japanese, but at the very end, the HR Director said, “Alright, I’m going to ask you a question in English, so please answer in English.” Up until that point, all the interviewers were Japanese, so they were probably assuming, “He graduated from Keio University, so he can probably handle it.”

But in fact, my English was non-existent. My TOEIC score was only 280, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to understand any questions if they asked me in English, so I had prepared exactly one response in my head: “I can’t speak English. But I will study hard. So, no problem!”

I said it with total confidence, but in fact, that single sentence was the only English I had learned. Back at that time, just memorizing that one phrase had been a struggle for me! The entire room of interviewers froze. Everyone was like, “Wait, what? You applied here with that level of English? This is a foreign firm…what are you expecting to do?”

However, this was during my third year of university, so I told them, “I still have one year until I graduate.” At the time, I had just become the youngest person that year to pass the CPA exam at age 20. I was studying 14 hours a day…other than study and sleep, I would spend only two hours a day to shower, eat, and commute. I was used to finishing an entire textbook in a single day. So, I truly believed it when I told them, “I have a year, and that’s enough time for me, seriously.”

At the time, I figured if I could get a 750 on the TOEIC, I would be basically fluent. Compared to the CPA exam, where if you fail, you have to wait another year, I felt no pressure at all. When I said, “I’ll start tomorrow”, they looked at me and said, “You do look like the type of guy who would actually do that.” Still, I walked out thinking I had definitely failed the interview, since it was a global firm and I couldn’t speak a word of English.

But later that day, someone from their HR called me. Apparently, the CEO had been my biggest advocate. He told them, “Hire that guy.” The HR worker asked me, “What on earth did you say to the CEO?” Now, what I had told the CEO was this: “I might not speak English now, but through my CPA studies, I realized there isn’t that much difference in the capacity of human brains. It’s all about having grit. I know for sure that if I put my mind to something, there’s nothing I can’t achieve, and I will absolutely get this done.” The CEO decided, “Let’s hire one interesting guy like this”, and that’s how I got the job.

◆The Problem for Japanese Who Study English for 5,000 Hours

Tateishi:
Over the following years, I reached a perfect score on the TOEIC, passed the Eiken Grade 1 (the highest level of Japan’s most popular English proficiency test), and logged a cumulative total of approximately 5,000 hours of English study.

Through those 5,000 hours, I had a painful realization: learning English would be far more difficult than I thought it would be when I was job hunting. I realized that this might be the single greatest challenge facing the Japanese people. I struggled with it while at that foreign-owned firm, and even after I moved to a Japanese brokerage, I was stationed in Hong Kong where I had to use both English and Chinese. If you can't use the language, you simply cannot do the job.

I learned enough Chinese in Hong Kong to handle daily conversation, but if people ultimately can't understand what you're saying, you can't conduct business. Japanese people are excellent workers, but just because their English isn't great, my compatriots were being looked down on by people from headquarters or other overseas branches, and I couldn't stand it. During global training sessions and such, Japanese participants may not be able to speak English at all, but when it comes to the actual work output, they are consistently the best.

Changing the reality that Japanese people are brilliant but are dismissed because they can’t communicate in English became my core motivation. I spent 5,000 hours to get there, but that’s not a realistic path for everyone. I want to use the power of technology to drastically shorten that time. This is the fundamental reason I chose the field of English education and began developing SpeakBuddy.

◆Making a “Doraemon” Who Can Speak English at Home

Sugihara:
Did you always have the desire to be an entrepreneur, even as a student?

Tateishi:

I did. I remember asking during my job interviews, “If I work at this investment bank, will it help me when I start my own company later?” But after seven years of intense, high-pressure work, I had completely forgotten that dream. However, as my desire to create a service that truly helps society grew stronger, I remembered, “Oh right, I actually wanted to start a company!” So, I quit as soon as I returned from my overseas assignment.

I decided to quit first, and think of a business plan later. So, with my back against the wall, I finally went on the world tour I had always wanted to do, and I mapped out my business plan while traveling. While hopping from country to country, I was also teaching myself app development. The English learning app I built during that trip actually reached number 1 in the overall App Store rankings.

Sugihara:
Hitting an overall ranking of 1 is incredible! Was that app the prototype for what SpeakBuddy is today?

Tateishi:
Yes, I’d say that was the prototype. During my world tour, I also did a short-term study abroad program. Even when you are overseas, you find yourself wanting someone to practice English conversation with. But making friends in English out of thin air is incredibly difficult. People always say, “Just get a foreign boyfriend or girlfriend”, and I actually tried to do that while I was abroad, but it’s not as easy as it sounds, ha ha!

