Atrae is a group of people who follow the same dream as I do

＊This article was originally written in Japanese by our member, Keisuke Sakurai in April 2020.

Hi guys. I’m Keisuke Sakurai, an engineer of the web service called Green (I’ve started mentioning my full name because my younger brother has joined here…,) and it’s been more than a year since I joined this company.

This time through this post, I’d like to talk about how to choose a company to join.

Does each individual have a different reason for joining the company?

For most people, joining and belonging to a company is considered a natural part of life.

The reasons for joining a company vary from person to person, such as salary, personal growth, satisfaction, benefits… and the list goes on and on.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview and talk to about 50 students this year. (I was surprised when I counted it myself.)
Through the conversations, I felt that the students’ criteria for choosing a company varied.

However, I’ve always wanted to create a stir in the fact that everyone’s reason for joining a company is different… since I was a student.

It’s still in doubt whether this is true for all people/companies, but I believe there is one factor that should not be left out, at least when it comes to getting into a startup company.

It’s what the company is trying to achieve.
It is the purpose for which the company exists.

A company does not exist just to make a profit nor just to support its employees.
We believe that we have responsibilities for society and our own objectives, and we carry out our commercial activities every day in order to realize them.

However, it seems to me that many people join companies without thinking about such things, and instead think about whether the company is a good fit for their careers, whether it is a company where they can grow and develop, and whether it has a good atmosphere with many people who are a good match for them.

I don’t think it’s wrong, but it’s somewhat tricky.

I think this situation is caused by an ambiguous understanding of the “group.”

[Gemeinschaft] and [Gesellschaft]

It is said that there are two types of groups [Gemeinschaft] and [Gesellschaft]. ( I apologize if there are more than that.)

[Gemeinschaft] is called a community organization and it exists for each person who belongs to it.

It is primarily intended to provide a sense of satisfaction and security, such as family-like blood relations, school classes, and college clubs.

On the other hand, [Gesellschaft] is called a functional organization, where the organization itself has a purpose, and the people who belong to it work for that purpose.

A club activity of a powerful team at a school or a theater company that performs on stage are examples of this type of organization.

I believe that the company would be classified as a [Gesellschaft], the latter category.

I believe that Atrae is a company that is creating businesses and the organization to realize its vision of “Create the company which attracts people in the world”.

Working with the company for a year, I have seen that each and every one of our employees joined the company because he or she wants to realize this vision.

I also felt that this should be a normal situation in the process of business development.

For example, let’s say the following members are in a meeting

Person A: Really identified with the vision and joined the company to make it happen.

Person B: Joined the company because he thought it was the best environment for his career development.

Person C: Joined the company because she thought it was an environment in which she could easily be evaluated.

In the meeting of these three people, Person A will think hard about whether or not the measures are in line with the realization of vision (the purpose of the company), but Person B and C will prioritize their own objectives as well as the purpose of the company, so they will end up making decisions that are unintentionally deviating from the direction the company is aiming for.

I think that joining a company for growth opportunities or choosing a company with a comfortable environment is viewing the company as a [Gemeinschaft].

A company can be a community that satisfies the expectations of its employees, but the company should be a place where people work together to achieve worthwhile goals that they want to spend their valuable time on.
I think this is the way a company should be, especially a startup company.

What you aim for and what the company aims for

Of course, I don’t think you shouldn’t use or value anything other than the company’s objectives as a reason for joining the company at all, but I do think it’s important to make sure that the direction and purpose of the company can be pursued in order for both the individual and the organization to be rewarded.

I mean the most important thing is to look at various companies, research them, and think about whether you should join them or not while thinking about these questions: what is your goal through your own work? Where are the people who have the same purpose as you?

In my opinion, a company is simply a group of people, so what kind of people there are is very important, and I personally think that a company is a group of people who aim for the same thing and work towards achieving that goal through commercial activities.

Speaking of myself, after watching a Japanese drama called “Rich Man, Poor Woman”, I thought it would be very interesting if I could create a valuable IT service that people around the world could use. So I decided to go to an IT university.

* When I was forced to retire from “Tae Kwon Do”, which I had been passionate about from the age of 9 to 17 due to a knee injury, a drama about an IT startup called “Rich Man, Poor Woman” was aired in Japan.
The image of the president of an IT venture company, working hard to create an IT service, played by the Japanese actor Shun Oguri, and the image of me doing “Tae Kwon Do” overlapped, and that’s how I was able to find the goals I mentioned above and get back on track.

After some thought, I found my goal is infinitely the same as the destination that Atrae is aiming for, and what Atrae is aiming for gives me a direction that I couldn’t quite put into words and makes me feel like I’m aiming for something more valuable than I ever imagined, so I joined the company and I’m still giving it my all.

Since I feel that my goals and the goals that Atrae is aiming for have merged now, so If I asked like “Is that your goal? or company goal?” It would be pretty hard to answer which.

That’s why I’m at Atrae, and I think I’ll continue to push forward with my goal of creating a company that attracts people around the world.

If the company Atrae becomes an icon, attracting people all over the world, I hope it will inspire people to make a positive change when they get to know about Atrae, just as I did when I watched that drama and got a second chance! With that in mind, I will continue to work hard every day.