At SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, held April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight, our CEO Erdinc Ekinci sat down with the team behind IdeaBoxes and honestly, the conversation stood out from most startup pitches happening at the event. Not because they were promising the next unicorn. Not because they were talking about raising massive VC rounds. But because they were approaching entrepreneurship from a completely different angle. Their core idea is surprisingly simple: What if non-technical en

An independent reading of YC's most consequential RFS in a decade. By Erdinc Ekinci, Founding Partner, Co-Capital · MD of Founder Institute Japan, Korea, Taiwan · Founder of, Openfor.co - Published on May 7, 2026, Tokyo, Japan. What I'm reading on YC's Summer 2026 list I read every YC Request for Startups when it drops. Most of them I skim. This one I read twice, then started pulling the threads, because the Summer 2026 edition is structurally different. It is the first YC R

Artificial intelligence is making many types of work faster, cheaper, and easier to replicate. Writing, design, research, coding, and even ideation are becoming more accessible to everyone. That creates huge opportunities, but it also creates a new challenge: when more people can produce similar output at speed, being skilled alone is no longer enough to stand out. What becomes more valuable in this environment is not just raw capability, but a stronger personal asset. A pers

For years, entrepreneurship has been framed around a single starting point: the product . Build an MVP. Launch fast. Raise funding. Scale. But this narrative excludes a massive group of people: Talented individuals without technical resources Operators with deep industry experience but no startup yet Students and professionals exploring entrepreneurship Ecosystem builders and community leaders At Openfor.co , we believe entrepreneurship begins much earlier. It begins when ind

Such a year. As an entrepreneurial development company, 2025 marked a clear realization: we are addressing challenges far beyond those faced by our existing community. Our work is increasingly relevant to the 99% of entrepreneurs—including potential ones—who remain outside the reach of accelerators and venture capital . Roughly 1–2% of ventures ever receive VC funding , and even the most inclusive accelerator models, such as Founder Institute, are able to support only a fra