2025 Year-End Highlights: Achievements, Learnings, and What’s Ahead in 2026

sushmitakhattriope
11 hours ago
20 min read

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 fraction of the total funnel. This is largely driven by the need for venture-scale outcomes, which are most often technology-led.

This year, however, we identified a critical gray-zone audience—not aspiring entrepreneurs, but potential entrepreneurs—and made meaningful progress in understanding and addressing their needs. And then we have been shaping our positioning and activities accordingly.

The 3 Core Shifts We Made in 2025

1) From “startup-first” to “individual-first.”

With that realization, we have broadened our definitions to the individual people level to detect and support individuals even if they don't manifest their potential for entrepreneurship and sometimes career yet. This is the year that we realized, validated, and started to align with that goal to make everything we do much more accessible.

2) A clearer geographic and language focus: English-speaking Asia

We refined our geographic and language focus after recognizing that Asia needs more ecosystem builders, as much of its venture ecosystem is still in a developmental stage. As a Silicon Valley–based firm that advocates English as the global startup language, and with an operating presence in Tokyo, we chose to focus on English-speaking, Asia-based entrepreneurs and the supporters around them.

3) Going deeper on the human side of entrepreneurship

Although we operate in the technology sector, it remains fundamentally relationship-driven, with company performance heavily influenced by human and interpersonal challenges. In our programs, we work closely with individuals, often supporting them through personal issues at very early stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Through this exposure, we recognized that human-level challenges directly impact whether ideas come to life and how sustainable that journey becomes. As a result, we have taken deliberate initiatives to address these issues—aiming to support founders more holistically while creating meaningful social impact.

2025 Impact Snapshot: Ecosystem and Reach

In 2025, Openfor.co positioned content marketing as its primary growth funnel, helping both us and our partners expand global reach. Through shared insights, workshops, and events, we connected founders, investors, mentors, and ecosystem builders, reaching 700K+ people worldwide across social media and owned channels.

This progress was driven by strong, synergistic partnerships across the ecosystem, with Founder Institute standing out as a cornerstone partner—providing unmatched global infrastructure, credibility, and deep alignment with our mission to support entrepreneurs at the earliest stages.

Network has continued to expand and connect more people around the world. Today, our community includes 30K active network, among them 5K startups, 100+ Nagel & VC firms, and 250+ experts and advisors, and has helped to build an estimated $200M in portfolio value across 60+ portfolio companies in 20 countries. Over the past three years, we have hosted 100 events with more than 5.5K+ attendees to date, including workshops, panels, AMAs, and global meetups. Our content attracted people, collaboration strengthened connections, and our ecosystem demonstrates that when founders, investors, mentors, and partners come together, ideas can turn into real opportunities with lasting results.

OUR ECOSYSTEM POSITIONING: Individual Contributions First

With this, we are redefining our positioning across multiple brands, strengthened by partnerships with multiple powerful organizations and influential people: It all starts with individual contribution and is the backbone of our ecosystem: Advocacy, mentorship, collaborations... all counts, all matter.

We have outlined this report about updates across the following:

1- Founders’ updates: As Erdinc and Yuli, as they are individuals

2- Openfor.co Platform: As a catalyst platform, non-equity, operator-backoffice

3- Founder Institute: As a venture-backed startup launcher

4- Founder Capital: As a dedicated VC firm exclusive to the FI graduate portfolio

5- Co-Capital: VC as a services firm for strategic deals & GTM

6- Other networks of investors and strategic partnerships

Updated definitions:

1- Individuals: We place individual stories at the center of our ecosystem, because great companies are built by great people. Our community includes 300+ mentors, influencers, speakers, operators, founders, and supporters who bring experience, credibility, and visibility. By sharing their journeys, they help others build confidence and see what’s possible—forming the foundation of our ecosystem and the starting point of every entrepreneurial path.

2- Openfor.co 🚀 Openfor.co is an entrepreneurial talent development company and non-equity venture/ecosystem builder supporting individuals and organizations starting from individual-level; detects high-potential people with our proprietary system, developing and featuring personal stories to launching a digitally productized personal brands, content creation and visibility with our 700K audience reach, to turning it into a business, and monetization to all the way up to launching a company. 🔐 All-in-one platform with a marketplace, education, back-office support, content creation, and global reach, combining early visibility with hands-on operational support. Meanwhile, as an ecosystem builder, we work with more later-stage startups, larger enterprises, and governments, building and operating complex multinational 7-8 figure programs. It all boils down to this: we are on a mission to make the venture ecosystem accessible, making the world a more entrepreneurial place. 🌐 Visit >>> openfor.co

3- Founder Institute: Founder Institute is an equity warrant-based non-funding accelerator that supports determined founders who already have some scalable ideas and are committed to entrepreneurship. At this stage, founders validate their ideas, build a strong founder mindset, and learn through structured programs, mentorship, and accountability. Founder Institute helps turn raw ideas into real startup foundations.

