Meeting people terrified me. Even with my closest friends and family, my heart would pound, I would feel short of breath, and sometimes even have a panic attack.

A few years ago, my social anxiety made me feel completely isolated from the world. Yet today, I built an app that helps support people like myself.

Here’s the story of how that happened.

Aspiration and Setbacks: The Aftermath of Hard Work

I started my first company while I was in college.Inspired by one of my college seniors, I started a dating and matchmaking business in Kyoto. Truth be told, I had no real vision or beliefs — I just wanted to “start a business” for the fun of it.We first launched a reservation concierge service specializing in group coordinators for restaurants. A few months later, we and even started managing a restaurant in Kyoto’s Pontocho district. By the time I was 21, our monthly revenue was over 68,000 USD. Things seemed to be going smoothly. My colleagues and I would always say that we aspire to become the company that represents Japan.

▲Age 19: I spent my days handing out flyers for the coordinator reservation service. We partnered with 150 restaurants, and many working professionals and students used our service.

▲Age 20: I acquired the management rights to a restaurant with a view of the Kamogawa river and started managing it by trial and error.

▲Ages 20–21: The interior and equipment were also managed by trial and error.

▲Age 21: This photo was taken with my founding team at Marina Bay Sands. Discovering new scenery and the world with my teammates was the most exciting and enjoyable part of my life.

▲Age 21: We even wore suits and drank alcohol in the sweltering heat of Singapore. Looking back now, it feels immature and a bit embarrassing, but it’s a good memory.

Hard work was a virtue. I was always the first to arrive at the office in the morning and the last to leave at night. Work didn’t stop when I returned home–I would go through all the KPIs and progress, verbalize any discrepancies, and give the team strict feedback for the day. We had a personal goal to take our company public in our 20s. Needless to say, it was exhilarating and fun.

▲Age 21: Our first office in Shijo Karasuma. My daily routine was to go in at 8 a.m., leave at midnight, and go to bed at 3 a.m.

▲Age 21: Looking back now, I have no idea why I was so busy, but I just worked relentlessly.

All that hard work came at a cost. My life was a mess. But at that time, it seemed like it was a sacrifice worth making. I couldn’t stop. It got so bad that I developed social anxiety. Even with close friends, my heart would race, and I would panic whenever I saw them. I felt pathetic.

At that point, I couldn’t continue working. After talking with my team, I decided to leave my company, effectively handing it over to my co-founder.

But the entrepreneurial bug bit me too strong. Deep down, I knew I was always a founder, always destined to build something. Being idle and not having something to build bothered me, so a few months later, I found myself building a chatbot to help people who are moving homes.

Just as I thought I could start again, I soon realized this business required in-person sales, which was impossible for my social anxiety. Unable to sell, I decided to shut down this service.

It was painful, frustrating, and pathetic. I finally realized that it is not the time for me to get people involved in a business. I apologized to my business partner who had been so willing to work with me at a bar in Ebisu. “I’m sorry. I just can’t do it.” I can still remember how frustrating it was to say those words. In the bustling crowd of Ebisu, I felt like I was being left behind. From that day on, I began a long journey to find my place in the world.

Leaving Everything Behind and Going on a Journey

There was no point in staying in Tokyo if I couldn’t meet people. So,I packed all my possessions into a single suitcase and threw away everything else. I left Tokyo for Atami. From there, I traveled all over Japan and then abroad.Even in a foreign country I didn’t know, the gnawing loneliness remained the same. I would eat meals without talking to anyone and then return to my hotel room and just stare out the window. The loneliness of being in a country where I couldn’t speak the language carved a deeper hollow into my already depleted heart.

▲The sunset in Bali, a place I visited many times.

“How far do I have to go to escape from myself?” I questioned myself, wondering if I would be like this forever.

I had a strong desire to change the world and do something, but I was still physically and mentally unable to met people. It was painful. I was so terrified of eye contact that I developed a habit of walking with my head down. But I didn’t want to give up, believing I was a person who could build something meaningful. I just didn’t know how to escape my situation.

Whenever I opened social media, I would see other people achieving lots of success with their companies. My friends would encourage me and say things like “You’re a genius, you’ll be fine.” But that just added more pressure. No matter how many encouraging words they gave me, I felt like I couldn’t do anything. It was incredibly painful. I didn’t know how to escape this helpless loneliness.

Remote Work Gave Me Hope

While traveling from one country to another, I earned money by doing remote work. When I was in Jakarta, Indonesia, I wanted to learn about UI/UX design, so I applied for a UX project, and when I got the job, I worked with a UX design consultant via SkypeWorking with him allowed me to feel a sense of progress every day. I learned new concepts and ideas — from how to design beautiful gradients, how to write snappy copywriting, and even how to design the perfect corner radius. That feeling alleviated my loneliness a little. More importantly,it helped me realize that my impatience came from the feeling that I wasn’t improving from one day to the next.

▲The days I walked through the bustling streets of a foreign land, repeatedly questioning myself.

I thought to myself, “Maybe” people feel left behind when they feel they aren’t moving forward, and they don’t know how to move forward.”

Remote work gave me hope. Even though I couldn’t show my face on Skype, just having a teammate there and feeling like we were making progress together made me feel like I’m not alone. It was the summer of 2019 when I decided to start a business again. I was 26 years old. When I thought about changing the world and creating software that people would use worldwide, the experience of remote work in Jakarta came to mind.

My new goal was to “create a product that supports lonely challengers,” just like I used to be. I believed this would help people feel more positive every day and lead to a turning point in their lives.

“Changing the world with remote work.”

▲At age 26, I impulsively drew on a founder’s fridge with a permanent marker. (I got yelled at.)

To the Lonely Challenger: The Meaning Behind Teracy

I wanted to create software that would eliminate the disparity in opportunities through remote work and support people’s loneliness. After six years of development, we officially released Teracy this summer.

Teracy is a co-working app that gives you the feeling of working hard together with someone else. Just by opening the app on your PC or smartphone, you can see if your teammates are there and what they’re working on, and you can talk to them if you need to. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. When I was on Skype, he was just there, even without speaking. His presence was the most reassuring thing for me.

Teracy aims to recreate that exact feeling. I know better than anyone that the “presence of a teammate” can ease loneliness.

Looking back, I believe the loneliness of a challenger is beautiful.
Why do people take on challenges even when it means facing a loneliness that wouldn’t exist otherwise? It’s because of their intrinsic energy — their way of life, their art. I respect that and want to have the power to support them, even in a small way.

But in those moments, having a teammate can make the journey more enjoyable. Through Teracy, I want to create that culture and system.
You might be alone, but you’re not by yourself. When you open Teracy your teammates are there for you.

I believe the day will come when this inherent feeling of having teammates around you becomes a home for every lonely challenger.

In the midst of my own challenges, I still have moments when I feel like I’m the only one in the world. Maybe you feel that way, too. I want to create a product that makes you feel “I am not alone” in those moments.

In Japan, about 40% of freelancers feel lonely while working. I believe empowering those individuals will surely change the world. The feeling of “simply being in the same space as someone else” can quietly support a person more than you might think.

Just like I did, you’ll surely find a place where you don’t have to struggle alone.
I want to say it again: loneliness is beautiful.

It’s a price you pay for challenging yourself. It’s what it takes to step out of your comfort zone.ou You can never completely avoid it. However, I believe that by having Teracy in those moments, loneliness can turn into hope.

I will definitely spread this product around the world, so that you, who are working hard alone, can move forward with your teammates.