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 →

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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

Interview at SusHi Tech Tokyo · 11 min · AI and building · Japan

The AI SaaS partner model Japan might need

At SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, Erdinc met the team behind IdeaBoxes. They build the software with no upfront cost and take a share of revenue. Their goal is to help 50 women in Japan start software businesses.

TFTodd FabacherIdeaBoxesAMAyaka MuraiCo-founder and Head of Japan, IdeaBoxes

Erdinc EkinciHostProfile ↗

Watch the conversation

TF+1

50women entrepreneurs they want to help in Japan

20%of revenue is their share

$0upfront cost to the entrepreneur

01They handle the tech. You own the business

IdeaBoxes calls itself more than an AI tool. Its engine builds, hosts and manages the software, and its team gives strategic oversight. The entrepreneur owns the business. In return, IdeaBoxes takes 20 percent of revenue. There is no upfront cost and no shares change hands.

Ayaka Murai, co-founder and head of Japan, described her mission as helping women build startups through this model.

Who does what

IdeaBoxes

Builds the application
Hosts and manages it
Takes 20% of revenue

The entrepreneur

Brings the idea and the customers
Owns the business
Pays nothing upfront

02Room for small businesses

Investors need a certain size of success to get their money back. The team sees room for something else: companies of one or two people that make money and stay small. They build the product from zero, go to market together, and share in what it earns.

They call it a venture studio with more flexibility. A studio usually still needs both sides to put in capital.

“There are some opportunities for one and two-person companies.”
From the conversationHear it at 0:59

03Why Erdinc found it interesting

His note after the interview: revenue sharing, not equity, may fit Japan's small and medium businesses well. Many still run on old systems and need a technical partner more than they need an investor.

What to take with you

A technical partner can be paid from revenue, not shares.
Small, profitable software businesses are a real option.
The model may fit small companies stuck on old systems.

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.