While I was abroad, I thought, “If only I had a Doraemon* at home who could speak English with me, that would be enough.” That desire to create a Doraemon who speaks English was the starting point of our service.

*Note: ‘Doraemon’ is a beloved character from a Japanese children’s cartoon who always helps the other characters with their various problems.

I included a voice recognition feature in that first app, and I’m proud to say it was likely the first app in Japan to feature English voice recognition. However, back in 2014, the accuracy was still quite low. But over the next year or two, I felt the technology improving at an exponential rate. I became convinced that in the future, I would be able to create a real AI English conversation partner. In 2016, I stopped everything else I was working on and focused all my resources on AI English conversation.

◆The Problem with AI-related Branding in 2016

Sugihara:
When you released the precursor to your current app back in 2016, were you already using the word ‘AI’?

Tateishi:
Yes. Even at the 2016 launch, we were calling it ‘AI English Conversation’. Since we had no capital at the start, we began with a crowdfunding campaign. It went surprisingly well—we raised about 4 million yen—and we were already positioning it as an AI-driven service even then.

Sugihara:
The speed of AI adoption and evolution lately is staggering. While language models have developed explosively in the last year or two, you were really at the forefront.

Tateishi:
We were the only ones in that space back then. But honestly, the immediate aftermath of the release was a struggle. People in 2016 were very vocal with their skepticism, asking, “Where exactly is the AI in this?” They’d complain, “I’m talking, but this doesn’t recognize my voice at all!”

Back then, AI conversation meant little more than speaking to a character with an electronic voice. The conversational AI was still in its infancy, with a simple tree structure where we programmed specific responses to specific phrases. You couldn’t engage with it via truly free conversation like we have now. In the end, because we were getting so many reviews asking “Where’s the AI?”, we actually removed the word ‘AI’ from our branding around 2017. Having AI in the title seemed to raise expectations so high that it led to people leaving 1-star reviews, so we decided to take it out for a while.

Then, around 2019, speech recognition technology started to improve dramatically. We also built our own proprietary speech recognition engine, which boosted our accuracy significantly. From that point on, the quality of our conversational AI was able to truly shine.

Sugihara:
When I try using features like BuddyChat now, the AI responds naturally even if I say something completely random or trivial. It clearly isn’t just simple pattern recognition anymore.

Tateishi:
Yes, it can handle tangents and keep the conversation going. I feel like I can finally say “This is AI” with my head held high. Back in 2015 and 2016, we were right in that peak of inflated expectations on the hype cycle, which was followed by a valley of disillusionment. During that valley, people kept telling me, “AI is a joke; it’ll never work.” But gradually, it became the real deal.

Sugihara:
For someone who has been working on this for a decade, do you feel like it's about time for the AI boom to finally sweep across the world?

Tateishi:
In a way, yes. It feels like things are moving exactly as I expected, though there’s a bit of a time lag in terms of when the world finally noticed. To be honest, even with GPT, we were looking at GPT-2 and saying, “This is going to be incredibly useful.” So by the time GPT-4 arrived, our reaction was like, “Well, it’s already been impressive since the beginning.”

It’s only been in the last few years that speech recognition, Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and Personalized Learning Logic have finally synced up. Because the level of inference has jumped so significantly recently, we can now provide high-level free talk like BuddyChat. It feels like the times have finally caught up with SpeakBUDDY.

~To be continued in Part 2~

Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP's advisor Genta Sugihara.

SpeakBUDDY, Ltd.

President and CEO: Tsuyoshi Tateishi
Address: 3F +SHIFT Nihonbashi Sakuradori, 3-14-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Established: May 2013
Website: https://www.speakbuddy.com/en

Next, in the second part of the interview, we discuss:

・The four pillars of SpeakBUDDY's competitive advantage
・Where SpeakBUDDY differs from Duolingo and Speak
・Rapid growth in the corporate market and feedback from business clients
・And other topics

Be sure to check it out here:
https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/speakbuddy-part2/