4- Founder Capital: Founder Capital is a venture capital firm focused on investing in FI’s best-performing pre-seed full-time founders who have already demonstrated traction. This layer supports founders who are building full-time, executing consistently, and showing early signs of market validation. It provides capital, strategic guidance, and long-term partnership to help founders scale with confidence.

5- Co-capital is a strategic VC-as-a-Service firm pre-seed to Series A stage, focused on seeking strong partner alignment. Specializing in GTM expansion, venture building, and marketing-led growth, working with elite entrepreneurial talent and scalable startups preparing for global GTM and investment readiness. Powered by a 300+ individual expert network and delivered in close collaboration with Founder Institute and Openfor.co, enabling fast momentum and execution.

6- Powerful Network: With other partners who have billions of dollars of dry powder in aggregate and tens of millions of followers, media power with the right partnership approach, together with openforco and co-capital, anyone has potential.

Before we dive in: These new layers were among our key updates in 2025—alongside many other exciting milestones. We want to sincerely thank everyone who supported us throughout the year. Below is a recap of our most defining moments from 2025, setting the stage for even greater progress in 2026.

2025 Highlights by Area

1- Founders’ updates: Our Founders' Global Adventures and Achievements

This year, our founders, Erdinc and Yuli, made big moves globally. Erdinc, as Founding Partner & GP at Co-capital.vc and Venture Partner at Founder Capital, and Yuli, as Venture Partner at Co-Capital.vc , held over 500 meetings with VCs, investors, and angel investors and shared their expertise as speakers, mentors, and judges at 20+ startup events around the world. Here is an in-person snapshot:

Our founders are the largest individual-level case study of Openfor.co, actively using and leveraging everything the platform offers. Through in-person events, they connected with 1,000+ business professionals across the venture ecosystem, including 50+ venture investors. Beyond in-person engagement, they also contributed through online events, sharing practical insights and discussions that inspired the global entrepreneurial community.

You can find a collection of their insightful post-event reflections below, where they joined as judges, speakers, or attendees.

+ many more smaller but equally valuable events, we have appreciated the recognition.

New - Launching a YouTube channel:

With our shift to an individual-focused positioning, our Founder & CEO, Erdinc Ekinci, began sharing his learnings more actively. He launched a YouTube channel featuring conversations with VCs and founders, along with personal experiences and practical insights for both sides of the table—including aspiring and potential entrepreneurs. The goal is simple: to make entrepreneurship more accessible and less confusing. Explore his YouTube channel for more insights.

NEW - 1000 Founder Stories:

We are on a mission to capture 1,000 real entrepreneur stories from builders, creators, operators, side-hustlers, and those just beginning to explore entrepreneurship. Launched in 2025, the initiative has already featured 20 startup supporters, ecosystem builders, and influencers, with 10 in post-production and 20+ on the waitlist. This year we are going to scale this up least 10x with MOC interviews, self submit + editorials and many more. These stories go beyond inspiration—they are the first step in turning people into visible, credible, and monetizable builders within the Openfor.co ecosystem, creating access to new opportunities, collaborations, and early traction. If you know someone whose story deserves to be heard, introduce them in the comments. Here is Erdinc’s featured story as an example.

NEW - Writing a book:

At the same time, Erdinc began writing a book titled Mental clarity for entrepreneurs as they are individuals, focused on the personal side of entrepreneurship. Written as an open, public project, it explores topics founders rarely discuss—mental and relationship pressure, anxiety, self-doubt, and decision-making—and invites others to follow, contribute, and share their own experiences. So far, 20 entrepreneurs and investors have been interviewed, real-life stories are being featured, and 30% of the book is complete—a project driven by Erdinc’s personal time and late nights in service of the entrepreneurial community.

NEW - Newsletters

While Erdinc was focusing on venture capital and ecosystem’s personal stories with his new YouTube channel, Book and Newsletter, our co-founder Yuli, was documenting the Japan ecosystem itself. Throughout the year, Yuli spent time observing, writing, and sharing what she was seeing across the Japanese startup and venture capital landscape. She launched a newsletter called Japan Beyond by Yuli where she writes about startups, investors, and ecosystem changes from a practical point of view. Her writing reflects real conversations, real events, and real challenges rather than surface-level trends.

