Kazuma Ieiri

Kazuma Ieiri (家入 一真, Ieiri Kazuma, born December 28, 1978) is a Japanese internet entrepreneur, founder and director until 2011 of the "paperboy" company, and founder of the "studygift" fundraising site. He stood for election as governor of Tokyo in 2014, running an online campaign and obtaining 1.8% of the vote.

Kazuma Ieiri campaigning in Tokyo, January 2014

Early life

Ieiri was born in Fukuoka Prefecture. He dropped out of high school after less than a year and became a "hikikomori" (shut-in), teaching himself computer programming and socializing on a bulletin board system using a computer he received as a middle school graduation gift. After working various jobs including delivering newspapers and graphic design, he started his first company, a web design and server rental firm called "paperboy & co."

Paperboy company

By the age of 27 he had built the company to have 72 employees and 850 million yen in annual revenue;[1] at the age of 29, he became the youngest CEO to have a company listed on JASDAQ when Paperboy went public (JASDAQ: 3633).[2] Ieiri resigned as a director of paperboy in March 2011.[3]

Other enterprises

Ieiri branched out into several new businesses following the paperboy IPO, establishing a restaurant and cafe and setting up the "liverty" group of online content creators.[4] In May 2012, at the request of two Waseda University students, he established an online platform called "studygift" to provide crowd funding for individuals' educational expenses. The site was quickly criticized by online commenters for its lack of clarity regarding the use of donated funds, the activity of the students listed on the site and the possibility that they would not actually return to school.[5] In 2013, he led a campaign on Twitter to send donations to a new mother who could not pay the hospital bills for her child's birth without going into debt.[6]

Candidate for governor of Tokyo

In 2014, Ieiri announced his candidacy for governor of Tokyo. He stated on Twitter that he would run if his tweet was retweeted 1,000 times, and achieved this milestone within 30 minutes; one of the retweeters was noted internet entrepreneur Takafumi Horie (who provided the 3 million yen deposit necessary for Ieiri to stand in the election[7]). Ieiri ran an unorthodox campaign by Japanese standards, in which he raised \7.2 million in campaign funds by crowd funding and conducted live streaming of his campaign headquarters. Instead of proposing his own policy platform, he set up an online platform to gather policy ideas from his supporters.[2] He obtained 1.8% of the vote.[8]

References
  1. 岡田, 有花 (20 March 2006). "ひきこもりからIT社長に　paperboyの軌跡". IT Media News. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  2. Mochizuki, Takashi (30 January 2014). "Twitter Star Seeks Tokyo Votes". Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  3. "人事、ｐａｐｅｒｂｏｙ＆ｃｏ．". 日本経済新聞. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  4. "検証・女子大生の学費支援サイト、炎上で活動停止の裏 騒動を増幅させた「乖離」とは（ネット事件簿）". 日本経済新聞. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  5. 宮本, 真希 (25 May 2012). "studygiftはなぜ暴走したか　「説明不足」では済まされない疑念、その中身". ITmedia. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  6. 駒崎弘樹 (25 December 2013). "僕らがセーフティーネット・クリエイターになるんだ ＮＰＯ法人フローレンス代表理事". 日本経済新聞. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  7. "立候補、誰でもできる？ 都外在住者にも資格". 日本経済新聞. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 最低限必要なのは法務局への供託金300万円。今回、例えば家入一真氏は支援者である元ライブドア社長の堀江貴文氏からの借り入れで工面したという。
  8. "平成26年 東京都知事選挙 開票結果". 東京都選挙管理委員会. Archived from the original on 10 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
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