I've found 9999 ways that don't work

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Edison, who invented the light bulb, made 10,000 prototypes.

When asked, "How did you overcome 9,999 failures?" Edison replied, “I have never failed.”

This is not unique to Edison. It represents the relationship between success and failure that applies to everything in the world.

There is also the Japanese expression “sen mitsu,” which means that when you take on a challenge, only three people out of a thousand will succeed.

Even in the world of start-up investment, most VC-backed companies don't do well. Even if only a few companies are very successful, it is considered a total success.

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In other words, when we take on the challenge of achieving something, it is natural to assume that there will be instances where things do not go well, and we will repeat trial and error.

The failure of individual efforts is not a bad thing, but rather the correct path necessary to arrive at success.

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At MATRIX, we believe that boldly taking on challenges is a necessary step to achieve success, and we encourage and value it as the right thing to do.

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What is admonished as "negative" are the behaviors that prevent people from taking on those challenges, such criticizing only the negative aspects of something and trying to stop it with a negative reaction, saying, "No, it won’t work. Don't take risks."

This stance comes from the idea that "avoiding failure" is a virtue, and "not making mistakes" is an ideal. This goes against the premise that failure is not a bad thing, but part of the path necessary to achieve success. It is also connected to "negativism," "doing nothing," and "anti-progressivism," thinking that doing nothing is the best.

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In Japan, people tend to look smart when they say, "There's a high chance that you won't be able to do something because it's…," but if that stops you from taking on a challenge, it's worthless.

This is the predominant way of thinking, especially in Japan. At our company, we strongly discourage these acts as "negative."

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The important thing is to challenge yourself.

People on the outside looking in are just critics who talk about what can and cannot be done.

For example, people often talk about whether the Japanese national soccer team will win or lose to the Netherlands or other great football power. It's all just noise from outsiders.

Coaches and players of the national team do not care about what others think in terms of whether they will win or lose.

They just think, "How can we win?"

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Our company is the same.

We don't heed bystanders who criticize what we can or cannot do.

But rather, should we do it, or shouldn't we?

If it should be done, how should it be done?

Only those two things are important.

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Fastest! Hottest! Shortest!

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If we decompose this “history of taking on challenges” into more specific guidelines, it becomes “fastest, hottest, shortest.”

fastest = speed

hottest = passion

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Speed and passion are a venture's only weapons.

This is the reason why, in the history of the world, super-large companies always eventually give way to start-up companies.

Startups cannot beat giant companies in terms of brand power, name recognition, capital strength, human resources, technical strength, organizational strength, sales force, connections, and so on.

But at the moment of a paradigm shift in an industry due to a new technology, generational change occurs because we surpass the big companies at that time with speed and passion (so-called “Innovator's Dilemma.”)

Conversely, a start-up without speed and passion has no chance of success.

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However, speed and passion alone would be an unreasonable theory that ignores productivity, and be akin to something like "shooting down an airplane with a spear." What you need is the wisdom to choose the most efficient and shortest way to reach your goals.

Dragon Quest, which took the world by storm long ago, has a spell called "Zoom." Zoom is a spell that allows you to instantly move between locations. If you walk around without using Zoom, which allows you to move in an instant, it will take a tremendous amount of time. It doesn't matter how hard you work; it would take you hours or days to do something that you could do instantly.
 

In Japan, this is called “working hard, but wasting time” However, the person himself is exhausted, the company uses unnecessary expenses, and the customer is kept waiting. It's a sin for everyone.

Before “working hard, but wasting time,” ask yourself, “is the job really necessary? Is it really that fast?”

We have to take on bold challenges as necessary steps to achieve success, and even if things don't go well, the effort itself is not useless. On the other hand, wasteful consumption of energy outside of challenges can be considered "negative." We encourage you to take the rational and shortest way.