SOPHOLA will soon be 9-month-old.
Plus it has been 4 months since my wife joined us.
Today I had a very delightful event when I could feel my wife’s strong passion about SOPHOLA.

On 9-11th, we had a business trip to Tokyo for a few business appointments with our potential clients. The outcome was 2-wins, 1-lose, 1-draw, but the wins meant tremendous to us.

At the very first client reaction of almost every single new appointment, “Who the hell are you guys? I just hold this meeting because we just have a mutual acquaintance…” with zero brand awareness of SOPHOLA. This seriously tests our sales capability, and I shout out “Yessssss!!!!!” in my mind whenever we can get a message from a potential client: “We would love to work with SOPHOLA.”

However, the moment after this morning’s appointment was totally different. My wife, who generated the lead, asked me for a high five with a big smile on her face. At that moment, I could realize that my wife and I could share the same level of passion for SOPHOLA in the very early stage of my company! Of course, I gave her my full-force high five!

It’s also my critical role to spread the passion with every single founding member, especially because we won’t probably have another chance to build a company up from the ground which can solve Japanese social issues such as local depopulation, aging craftsmanship, and spreading the appeals of Japan’s beauty to the global.

I promise Year 2019 will be our best year for a very big leap!

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc

P.S. The picture was taken by my wife after our visit to Zenkouji.