Related Articles

[Entrepreneur Interview #18] Fuminori Akamatsu (opzt) – Part 1
Building Trust with Major Corporations and Creating a Staffing Business that Develops Human Resources In this first installment of a two-part interview, we asked Fuminori Akamatsu, opzt, Inc.’s founder and CEO, about their business operations, how they build trust with major corporations, their expansion into the technology sector, human resource development, and their approach to the generative AI era. (This interview was conducted in August 2026.) ◆Introducing a Nationwide Business with 5 Locations, Centered on HR and Technology Sugihara: Currently, 26 group companies belong to D-POPS GROUP. Today, we are interviewing Mr. Fuminori Akamatsu, president of opzt, Inc., which joined the group in 2018. Thank you for your time! First of all, although it is posted on your website (available in Japanese only), could you give us an overview of your business in your own words? Akamatsu: Our core operations are centered around two main pillars: our HR business, which includes staffing, recruitment, and outsourcing; and our tech business, which handles the IT technology sector. Since our founding, we have provided HR services primarily for the telecommunications industry, focusing on administrative roles, call centers, and sales and promotional support. We currently operate out of five locations—Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Shikoku, and Fukuoka—with many team members working throughout Japan. Recently, we have been focusing not only on conventional HR services but also on the IT technology sector, rolling out highly specialized HR services for roles such as AI specialists, data scientists, and infrastructure engineers. Currently, we mainly provide System Engineering Services (SES) and operate on an outsourcing and contracting basis, but in the future, we hope to develop and release our own in-house products. Sugihara: By the way, could you tell us the origin of your company name? Akamatsu: It originally came from the desire for our company to be our clients’ first choice. However, the word “choice” itself implies picking from a variety of options, whereas “opt” carries the nuance of proactively selecting something, so we embedded our desire to become that kind of company into the name. Since there was already a famous company called Opt, we wanted to avoid using the same spelling. We added ‘z’, the last letter of the alphabet, to make a new word which we gave the meaning of “the ultimate, best company”. Sugihara: So you drew inspiration from English and coined a new word to make your company’s name. About how many employees do you have in terms of the scale of your staffing? Akamatsu: Including both our headquarters staff as well as all of our dispatch employees, there are currently about 550 people registered with our company. ◆Building Trust from Year Two: Forging Bonds with NTT Sugihara: You have a very large pool of talent. How do you go about connecting with the clients where you dispatch your employees? I’ve heard before that you have many clients related to NTT. How did you manage to get your company involved with such a massive corporation? Akamatsu: A major factor is that when I was working as a corporate employee, I was given a lot of responsibility within NTT Group. Even though I was really just a young kid at the time, various key figures took me under their wing, allowing me to build not only business relationships but also deep interpersonal trust. Later, when I decided to start my own business, an NTT executive who had been a great mentor to me said, “If you’re going independent, I want to support you,” and offered to help me as an advisor. While that’s not the only reason, when I launched my business, former colleagues and other excellent individuals within NTT helped me out in various capacities. Because many of these individuals had long-standing trust, networks, and lots of personal connections with major companies like NTT, leveraging those connections to establish business deals became our starting point. And then, truly miraculously, we were able to sign a contract with NTT at the very early stage of our second year in business. Given that we didn’t have a Teikoku Databank rating at the time and weren’t yet the kind of company that they would typically even look at, I think our dealing with NTT was quite the exception. Sugihara: I believe your clients include other major corporations besides NTT. Many startups struggle to establish working relationships, so how did you and your management team pave the way for that? Akamatsu: We were truly fortunate to do business with a massive company like NTT in our second year, as it allowed us to learn through trial and error the difficulties of working with large corporations (things like information management, compliance, and talent quality). Because we were able to build a certain level of trust with NTT and establish an organizational framework for engaging with major companies, we were able to apply that to other large corporations, which helped us to get up and running relatively quickly. As has been the case for a while, rather than sales strategies that simply win contracts, we value strategies that focus on how long we can sustain those contracts. I believe our ongoing transactions with major companies like NTT and Docomo are the result of gradually building things up, one step at a time. Sugihara: What do you specifically pay attention to in order to maintain business with major corporations, or what do you think is the reason you enjoy such favor with your mentors? Akamatsu: I truly believe it’s the accumulation of consistently keeping small promises. It’s about trust—ensuring that the quality of our talent, compliance, and information management are solid, as I mentioned earlier. When a problem occurs on-site, we don’t hide it; we report it immediately and communicate how we will improve as a company. The larger the company, the more they scrutinize these aspects. So, we immediately and thoroughly address each issue. Our employees also strictly adhere to this principle, and I think the accumulation of all these efforts is what makes us stand out. We started from nothing, and while our