Alongside the newsletter, Yuli continued publishing startup and VC related content regularly on LinkedIn. As an example of this effort, one of her posts, “Why no VC is investing in you” reached more than 20,000 impressions in a couple of days fully organically, which shows how much founders and ecosystem builders value clear and relatable insights. Through consistent writing, she has been helping connect global founders with the reality of the ecosystem of Japan.

We are incredibly proud of how Erdinc and Yuli continue to support founders and the startup ecosystem. Their dedication, curiosity, and willingness to share both personal experiences and ecosystem insights make a real difference. Thank you to everyone who has supported, collaborated, and cheered them on throughout this journey.

2- Openfor.co updates

Openfor.co is the advocacy and exposure layer of the startup ecosystem. It supports not only entrepreneurs but also individuals who are exploring their future. Our focus is on a broad group of potential entrepreneurs, aspiring founders, and their supporters.

This is the first level of education, access, and exposure, where individuals can gain practical startup knowledge, participate in programs and events, and connect with global founders, mentors, and operators.

Openfor.co lowers the barrier to entry and helps individuals move from interest to action. From here, we provide hands-on experiences through bootcamps, continuously improve our platform features, and empower individuals with personalized profiles that help them showcase their skills and connect with the right opportunities. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

1- NEW - Becoming a hub for business influencers

Building on that momentum and our partnership strategy, we collaborated with some of the most influential investors and ecosystem leaders in the world. Jeffrey Paine, GP of Golden Gate Ventures, is part of a firm that has backed more than 90 startups, including several unicorns, and manages hundreds of millions in capital supporting tech innovation across Southeast Asia. Cenk Bayrakdar led Revo Capital, one of Türkiye’s largest tech‑focused venture firms, through multiple funds, investing in more than 40 startups, backing unicorns, and closing an 86 million dollar first close for its third fund in 2025 to support global‑ready early‑stage companies. On the angel investor side, Jed Ng of AngelSchool.vc has built a global angel syndicate with over 1,500 limited partners, backed multiple seed‑stage unicorns, and deploys millions annually into emerging startups and many more people like them.

We also collaborated with influential ecosystem builders such as Ahmet Yanik, founder of Analytics Hunter, Brandimi, and Mavigadget, who has scaled 50M+ followers across 30+ social accounts with a monthly reach of 1.5 billion people and built platforms used by 11K+ startups; and Brian JY Yoo, founder of CareerLab, a global career coach and startup advisor with 33K+ LinkedIn followers, known for his expertise in B2B branding and global networking.

With the support of these investors, influencers, and ecosystem leaders, in 2025, our ecosystem grew stronger than ever. Through content, events, partnerships, and the incredible people we collaborated with, we were able to connect founders, investors, mentors, and supporters around the world. Looking ahead in 2026, we are excited to expand our reach even further and aim to connect with over 1 million globally. Next, let’s take a closer look at what our founders achieved this year and how they are shaping the future of the ecosystem.

2- Redesigned out events experiences

Our focus on real human connections reflects our belief that meaningful collaboration only happens within an engaged community. This conviction drives us to consistently organize and co-organize events designed to foster authentic interaction. These gatherings go beyond traditional networking, creating open spaces where founders exchange ideas, investors discover opportunities organically, and partners build genuine, trust-based relationships—turning connections into lasting collaborations.

3- Entrepreneurship readiness program

The Basic Entrepreneurship Readiness Program is a beginner-friendly, accelerator-grade course designed for aspiring entrepreneurs, side-hustlers, creators, and professionals who want to enter entrepreneurship with clarity; even without a startup or idea yet. The Basic Entrepreneurship Readiness Program is a beginner-friendly, accelerator-grade course designed for aspiring entrepreneurs, side-hustlers, creators, and professionals who want to enter entrepreneurship with clarity—even without a startup or idea yet.

The program focuses on understanding how entrepreneurship really works, learning core startup and venture fundamentals, shaping personal direction and storytelling, building early visibility and traction without a product, and developing a practical monetization mindset from day one.

Through hands-on learning, ecosystem exposure, and real human connections with mentors, founders, and partners, participants move from curiosity to action and become fully prepared for advanced bootcamps, accelerators, and GTM or investment-readiness programs.

Early application deadline: January 15, 2026.

