Feb 20 2025 Shoichiro Tanaka
Before GAAS
When I, the founder of TANAAKK, was 18 years old, I started my own business in 2006 at the University of Tokyo. It was not a typical software-related business but rather a collection of original ventures, including one-on-one tutoring for junior high school students, selling used law textbooks, collecting intellectual property (such as the best classroom test notebooks), and selling them on CD-ROM. I covered my university tuition fees and monthly living expenses entirely on my own through multiple income streams. Intellectual property was key differentiator that time.
Three languages. Global, computing, capital markets
When I upgraded my venture portfolio, my hourly salary was already around $50 at the age of 22, right after graduating. Then, I began searching for a more efficient and scalable business domain in terms of earnings per hour.
For the first time, in pursuit of a better life, I read 100 books per week in multiple languages about modern industries. Through this process, I selected the international enterprise computing sector, which plays a crucial role in the global digital value chain. I had a strong intuition: if I mastered multiple languages and translated between them, there would be increasing profit opportunities within the margins between each language.
My next career direction became clear—I aimed to become an “interpreter” specializing in English, capital markets terminology, computing languages, and Japanese. The best position that met my criteria for accumulating knowledge at the time was an account executive role in global enterprise software sales, as it offered the highest hourly salary I could achieve then.
The foundational knowledge I focused on included:
- Languages: English, accounting (capital markets terminology), computing
- Databases: SQL, Java
- Programming Languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, C, C++
- Network Security: CWE, CVE, CVSS
- Capital Markets: JGAAP, USGAAP, IFRS, CPA, CAIA
The first meeting with enterprise software industry
When I started a one-year software sales job in 2010 to pay for my younger brothers’ tuition, the account executive role was not particularly difficult for me (though it was usually challenging for most new hires). The reason customers were happy with me was that I had access to valuable, foundational information.
I read academic papers on economics and computing, gathered firsthand knowledge from CTOs in the software industry, studied best practices from Fortune Global 2000 companies, analyzed 10-K filings of successful NASDAQ-listed winners, and translated these insights for executives at large Japanese enterprises with decision-making power. I discovered a strong pattern: all major computing innovations originate from academic papers and eventually materialize in the stock market. Because of this, SEC 10-K filings and Google Scholar became my most powerful sales tools at the time.
In my first year, I generated $1 million in revenue, making me one of the youngest high-earning sales representatives in the industry. After selling software to major enterprises in Japan, I quickly realized that customers were enthusiastic about talking with me during the sales process—right up until they placed a purchase order. However, once the order was finalized, project managers or consultants would take over, and customer satisfaction would gradually decline day by day.
The rise of GAAS
This experience in the software industry forged my decision to quit my salaried position and start my own company—one that could control every aspect of quality, from the initial appointment and sales process to order fulfillment, implementation, customer support, invoicing, and upselling. The idea of maintaining quality and customer satisfaction while operating at low cost took me a long time to prepare and refine.
After incorporating TANAAKK in 2013, the first GAAS (Growth-as-a-Service) product was released in 2021: HITSCAN, HITPLAN, and HITSERIES CICD. This involved searching R&D assets and transforming them into revenue-generating SaaS services.
Following the prototyping phase, there was growing demand for solutions for building economic moat and fortress: higher efficiency of capital than global benchmark with predictable earnings per share growth and operating leverage. Which always tend to be connected IoT, Software as a Service, subscription business:
- How to structure legal contracts of SaaS selling(HITSERIES RevOps)
- How to safeguard SaaS servers 24/7 (HITSERIES SRE)
- How to scale connected hardware products (HITSERIES ODM)
- How to verify security assurance of SaaS (HITSERIES TLPT)
- How to safeguard the vulnerabilities of entire application and hardware platform (HITSERIES SoC)
- How to select right country, effective tax planning, appropreate shareholding structure, purpose aligned capital for sustainable growth (HITSERIES CAPITAL)
GAAS achieved US$30 million in ARR within just four years, reaching this milestone by 2024.
The anger made GAAS
To look back the past software sales experience, it was my initial “anger” and “frustration” that led to the creation of GAAS. Right response to negative emotion, appropreate action against sense of pain will drive you to the future desirable outcome. I could not fully control the total quality of the product and service, which ultimately connected me to this futuristic GAAS concept. The disappointment and sadness of failing to deliver an exciting experience to customers drove me to establish a fully controlled value chain to create the highest-quality economic products and services.
The consumer is king in modern society
In my opinion, even state-of-the-art technology is useless and a white elephant if it is not directly connected to effective demand, archetypal mass desire, and human emotion. The consumer is king in modern society, and every type of new technology is destined to become commoditized and standardized to ensure it is easily tradable and consumable.