initial entry point may have been personal connections, I don’t believe business relationships last this long purely on personal ties. It’s all about the cumulative effort. ◆From Routine Tasks to Highly Specialized Fields: Differentiating Their Business in the Era of AI Sugihara: I have the impression that your services have pivoted over these past 13 years. In particular, you recently started a tech-related staffing business. How are you differentiating yourselves in that area? Akamatsu: We didn’t originally set out with a conscious decision to pivot. Rather, as we kept our eyes on the HR market, we realized that routine and standardized tasks would inevitably become automated by AI. At the same time, we saw market movement showing an increased demand for talent capable of utilizing AI, such as data scientists and professionals in the AI and data fields. Our company realized about three or four years ago that if we just continued our traditional HR services, we would definitely be weeded out, so we knew we had to focus on high-growth sectors. However, we felt there was no point in doing the same thing as conventional SES companies. Therefore, we are specifically focusing on areas that directly tie into a company’s competitiveness moving forward, such as AI and data engineers, data scientists, and talent within the infrastructure field who can support data centers. Additionally, rather than only hiring individuals who already possess high skills, we are running a parallel initiative where we hire high-potential individuals with no prior experience, educate them, and develop them into specialized professionals while they gain practical experience. I believe combining the know-how we’ve cultivated in the staffing industry with specialized expertise in the technology sector is our unique point of differentiation that other companies don’t have. Sugihara: Your focus on the data center field, as you just mentioned, is definitely the right move. I’ve seen news from the US where, despite an increase in IT engineer layoffs, the demand for electricians is surging, to the point where even certified public accountants are quitting to become electricians or plumbers. I simply thought it was about having a tangible trade, but it turns out these jobs are related to data center construction. I hear there is a severe labor shortage, and while Japanese manufacturers are profiting from semiconductors and servers, there's also an ultimate demand for the people who actually install them. Akamatsu: That’s exactly right. In Osaka, in particular, data centers are rapidly increasing as backups for ones running in Tokyo. They are currently being built at a rapid pace with the idea that even if Tokyo falls, data can be protected in Osaka. Because these facilities require 24-hour monitoring and are often located in remote areas, telecommunications carriers are constantly struggling with labor shortages. We decided we wanted to tackle this head-on and are putting significant effort into it. I may use AI quite a bit myself, but people really are starting to use AI more and more. ◆Hiring Strategies and Educational Programs to Become Clients’ First Choice Sugihara: Now, I’d like to ask about acquiring the talent you actually dispatch to the clients receiving these services. I’ve heard of companies even within our own group that are struggling with recruitment. With costs rising and a shrinking talent pool to begin with, how is opzt tackling this? Akamatsu: Not to say it’s going perfectly well for us either, but we make a point not to rely on just one recruitment method. Our defining characteristic is that we use a mix of multiple recruitment channels—job boards, recruitment agencies, referrals, social media, and hiring events—depending on the job role and region. More important than that is becoming a company that applicants actively choose. Today’s job seekers look closely not only at the salary and job description, but also at what kind of experiences they will gain after joining, how it will lead to their future career, and how the company will treat them. Because of this, we make sure not to just say the good things, but to honestly explain everything: the job content, workplace environment, and expected roles. We place more emphasis on ensuring that the people who join us can thrive and work with us for a long time, rather than just focusing on the sheer number of hires. Sugihara: That’s wonderful. You mentioned that when people join opzt, you don’t necessarily just hire those who already possess high skills, but you also have programs to educate your employees. Could you elaborate on that? Can someone with no background in technology really become the kind of talent dispatched to that sector? Akamatsu: As part of our fundamental training, in addition to basic education on business etiquette, information security, and compliance, we conduct training tailored to each assignment. Especially in the tech sector, we don’t just have them learn online; we prioritize getting them to a point where they can use what they’ve learned in actual practice. We do this by creating assignments for them to present, supporting their acquisition of certifications, and pairing this with follow-up support from senior engineers. Furthermore, we believe that the ability to report, communicate, ask for help, and to understand a client’s intent is just as crucial as technical skill. So, we adjust our programs for each individual to cover these areas as well. Our goal is to develop talent that makes clients say, “I want to request this person for the job again.” ◆The Era of AI Agents: Stormy Seas or Smooth Sailing? Sugihara: Now, for this kind of staffing business—especially within the tech talent sector you’re focusing on—generative AI, and more recently, agentic AI, is a point of concern. Do you view this trend as a tough situation, or an opportunity? What countermeasures or approaches are you taking? Akamatsu: I think it’s definitely a storm and a critical situation, but more than that, I consider it a massive opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, standardized and routine tasks are increasingly being replaced by AI, and I can already feel that replacement happening in reality. However, if