Apply now and start building traction early. Apply today!

3- New Features & Upcoming Features on Our Platform

Individual Profiles (Core of the Platform)

This year, we launched the Individual Partner Program—one of Openfor.co’s most important products to date. It puts individuals first, not companies. Designed for professionals, creators, founders, mentors, and independent experts, the program allows anyone to join the ecosystem, showcase their expertise, and participate in collaboration opportunities without representing a company.

Individuals can create a profile, manage activities through a dedicated dashboard, and apply for collaboration calls. These profiles make it easy to be discovered by founders, investors, and partners, opening the door to meaningful projects and real collaboration. You can explore example profiles from our team, including Erdinc Ekinci, Sushmita Khattri, Saw Khu Soe Po Zan, Kaung Thant Lin.

This program is already reshaping the ecosystem. By creating an individual profile, people can showcase their journey, highlight skills, and access opportunities that were previously limited to organizations. Our goal is to feature the stories of 1,000+ entrepreneurial people. Benefits of an Individual Profile: Free to sign up and start connecting immediately. Earn 5% revenue share from Openfor.co. Get 80% of your paid partnerships after our fee. Get discovered by startups, investors, and partners. Showcase expertise, skills, and projects globally. Access collaboration calls without representing a company.

We believe real entrepreneurship starts with individuals. This program exists to empower anyone with the drive to collaborate, contribute, and grow.

New Featured We Launched in 2025

Basic User Dashboard (Live) We introduced a Basic User Dashboard to simplify collaboration—especially for new users. It enables:
- Applying for collaboration calls
- Managing partner program participation
- Tracking application status and activities
- This reduces friction and helps users focus on meaningful collaboration instead of complex workflows

Partner Program Management (Enhanced) Partner program management has been upgraded so users can:
- Manage multiple partner programs
- Organize collaboration opportunities
- Oversee applications from one place
- This creates a more structured and transparent experience for both hosts and participants.

Upcoming Features in 2026 (Releasing Soon)

Paid Collaboration Calls: Partners will be able to buy and sell collaboration programs directly on the platform. This enables charging participation fees for collaboration calls, workshops, or strategic sessions, unlocking new monetization opportunities in a trusted environment.
Monetization & Earnings Tracking: Users will gain access to revenue tools to:
- Track participant numbers
- Monitor earnings from paid collaboration calls
- Manage payouts efficiently
- This turns collaboration into a sustainable revenue stream.
Promotion Campaigns: Promotion campaigns for paid collaboration calls will allow partners to:
- Boost visibility
- Promote high-value programs
- Reach the right, aligned audience

3- Founder Institute Updates

The Founder Institute continues to be a leader in empowering very early-stage entrepreneurs globally. In 2025, FI celebrated the growth of its 8,700+ alumni companies and a $20 billion portfolio, as well as its expanded reach across 200 chapters in over 100 countries. Founder Institute has hosted over 9,000 events with 625,000+ attendees, connecting founders with 35,000+ mentors and 10,000+ investors worldwide.

Global 2025 Updates

Hosting 991 Free Educational Startup Events, with 45,000+ Attendees
Launched Founder Capital, the global FI Venture Fund, and began making investments
Graduated 623 New Portfolio Companies
Our Alumni raised over $250M in new funding, and I’ve pasted highlights from the year at the bottom of this email (too many to list up here!)
Added 6624 New Mentors to the Global Mentor Network
Added 600+ New Active Investors to the FI Venture Network
Onboarded 42 New Local Leaders
Increased perks for Alumni to include discounted/ free offerings from key service providers like Replit, Lovable, Every, Atlassian, and many more
Launched a new Bootcamp offering, providing free ongoing educational benefits for Enrolled Founders and FI Alumni
Released our suite of initial AI Tools (FounderGPT), fully integrated within the FounderGen Platform
Significantly increased our Economic Development, Corporate, and University Program Partnerships (2-3X YOY), including with PennWest (Washington D.C), Georgia (GITA), Angola (with TotalEnergies), Pakistan (NIC), Thailand (CHULA University), Hong Kong (HKSITP), Tomorrow University, and several more.

We are all doing transformative work, helping to unlock entrepreneurial potential across the globe and creating businesses with a positive economic and societal impact.

Key investors

With key investors network who invested to us including but not limited to: Bessemer Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Insight Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Launch, Techstars, 500, Canaan Partners, Naspers, MassMutual Ventures, GV, SoftBank, Tencent, Kejora Capital, OperAgent Ventures, Right Click Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta, and many more.

