Ecosystem at a GlanceNovember 2026Published by Openfor.co, from Tokyo

The people behind the work.

Investors, founders, mentors and members we work with every week. Each conversation becomes a feature you can read, with the video beside it.

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Hosted by Erdinc Ekinci and Yu Li Shein

Features

One conversation. One feature. Read it, then watch it.

Each guest sat down with Erdinc. We turned the recording into an editorial with the main ideas, the best lines and the video.

More conversations

Coming soonRecorded. The feature and the video are on the way.

In their words

Nine members. Press play and hear them.

We did not write these. Each member recorded what changed for them.

Members at work

Members who now teach, sell and speak inside the network.

Each of them has a page in the network. This is what they do with it today.

More members on the wallA few of the people building next to them.

Mentors and investors

The people who sit across the table every week.

250+ mentors in 30 countries. More than 80% of them are investors. These are some of the faces members met this year.

It works both ways. We feature our mentors and share their work, as our thanks.See everyone on the Atlas →

Organisations

The organisations around the table.

Partners we run things with, and the firms our mentors come from.

Partners

Organisations we work with on events, programmes and content.

Where our mentors work

Funds and firms behind the people in this issue.

Names identify where people work. They do not indicate a partnership with, or endorsement of, Openfor.co.

Open calls

What members are asking for right now.

A collab call says what someone needs and what they give back. Anyone can read them. Members reply.

From the Atlas

The reports behind the people.

The Atlas is our open database of who supports founders, country by country. These reports come out of it.

8,742 entries in 62 countries. Open, and corrected by anyone.Investors, mentors, programmes, media, corporates, venues and partner programmes.

Open the Atlas →

Get featured

This page is made of members. You can be on it.

We feature people whose page tells their story in their own words. We do not feature adverts.

Start with one page about you.

Join free and write your page. When it tells a clear story, we list it. From the listed pages we pick who to feature here and on our channels.

Free gets you a page you write yourself. On a paid plan we write an editorial page with you. Plans are from $99 a month on the yearly plan, or $149 month to month.

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Write your pageWho you are, what you are building and what you are open to. Your words, your photo.
We check it onceA quick review. After that you edit it whenever you like.
Post a collab callSay what you need and what you give back. Members reply.
We feature what stands outOn this page, in our sessions and on our channels. We cannot promise views, leads or customers.

Ecosystem at a Glance

Podcast · 63 min · Visibility · Selling

LinkedIn for founders: start before you feel ready

Brian JY Yoo trains hundreds of students and company teams on LinkedIn every month. His method is small and daily: a clear purpose, one personal connection request, and posts about your plans, not your wins.

Brian JY YooFounder, CareerLabProfile ↗

Erdinc EkinciHostProfile ↗

Watch the conversation

10 minutesa day is enough to start

500connections to aim for in two months

20meeting requests one founder got from one post

01Purpose first

Every month Brian Yoo meets at least 200 university students and 100 people from companies. Even after six hours of training, he says, only about one in five keeps going. The ones who stop have no clear purpose. Decide who you want to reach and why before you write a word.

Founders often wait until they have a success to share. He thinks that is the wrong idea of LinkedIn. It is about the story and the progress. A one month old startup can already say why it started and what went wrong this week.

02Post your plans

His favourite example is a founder who posted, three weeks ahead, that he would attend a large industry conference in Europe. That one post brought 20 meeting requests. Share where you will be, not only where you have been.

If you have ten minutes a day, send one personal connection request. A profile with 45 connections does not look credible. He aims for at least 500 within two months. On a sick day, his minimum is to like posts from people he wants as partners.

The ten minute routine

Pick one person who matters to your goal
Read their profile and recent work
Send a request with their name and one real compliment
Like or comment on a post from a future partner

03From connection to meeting

Never open with sir or madam. Use the person's name and show that you studied them. He downloads the profile, looks for something in common, and mentions it. A first message is not for selling your product.

His last word is not to give up. Most of his own partnerships, in several countries, came through LinkedIn.

“Don't give up. LinkedIn will give you value.”
Brian JY YooHear it at 48:36

What to take with you

Know your purpose before you post.
Share progress and plans, not only wins.
One personal connection request a day adds up.
Announce the events you will attend, weeks ahead.
A first message shows you did your homework. It does not sell.

This feature is an editorial summary of a public conversation hosted by Erdinc Ekinci. Quotes come from the recording and are lightly trimmed. Figures are the speaker's own. Nothing here is investment advice.