we just continue with the same kind of HR services we’ve offered up to now, I believe our company will undoubtedly disappear. On the other hand, I can feel a steady, upward trend in the demand for talent who can utilize data, talent who can implement AI into businesses, and talent with the level of communication and interpersonal skills that AI cannot replace. In that sense, if opzt itself can change and ride this wave, I believe we could be catching a very massive wave indeed. At our company, we are trying to develop talent capable of using AI even in non-engineering roles like administration, management, and recruitment, beyond just AI specialists and data scientists. By educating people to be on the side that uses AI rather than being used by it, I hope to create a differentiation strategy not found elsewhere. ◆Three New Initiatives for Further Growth Sugihara: Thank you. Are there any specific new initiatives you are currently working on for the further growth of your business? Akamatsu: There are three main things. First, as we discussed earlier, we are prioritizing the growth of our AI and data business, as well as the infrastructure sector surrounding data centers. Second, instead of dispatching individuals one by one, we are steadily increasing contracts with higher added value through outsourcing, where we provide support as a team. Third, even within our existing HR services, we are utilizing AI to enhance productivity in tasks such as recruitment, interviews, and staff follow-ups. Sugihara: Are there clients who need an entire team to be dispatched? Akamatsu: There actually are. Right now, engineers with those specific skills are either no longer available, or their rates have become expensive. So, we are seeing an increase in cases where we form and dispatch a team combining experienced professionals with the young talent we are training. As they grow, we add the next wave of new staff to the team, creating a cycle of continuous on-site training. Sugihara: I see, the younger members gain experience working alongside their mentors on the same job and in the same field with the same client, building their skills to eventually become leaders themselves. Akamatsu: Right. Our clients are also unable to train such talent themselves, so there is a strong demand to outsource the whole process to us. While this system can make things difficult sometimes, it allows our company to bring in inexperienced individuals, so we have recently been proposing to send whole teams to client companies quite often. Sugihara: Indeed, while sending someone individually helps that specific person build skills and experience, it raises the question of whether know-how is accumulating within the company itself. Usually, that person would have to come back and act as an instructor for internal training. But that training time doesn’t translate to revenue right away. Instead of making them just play the role of a teacher, they are essentially providing on-the-job training for younger members while both are getting paid by the client, and they themselves learn something through that, as well. Akamatsu: Exactly. So we are rapidly expanding this method right now. Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. opzt, Inc. Company President and CEO: Fuminori Akamatsu Address: 5F Nomura Real Estate Building, 4-2-12 Honmachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka Established: September 10, 2013 Website: https://opzt.net/ In the second part of the interview, we discuss: ・President Akamatsu’s experience as a musician and how he applies it to business management ・The catalyst for founding opzt, its 13-year trajectory, and organization building ・“SELEBRO”, the entertainment business he launched after a serious illness ・The story of joining D-POPS GROUP and his resonance with realizing a Venture Ecosystem ・opzt’s 5-year vision and a message for the readers ・And other topics
  • Group Companies
  • Interview
2026.08.31
[Founder Interview #7] Naoto Tomita (Adora Inc.) – Part 3
The Three Values of Sunny, System, Solid: Building a Company to Solve Societal Issues with a Global Team In Part 3, the final installment of this three-part interview series, we take a close look at the people and culture of Adora Inc. Why did the development team, led by the CTO, Mr. Saurabh—whom President Tomita met in India—choose to join an unknown startup? We also cover the bonds President Tomita formed with the friends he met during his study abroad in Estonia, and their three corporate values of “Sunny, System, and Solid.” (Note: This interview was conducted in June 2026.) ◆Office in Kinshicho: A Choice Driven by Human Connection Sugihara: We are conducting this interview in a room in an apartment building in Kinshicho. It feels very cozy, complete with flowers. I understand you moved here this spring, but why did you choose this location? Tomita: There are a few reasons. Naturally, accessibility for all team members played a role. But on a personal level, I felt Kinshicho was a better fit than a high-profile area. Kinshicho is thriving enough to have five Starbucks locations, yet it maintains a remarkably down-to-earth atmosphere. Personally, I enjoy drinking alcohol together with the team—in moderation, of course—to deepen our bonds and boost our collective drive to push forward. So Kinshicho’s nearby izakaya pubs and convenient access made it the ideal spot. ◆Building a Team in Their Mid-Twenties Who Will Change the Future Sugihara: Your team has gradually expanded over the past six months. Could you share your current team structure, to the extent that you can disclose? Tomita: We remain a small company with around ten regular employees, and our core members are rather engineering-centered, but we’ve also welcomed new employees to handle HR, business development, UX, and public policy. Back-office members have also joined, and our functional roles are taking shape. It’s a young team, with an average age of around 26 to 27. We also have a lot of university student interns, so including them makes the overall average even younger. Sugihara: It’s really a team built to change the future. Starting with co-founder and CTO Saurabh, with whom I’ve had the chance to get a drink