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

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

In their words

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

Members at work

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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

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

Partners

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Where our mentors work

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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.

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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.

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Ecosystem at a Glance

Panel · 74 min · Taiwan · Fundraising

Startup funding in Taiwan: a corporate investor and an angel explain

Gaviann Tseng invests for a corporate fund. Elias Ek is an entrepreneur and angel investor who runs a pitch event. Together they describe how founders meet investors in Taiwan, and the red flags that end a conversation.

Gaviann TsengCorporate venture investorProfile ↗

Elias EkAngel investor, Dragons' ChamberProfile ↗

Erdinc EkinciHostProfile ↗

Watch the conversation

Demo dayswhere the corporate investor finds most startups

Once a yearthe application window for the angel pitch event

Coachablethe word that decides many early deals

01How founders get in the room

Gaviann Tseng meets most new startups at demo days. Accelerators and incubators do the gathering for him. As a corporate investor he looks for startups that fit his company's mission, and when one fits he reaches out himself.

Elias Ek runs a pitch event. Applications open once a year, close in late summer, and then the auditions begin. For both, a structured event beats a message from a stranger.

02What they want to see

The first thing on Gaviann's list is the founders themselves, and above all a vision. Good education is common. A clear idea of what you want to change is not.

Elias adds one question he always asks himself: is this person coachable?

03Red flags

Gaviann's red flag is a founder who joins every incubator and accelerator, appears on many podcasts and interviews, and tries to become a public figure. To him it usually means there is no time left for the business, and promises will be missed.

For founders from abroad, he is frank about one limit. Local funds often do not invest in companies whose market is the US or Europe. Investing is a local business, and the fund may not have the network to help there. If you raise in Taiwan, show what you will do in the region.

“It usually means the founder does not have the time to focus on his business.”
From the conversationHear it at 41:09

What to take with you

Demo days and pitch events are the normal way in.
Bring a clear vision, not only credentials.
Show that you can take advice.
Visibility is good. Too much of it looks like distraction.
Explain your plan for the region when you raise locally.

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.