Higher-purpose design, beauty, and aesthetics
There are some people who can separate life and work, but I cannot feel attached to a business where I cannot dedicate my passion—where I cannot control every aspect of the experience. I prefer to deliver an integrated higher purpose through products and services. “Beauty on the outside, efficiency on the inside”—aesthetics lie in simplicity.
The GAAS strategy is about harmony—not just in hardware aesthetics (which is a common strength of Japanese manufacturing) but also in cost structure and operational efficiency. The true charisma lies in creating an experience that feels effortless and high-end while remaining practical and cost-efficient in the long run. This is why GAAS will always prioritize system-wide design over maximizing profit on individual components.
Aesthetic & Integrity First:
- GAAS prioritizes design and seamless functionality over brute force specs.
- Individual components like HITSCAN, HITPLAN, CICD, RevOps, and SRE do not function independently but rather as an integrated system. These components do not exaggerate their individual importance but instead maintain a clean, minimalist aesthetic while housing high-performance elements that operate silently and efficiently.
Silent & Low-Energy Operation:
- Unlike many vendors or softwares with claiming spec or feature, GAAS focus on efficiency, stable thermals, and long life of the client business portfolio.
- Unified architecture optimizes data flow, reducing energy waste, communication loss.
Low Cost to Operate, Not Low Cost to Buy:
- GAAS doesn’t chase the lowest BOM (bill of materials) cost but rather long-term cost efficiency.
- The GAAS portfolio company or products have high stock re-sale value, longer lifespans, and lower energy consumption, making them a better TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) choice.
The role of the founder is to be an icon, not charisma
TANAAKK was created to achieve “regret minimization” for individuals during their limited, one-time life on Earth. I believe that the modern company shareholding structure is not a critical factor in driving consumer or employee enthusiasm. Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs), and Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) do not guarantee employees’ dedication to the company. However, this is a crucial pitfall when building a legendary vehicle because charisma alone cannot accomplish the greatest purpose—we must harness the collective strength of every individual.
The specifications of an individual’s body do not differ significantly, but the size of one’s purpose, dreams, and desires provides the greatest power to move things forward. The founder should serve as a symbol of unwavering good faith—not merely as a leader, but as a catalyst for leadership, triggering a lever that inspires leaders to realign with the highest-purpose design.
Avoiding Charisma
I intentionally and carefully avoid becoming a “charismatic owner” or “charismatic founder.” I make sure in everyday operations that the founder does not become a charismatic figure. This is because if a founder is overly charismatic, all managers will rely on that charisma or the owner as the final decision-maker, which weakens their drive to shape their own desirable environment, take control under their own responsibility, and transform it into the vision they aspire to.
My mission is to achieve the highest potential of humanity—pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Therefore, relying on a single charismatic leader is too weak a fuel to drive the way to such an insane destination.
Ownership & purpose
There is a fundamental human tendency to control one’s own environment. Establishing a sense of ownership is evident in GAAS’s zero-based design philosophy. Every component—from fonts, logos, and product names to hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, and retail stores—is developed in-house to create a seamless, unified experience.
GAAS sacrifices component-level margins in favor of overall system optimization. This ensures that products are beautiful, simple, and energy-efficient, enhancing the user experience rather than merely maximizing profitability at the part level.
Unlike companies that assemble third-party components, GAAS engineers and designers work on original, in-house proprietary innovations. The development of proprietary technologies fosters a strong sense of ownership among employees. They feel that they are not just building a product but shaping the future of the world.
The closed ecosystem as a symbol of mastery
Humans have an inherent need to control their surroundings. GAAS’s fully integrated ecosystem—hardware, software, cloud, and retail—ensures an uncompromised user experience. This level of end-to-end control reflects GAAS’s internal philosophy, fostering a deep sense of connection among employees.
GAAS products are not just tools; they embody a philosophy—one that values design, simplicity, and efficiency. This unification of purpose provides employees with a higher mission, much like how individuals take pride in controlling and refining their personal environments.
TANAAKK is more than just a company; it is a symbol of beauty— a culmination of human history
GAAS’s zero-based development reinforces a deep sense of craftsmanship and pride among employees. Instead of merely assembling off-the-shelf components, GAAS builds its own world from scratch, allowing employees to feel like creators rather than just workers. This mirrors the human instinct to establish and control one’s own domain, making TANAAKK more than just a company—it is a symbol of ownership, purpose, and innovation. It is an icon that expresses the beauty of human history, with its epicenter in Asian territories.