together, your development team consists of Indian engineers. Is their technical capability seriously on another level? And why did they choose to join a Japanese startup? Tomita: Individual capabilities matter far more than nationality, of course, but all our team members from India possess outstanding technical skills, paired with exceptional commitment and passion. They have a strong sense of ownership and a drive to build great products. Sugihara: They must be wonderful individuals to be not only highly skilled, but also diligent and passionate as well. Tomita: Indeed. I believe Saurabh’s character is the reason for that. Because he is a great person, great people naturally gather around him. Sugihara: Why did Saurabh and the Indian engineering team join Adora back when it was an unknown startup, long before your partnership with au? Tomita: Saurabh and I met at a cafe in India. Back in my student days, I worked a part-time job serving coffee and tea at that shop, and he was a regular customer. Our relationship started purely as friends. Through that connection, Saurabh brought together his colleagues and younger students from his university. Sugihara: So, it all started after you met at a cafe in India! Was it easy for Saurabh to join the company? Tomita: Initially, he kept his other job, but he was committed full-time to our company in the very early stages. Because he trusted me enough to bet on us, I constantly feel the responsibility to work hard and live up to that trust. He is someone who deeply values believing in people. ◆Making Udon Together in a College Dorm in Estonia Sugihara: Among your team members across various roles, some are friends you met during your time studying abroad in Estonia. What are they like? Tomita: Indeed, I met both our current UI/UX head and our HR head back in Estonia! At our dorm, we even made udon together while talking about how much we missed Japan, ha ha. Not only with them, but with all of the people in our company, there are countless moments when I genuinely enjoy working together and that I want to do my best for them, and I personally treasure that feeling. There are many things I cannot do alone, so I am deeply grateful that we complement each other as a team. I want to continue building on the foundation of what can only be accomplished together as a collective unit. ◆Formulating Three Core Values: “Sunny, System, and Solid” Sugihara: I understand that together with those teammates, you recently formulated your mission and values. Could you introduce them to us today? Tomita: Not too long ago, we began trying out three values as our guiding slogans, and then officially put them into practice starting this fiscal year. All three begin with the letter “S” to keep them memorable: “Sunny, System, and Solid”. “Sunny” means acting in a way that makes others feel that working with us is enjoyable and makes them want to support our journey. “System” is inspired by Toyota’s philosophy: “Don’t blame people; improve the system, instead”. When an issue arises, if the people involved start to blame each other, the individuals who are accused of fault will feel rejected. But when you make the mechanism—rather than the person—the target of discussion, it opens the door to constructive dialogue on how to improve. Because our business carries societal responsibility, we need an environment where mistakes can be identified openly while maintaining psychological safety. “Solid” means doing things right and executing steadily to completion. Being a startup is no excuse for shortcuts. Partnering with established corporations and local governments means that delivering on our promises is the most vital source of our reputation. Sugihara: That is excellent. For a security service partnering with established corporations, adopting “Solid” as a core value makes complete sense. ◆Intentionally Postponing the Corporate Website Sugihara: By the way, while Adora has a dedicated service website for Kodomamo, you don’t have a standard corporate website yet. Given the importance of having a place to show off your philosophy and company culture, was postponing it an intentional choice? Tomita: Since our early days, our mindset was that if we had the time to do something like build a corporate website, we should use that time to better please our app users instead. We operated with the mindset of fixing bugs before bothering to make a website. However, moving forward, we recognize the need for a corporate site that serves as a welcoming front door to recruit new teammates and scale our operations. While we might have seemed like a mysterious entity until now, ha ha, we plan to publish a website soon. (Note: Adora’s corporate website is now live at https://corporate.kodomamo.com/en) Sugihara: So, you were prioritizing product development above all else. There are definitely some startups with flashy corporate sites that lack underlying substance, ha ha, so I agree that focusing on delivering real value was entirely the right decision. ◆Goals for 2026–2027 Sugihara: What are your primary goals and major milestones for this year heading into next year? Tomita: Domestically, we want to further strengthen our sales through mobile carrier retail shops. Having reached approximately 300,000 users, we aim to grow that number to 500,000 and beyond. Internationally, we plan to determine our product-market fit in Taiwan to establish a repeatable success playbook, and then use it to drive expansion into countries such as Indonesia and the UK. We want the numbers for our domestic and international results to raise expectations both inside and outside the company. Furthermore, we aim to engage a broader network of stakeholders. Including collaborations with government ministries, our goal for this year is to demonstrate expansion that creates large-scale social implementation and impact. At the same time, establishing our culture and executing our values in a “Solid” manner remains crucial. We plan to expand our workforce thoughtfully while building a strong, healthy organization. ◆Realizing a Venture Ecosystem Sugihara: Finally, D-POPS GROUP’s aim is to realize a “Venture Ecosystem”. What aspects of that vision resonate with you? Tomita: I resonate