VC-lab Current Global Look

As our VC firm, Co-capital, proudly graduated portfolio of the VC lab, and a strategic partner with them, we would love to feature their updates here.

VC Lab has completed 18 cohorts and accelerated 853 venture capital firms, representing a combined target AUM of $6.5 billion. Across the portfolio, makes more than 390 follow-on rounds. The VC Lab community reflects a strong focus on early-stage investing, with 85 percent of firms operating at the pre-seed or seed stage. It also demonstrates meaningful diversity and global reach, with 61 percent of participants being solo general partners, 28 percent female general partners representing over 230 VC firms, and 58 percent international GPs. These figures underscore the Founder Institute’s sibling company VC lab’s continued commitment to building inclusive, global venture capital ecosystems.

Founder Institute Japan/ Korea/ Taiwan 2025 Journey

In 2025, our collaboration with the Founder Institute across Japan, Korea, and Taiwan continued to grow and mature, marking another important year of ecosystem building, founder development, and cross-border collaboration.

Through our partnership, we ran the 2025 Spring and Fall cohort programs across the three regions, supporting early-stage founders at some of the most critical stages of their entrepreneurial journey. These programs were made possible thanks to the continued support of our 250+ global and local mentor network, as well as ecosystem partners spanning venture capital firms, corporates, government organizations, and startup communities.

Across the 2025 Spring and Fall cohorts combined, we received 260 applications, accepted 108 founders, and 51 founders enrolled in the program. To date, 7 founders have successfully graduated, with the Fall cohort still in progress and additional graduations expected as the program continues.

Thanks to the support of our mentors, partners, and local leaders, Erdinc Ekinci and Yuli Shein, these founders gained valuable insights in business model validation, product-market fit, and growth strategies. Congratulations to all our graduates, and check out the graduation highlights in this blog.

Founder Institute Joint Global 2026 Summer Cohort Program is Open For Applications. Learn More and Apply:

Founder Institute Japan: https://fi.co/japan

Founder Institute Taiwan: https://fi.co/taiwan

Founder Institute Korea: https://fi.co/korea

4- Founder Capital

Founder Capital: Supporting Top Pre-Seed Founders

This year, our founder, Erdinc, became a Venture Partner at the Founder Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on investing in top pre‑seed founders from the Founder Institute network who have already shown early traction. Founder Capital supports founders who are working full-time, building consistently, and showing signs of market validation. It provides capital, practical guidance, and a long‑term partnership to help founders grow with confidence.

Founder Capital steps in at a stage where founders have proven early progress but still need resources to scale. The firm helps founders reach more customers, strengthen their business, and prepare for the next stage of growth. Through Founder Capital, founders get access to funding, mentorship, and strategic networks that are crucial for building a successful startup.

This move adds a new layer of support in Openfor.co ecosystem by connecting founders with real investment opportunities and backing founders who have demonstrated early promise and execution. 

5- Co-Capital

This year, we officially launched Co‑Capital, a strategic venture capital firm and services partner that goes beyond traditional VC.

Launched in 2025, Co-Capital is a strategic VC-as-a-Service firm operating from pre-seed to Series A, focused on high-momentum ventures and special situations (turnaround, restructuring, secondary cases) with strong partner and ecosystem alignment.

Focus

Pre-seed to Series A
Global GTM expansion, venture building, marketing-led growth
Investment readiness and long-term value creation

Founder & Startup Sweet Spots

Strong founder fit with ambition and execution mindset
Early traction, including pre-revenue momentum
Strategic and ecosystem alignment with partners
Collaborative mindset
100x scalability potential with a clear growth strategy

How We Support Founders

Execution-focused training and practical resources
Hands-on mentoring from a 300+ expert network (founders, advisors, angels)
Local-to-global expansion support from Asia to global markets
Sales and partnership support to accelerate monetization
Single platform for partner and investor relationship management
Faster access to co-investment opportunities with partner VCs

Delivered in close collaboration with Founder Institute and Openfor.co, Co-Capital enables faster execution, GTM momentum, and sustainable growth.

Co-capital’s Program

Co-capital quietly started to run the GTM Traction, Partnerships & Investor Readiness Bootcamp, a hands-on program focused on making real traction through collaboration, partnerships, and practical go-to-market execution; not theory or courses, but real work founders need to understand their business.

