Shadow IT has been responsible for more enterprise SaaS deployments and workflow innovation than any growth strategy of the last 15 years.
And that 's all about to end.
Today we sit down with Yasu Matsumoto, who stepped down as CEO of Raksul after leading the startup from founding to post-IPO success, to start Josys, a new startup helping enterprises put an end to shadow IT once and for all.
Yasu explains why that the end of shadow IT is actually a good thing for everyone, why he decided to step down from his high-profile CEO role, and the future of SaaS sales and marketing.
It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.
Show Notes
The problem with shadow IT and why it's coming to an end
The Raksul startup to IPO story
The Josys spinout and fundraising as a spinout
Why there are so few serial founders in Japan
The public's reaction to Yasu's decision to resign as CEO of Raksul
Why CIOs are fighting back against shadow IT
Josys's global expansion plans and being global from day 1
Two two reasons Japanese startups need to enter the US market quickly
The important difference between enterprise SaaS and SMB SaaS services
The one thing that would lead to a dynamic, mobile workforce in Japan
Links from the Founders
Everything you wanted to know about Josys
Connect with Yasu on LinkedIn
Jobs at Josys
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs.
I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.
Salesforce was the first major SaaS Company. They redefined how software was used in and sold to enterprise companies all over the world. And in the two and a half decades since their founding, new SaaS software has pushed into every corner of the enterprise.
But recently, the enterprise has started pushing back, and the bedrock go-to-market strategy that so many enterprise SaaS startups depend on might be about to disappear.
Today we sit down with Yasu Matsumoto, founder of Raksul, and now founder and CEO of Josys, which provides SaaS management tools to the enterprise.
We not only talk about SaaS marketing strategies, but we dive into the important differences between the enterprise and SMB SaaS markets, how to raise VC finance for corporate spinouts, and why we might be about to start seeing a lot more serial founders in Japan.
But, you know, Yasu tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Yasu Matsumoto, the founder and CEO of Josys, who's providing companies with comprehensive IT device and SaaS management. So, thanks for sitting down with me today.
Yasu: Thanks, Tim.
Tim: So, I gave a really high level overview of what Josys is, but I think you can explain it much better than I can.
Yasu: Josys is our IT operation platform. You can integrate all of the SaaS, what your company use and all of devices your employee use. Integrate all hardware and software into Josys by APIs and you can figure out what kind of a software your company use, what kind of a hardware your company use. And also you can provide account like Slack or Google or Notions Microsoft account for the new employees with a single click. And once they are employee resign the company, you can delete these accounts and device with just a single click.
Tim: So, it's centralized SaaS license management, centralized account provisioning.
Yasu: Exactly.
Tim: And so you mentioned its API integration, so it's not that individuals are inputting this information.
Yasu: Yes. Our product is based on the API economy. So, the company use tons of apps after the COVID, but these apps are not controlled by central IT operations. So, each of the department install the new apps by their decision making or sometimes individual, but they're from the point of a corporate IT or cybersecurity view. That is very dangerous.
Tim: It is, but it's interesting because that is one of th...