with it strongly in all areas. No single individual or company can solve complex social issues or generate massive social impact alone. Just as a company cannot be built by one person, addressing societal challenges requires collaboration from various stakeholders beyond individual corporate boundaries. It takes more than just the startup itself—they need investors to back their vision, major corporations to partner with them to bring that vision to society, governments to support causes that benefit the public, and universities to collaborate with them on joint research. I believe we can only solve significant societal challenges by involving all of these stakeholders together. From our founding, Adora Inc. initiated joint development with the Aichi Prefectural Police and partnered with universities, making sure that our company was working not only for ourselves but for our surroundings, as well. Moving forward, we aim to build the ecosystem necessary for safe communication environments for children and families, protecting people from crime. I think our efforts will serve as a good example within the broader Venture Ecosystem. Sugihara: D-POPS GROUP aims to build a platform where diverse partners build an ecosystem together that generates shared value. Tomita: Exactly. It’s the principle that creating value for the ecosystem ultimately returns benefits to everyone involved. I wholeheartedly agree with that idea. ◆A Message to Readers Sugihara: Finally, do you have a message for our readers? Tomita: We’re strongly committed to deeply impacting society. We would be delighted to work together with anyone who shares that vision, whether they be a team member, a shareholder, or whatever relationship we have. D-POPS GROUP is a wonderful shareholder, and I highly recommend them, ha ha! And Kinshicho is a fantastic town, so please come visit us! Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. Adora Inc. Company President and CEO: Naoto Tomita Address: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo Established: July 2023 Kodomamo App Website: https://www.adora-app.com/ Please check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview if you have not already!
  • Interview
2026.07.27
[Founder Interview #7] Naoto Tomita (Adora Inc.) – Part 2
Educational Settings, Global Expansion, and New Services: The Full Picture of Social Implementation Envisioned by Kodomamo In Part 2, the second installment of our three-part interview series, we explore how Kodomamo expanded beyond au into partnerships with the other two major Japanese mobile carriers, NTT Docomo and SoftBank. We also cover the current status of its global expansion into South Korea and Taiwan, initiatives for schools via “Kodomamo for School,” and its entry into a new area: fraud prevention for adults. (Note: This interview was conducted in June 2026.) ◆Post-Integration Performance and Reception Sugihara: How has the reception for Kodomamo been since its integration into au’s service plan? Could you share with us any details regarding signup rates and feedback from the field, to the extent that you can disclose? Tomita: Thanks to the in-store guidance provided at retail locations, the percentage of users actively starting to use Kodomamo has been steadily rising. Our metrics also show that users who try it are continuing to stick with it. We genuinely feel it is being received as a high-quality, valuable service. There is still plenty of room for improvement. We are continuously developing new features and refinements to make it even easier for sales staff at various locations to offer it, and in the future, we also plan to ask for further feedback from those on-site personnel. While more comprehensive feedback from end users and sales personnel will come in over time, the numbers are already showing very positive trends. Specifically, among subscribers to the U12 Value Plan, the proportion of users who register for Kodomamo has been gradually increasing when compared to immediately after the app was released. Sugihara: Do you think it’s because on-site sales staff have become more accustomed to explaining it, and some are now using it personally, making it easier for them to recommend? Tomita: I believe that plays a part. On our end, we’ve also made ongoing improvements, however modest. Early on, when users signed up at mobile phone stores, some mistakenly registered for a standard paid subscription through the app store, even though it was already built into their mobile plan, so they should have been able to use it for free. Accordingly, we updated our onboarding process to ask where users came from, creating a dedicated setup flow specifically for au customers to keep things clear and streamlined. As a result of these improvements, those issues have decreased significantly. We’ve really been improving iteratively as we run. Sugihara: Indeed, operational refinements are just as crucial as the level of completion when it comes to expanding an app’s user base. ◆Expanding Collaborations with All Three Major Mobile Carriers Sugihara: It’s already impressive enough that your app is getting featured at au shops, but we understand that referrals and distribution are now expanding across retail shop networks for NTT Docomo and SoftBank as well. How is the collaboration going with those two companies? Tomita: Because we operate with the mindset of solving a major social issue, partnering with multiple telecom carriers was something we aimed for from the very beginning. Our retail distribution first started in Docomo Shops, followed by official integration into au’s rate plan, and now SoftBank offers it at all of their stores as well. Of course, getting that all set into place required extensive operational adjustments, and the on-site sales teams worked exceptionally hard. Now, our user numbers are growing steadily, for which we are truly grateful. Sugihara: The referral numbers from SoftBank distributors have been surging rapidly, haven’t they? Tomita: They’re growing so much. Thanks to the hard work of everyone at SoftBank C&S and the dedication of the agency partners, momentum has really picked up since the start of this year. Sugihara: Besides the operational issues you experienced