Fall GTM Traction & GLobal Funding Readiness Bootcamp; Nov 26 – Dec 17 | Founder Institute alumni only;

Participants built POCs, GTM plans, LOIs, MOUs, and company profiles, gaining visibility and credibility with partners, investors, and mentors. Founders worked on defining ideal customers, building offers, activating networks, co-marketing, PR, systemization, automation, enterprise partnerships, and monetization. By the end of the four-week program, founders left with clear deliverables, a practical roadmap, and strategies they could apply immediately.

Up next: The 2026 Spring Program is Open Now:

We are now opening applications for the Accelerator-Grade Spring Bootcamp for the 99% - including people without a startup yet, aspiring entrepreneurs, and side hustlers. This program is designed to help participants gain traction even without a product, secure LOIs, POCs, and marketing or channel partnerships, and connect with mentors, investors, and fellow founders.

Our Pledge

Through this approach, Co-Capital works with elite entrepreneurial talent and scalable startups that are ready for advanced investment, global expansion, and fast momentum building. If you’re a founder, investor, or partner ready to join this transformative initiative, we invite you to explore co-capital further: https://www.co-capital.vc/

The other side of the table

Co-Capital's role extends beyond traditional venture capital; it also operates as a strategic VC as a services firm with a clear "skin in the game" alignment for its partners. This means Co-Capital not only invests its own capital but also offers specialized services and co-investment opportunities that directly benefit large corporations, institutional investors, and government entities.

This dual function allows Co-Capital to:

Strategic Interest for Partners: By leveraging its deep network and hands-on execution expertise, Co-Capital identifies and nurtures high-potential ventures that align with the strategic interests of its corporate and government partners, providing a curated pipeline for co-investment.
Drive Corporate Innovation: Co-Capital facilitates direct partnerships (e.g., POCs, LOIs, GTM strategies) between its portfolio companies and large corporations, helping the latter accelerate innovation, secure market access, and execute successful corporate venture strategies without the burden of building an internal program from scratch.
Support Ecosystem Development (Government Focus): For government and economic development agencies, Co-Capital acts as an execution partner to attract, scale, and globalize local startups. By focusing on cross-border expansion and practical traction, Co-Capital directly contributes to regional economic goals and the building of globally competitive startup ecosystems.

6- Events

This year, we proudly hosted a series of impactful events in collaboration with local and global partners. In total, we have organized 400+ local & global events over the past four years, bringing together 5,500+ attendees across regions.

In 2025 alone, we welcomed 2,000+ attendees through 40+ local events and 100+ global events, reflecting sustained trust and strong engagement from founders, operators, and ecosystem builders worldwide.

List of some highlights of local events we done-

We’re grateful to our partners, speakers, mentors, and community members who made these gatherings meaningful. As we move into the next year, we’ll continue creating spaces where founders and ecosystem builders can learn, connect, and grow together.

7- Special Thanks to Our Lovely Team!

A huge credit and thanks to all our incredible team members for all your hard work, dedication and commitment to make 2025 an unforgettable year for Openfor.co. This journey has been filled with challenges, growth, and success, and we couldn’t have done it without each of you. You all have brought your unique energy and creations to every project, making this a colorful and exciting journey for us all! Since we all are working remotely here is a AI generated fun visual of we are working in-person:)

AI generated fun visual of we are working in-person:)

8- What’s Ahead in 2026

Brief paragraph As we move into 2026, we are doubling down on our individual-first ecosystem approach—expanding access to entrepreneurship for the 99% while strengthening the pathways from curiosity to traction, and from traction to capital. Building on the momentum of 2025, our focus is on scaling impact, deepening human-centered support, and connecting individuals, startups, and partners across Asia and globally through clearer layers, stronger programs, and more actionable collaboration.

What’s ahead in 2026 (brief bullets)

Founder’s effort on content creation to be more helpful on a scale and featuring stories of the venture community will grow more.
Scaling the Entrepreneurship Readiness Program as the primary entry point for potential entrepreneurs
Expanding Openfor.co individual profiles, monetization tools, and paid collaboration features
Growing content, storytelling, and the 1,000 Founder Stories initiative to increase visibility and access
Launching a new cohort of GTM, partnership, and investment-readiness programs with Co-Capital
New 2 cohorts of Founder Institute Japan, Korea & Taiwan cohorts and cross-border collaboration
Reaching 1M+ global audience through content, events, and partnerships
Hosting more high-quality, human-centered events that turn connections into real opportunities

Discover collaborative

companies from all around the world

2026 Spring Bootcamp Applications Now Open! Final Deadline: January 15, 2026 Apply Now!