with au, did you encounter any challenges unique to NTT Docomo or SoftBank? Tomita: We were particularly mindful of ensuring our app wouldn’t conflict with services each carrier already offered. For example, SoftBank has its own proprietary security services, so we ran tests to ensure our app’s functions wouldn’t directly compete with or negatively impact their features. Rather than demanding for them to sell our product, we approach partnerships through fine-tuned adjustments that benefit both sides. If bugs or issues pop up on the ground, busy store staff lose the motivation to recommend the app. To prevent that, we always maintain a support system ready to respond immediately whenever anything arises. ◆Current Status of Global Expansion into South Korea and Taiwan Sugihara: Last year, you also launched the international expansion of Kodomamo. Which countries have you entered and how are things progressing? Tomita: We’ve expanded into South Korea and Taiwan. While this brought its share of challenges, the great thing about mobile apps is that you can translate the product, run ads, and conduct small-scale testing with a budget of around 500,000 to 1 million yen. In South Korea, testing revealed a clear, strong demand. The dangerous chat detection feature resonated even more than expected. Initially, we assumed location tracking would be the main selling point, but it turned out that right from the start, detecting dangerous chats was the top motivation for customers. During user interviews, Korean parents worried about things like whether their children were getting involved with illegal drugs. We rarely hear concerns like that in Japan, so that’s definitely one difference between regions. However, KakaoTalk is the dominant messaging app in South Korea rather than LINE, and we haven’t fully implemented complete compatibility for KakaoTalk yet. Since we have a strong feeling that doing so will drive growth, we plan to upgrade that before we start to really advertise our services there. In Taiwan, where LINE is widely used, we are currently acquiring users at a very low cost. Market demand is high, with some parents relying on the app even more actively than in Japan. We intend to put even more effort there going forward. Following Taiwan, we want to expand into other Asian nations like Thailand. Once we support WhatsApp, expansion into various other countries—including Indonesia and the UK—will also be within reach. Sugihara: That’s quite aggressive. You’ve really had a global perspective right from the founding of the company. Tomita: I believe this business addresses a universal need felt worldwide. That has been our target from day one. Naturally, a lot of people here want to support Japanese businesses working hard on the global stage, so we aim to become one of those companies. ◆“Kodomamo for School”: Working with Municipalities and Schools Sugihara: “Kodomamo for School” is your intriguing initiative to partner with local governments nationwide for school environments. I guess it must take a lot more time to see results from this, but could you briefly explain it to us? Tomita: Kodomamo for School is a service designed to be installed on educational tablets used in schools. While the standard Kodomamo is installed on smartphones used by parents and children, the “for School” version promotes the safe and effective utilization of students’ tablets. Its features include issuing alerts upon detecting explicit selfies or grooming behavior (such as exchanging nude photos), as well as website monitoring capabilities. While core functionality remains largely similar to the consumer version, the key difference is that the primary stakeholders are local municipalities and boards of education. Sugihara: Between this and your successful negotiation and partnership with the three major mobile carriers, your corporate credibility has grown significantly. Tomita: We are deeply grateful for that. ◆The Next Challenge: Developing Fraud Prevention Services for Adults Sugihara: Moving on, could you share any details about new services or features currently in development following Kodomamo? Tomita: Right now, we are developing a fraud prevention service for the general public aimed at combating scams on social media. Across Japan and globally, social media and chat-based scams—especially investment and romance scams—have become a severe social problem, with hundreds of millions of yen lost daily. While phone scams are well known, chat-based fraud is equally critical. Our core advantage lies in our ability to detect fraudulent activity within social media environments. While Kodomamo targets children, we are currently hard at work developing a service designed to detect fraud and protect adults. We are pushing to release it as quickly as possible. On the other hand, people who fall victim to scams rarely think to install protection apps on their own, making stakeholder collaboration even more crucial here than with children’s services. We are currently moving forward while gathering insights and feedback from various partners. Sugihara: Considering a service like this, being capable of partnering and collaborating with established companies becomes increasingly essential. Tomita: Absolutely. Although our engineering team is small, bringing unique features to market through social implementation alongside large corporations and local governments is indispensable for solving major societal challenges. ~To be concluded in Part 3~ Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. Adora Inc. Company President and CEO: Naoto Tomita Address: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo Established: July 2023 Corporate Website: https://corporate.kodomamo.com/en Finally, in the third part of the interview, we discuss: ・Building a team in their mid-twenties who will change the future ・Forming their three values of “Sunny”, “System”, and “Solid” ・Realizing a Venture Ecosystem ・And other topics Be sure to check it out here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/adora-part3/ In case you missed it, you can catch up on Part 1 of this interview here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/adora-part1/
  • Interview
2026.07.23
Back to COLUMN