Hello, collaborators! As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, we're filled with gratitude for our past successes and excitement for future possibilities. Let's reflect on our achievements and growth from the challenges we've overcome, and celebrate the end of this year at Openfor.co
2023 was an amazing year and in this article, we will share our transformation, most recent updates, milestones, events, partnerships, and many more! Let's dive in! 🏊
1. Updated definitions
Openfor.co, inc, is a “B2B Collaboration Development Platform” originated in Silicon Valley that provides an online platform and bootcamps for learning, building, launching, and growing with partner programs. We help not only larger enterprises but also startups and even SMBs to take advantage of the partnerships and collaborations for validation, getting traction, increasing revenues, funding, and many more. We have an estimated multiple 9 figures impact on our members even though we just started 4 years ago by fully bootstrapping!
A little nostalgia: Back in 2019 our journey started as a small individual consulting practice and then evolved into a journey of building a product/platform. We have now become a SaaS business, that makes developing partnerships easy for startups, and SMBs combined with training programs with world-class experts. 🧑🔬
As continued to evolve, it set its sights on becoming a "Collab Launch-pad & Accelerator". This transition is not just upgrades in services or offerings but represents a deepening of Openfor.co's commitment to fostering partnerships. 🧩
TLDR: So it's a "Partner builder SaaS tool bundled with a accelerator Bootcamp " :)
Let's start by redefining what we offer: It's a combination of 3 things summarized as Learn, Build, and Grow:
Learn - Collaborator Academy: Training programs to learn how to take advantage of collabs such as our Collaborator Boot Camp.
Build - Our SaaS product: A set of tools that helps you to build partner programs, tell your story, generate collaboration ideas, identify your target partners, reach out to them, and then manage your partnerships.
Grow - The Collaborative Growth Framework: A launch pad, and an incentivization program that funds your partnership development activities for enabling ROI from collaborations!
2. Creating more collaboration opportunities to grow business and startup ecosystems around the world
Growth happens when anyone understands how to incentivize others to make them want to work together with you. Because the collaboration between businesses leads to mutual growth. We envision a world where unity prevails, collaboration outshines competition, and every endeavor contributes to a shared victory.
Our vision is "Making the world a more collaborative place"
Our mission is "to create more collaboration opportunities to grow business ecosystems around the world"
3. Driving Sustainable Development Through Social Collaboration and Entrepreneurship
In a world marked by dynamic challenges and opportunities, the role of entrepreneurship in fostering sustainable development cannot be overstated. As advocates for positive change, our commitment aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a primary focus on three key pillars: SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, and SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals.
Let's have a look at each:
In alignment with SDG 8, we as Openfor.co facilitates job creation and economic growth through entrepreneurship, emphasizing mentorship and skill development to build an inclusive ecosystem throughout our youth fellowship community with 1500 members -mostly from Southeast Asia" whom we interned and/or employed more than 130 of them, and 20 of them was able to get jobs and move to World's top 10 developed countries. Also, we actively advocate our opportunity creation for youth best practices to our members, clients, partners, and portfolio companies.
For SDG 9, we actively support startups and early-stage enterprises, fostering a culture of innovation to contribute to sustainable industrialization and environmentally responsible growth.
Under the banner of SDG 17, we prioritize collaborative partnerships that transcend boundaries, engaging with governments, non-profits, corporations, and diverse stakeholders to amplify the impact of our collective efforts.
By empowering individuals for positive change, fostering innovative collaborations, and building strategic alliances, we strive to contribute to a sustainable world for future generations.
Help us on our mission by spreading the word. It all takes as little effort as following us on LinkedIn and engaging our content to give a lie, comment, or re-post. This helps a ton to reach new people who might need what we do.
4. Our Story: Building Something That Should’ve Existed
We had this idea that something useful should exist, but we found out it didn't. So, we decided to create one. If you want to know more about our journey, we have pen down our story this year in order to give more context about what we do and why do it every day. Read our story here:
5. Notable accomplishments
As we navigate through this year, we are delighted to share that Openfor.co is continuing substantial traction in various forms, affirming the resonance and impact of our endeavors.
Dynamic Events: 20 events with 2000 total attendees in 2023 with attendees from ranging Fortune 500, to Governments, to Unicorns startups to Academia.
Building an equity portfolio: 29 new startups, multiple 8 figures estimated valuations.
Launching new programs: Launched boot camps
100K Monthly Impression on Linkedin: We've hit 100K monthly impressions on LinkedIn, showing our strong online growth and our team's dedication. Our commitment to quality and reliability is paying off, making us a preferred choice for our members. We're optimistic about maintaining this momentum and keeping up with our audience's needs. 🚀
Mentoring: Provided mentoring office hours to 150 startups on GTM, partnership developments, business model innovations, internationalization, and many more
Strategic Consulting: Provided consulting from large enterprises to venture capital firms to government officials on startup ecosystem development, internationalization, global partnerships, venture capital, and community building.
Other collaborations: We intentionally try to lighten the definition of collaborations so they can be availed to do by even with very early-stage startups and individuals. Hundreds of bite-size collaborations on LinkedIn people join monthly to support our mission and get joint benefits at the same time.
6. Building new Platform Features and Products
We are thrilled to announce the exciting launch of several innovative products, showcasing the hard work and dedication of our amazing team. These additions are designed to bring even more value to our customers, and partners and we're committed to continuously improving to stay ahead in our industry. We can't wait to see the positive impact of these enhancements on our business and to keep providing our customers with top-notch quality and value.
1. Platform / Product Features
Collab Call (New): Direct interaction between partners, enhancing real-time engagement and fostering stronger connections with a tier-based payment option; if your collaboration call requires a budget, you can ask your partners and reward them.
Referral Program (Coming Soon): This allows you to build your own referral program easily to incentivize and reward users for bringing in new partners.
Dashboard (New): A user-friendly interface for both administrators and users, ensuring easy navigation, access to key information, and ease of developing collabs and programs.
Story (New): The stories allow you to share narratives of their collaborative journey, creating a more personalized and engaging communication to attract partners.
Preset Collabs (New): Offering predefined collaboration templates for quick and efficient partner program setup, saving you time and effort.
Personal Collabs (Coming Soon): Personal partner program and collab call are on the way, Coming Soon! This will allow even individuals to build programs.
PRM Tool: The Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Tool allows you to invite existing partners easily with a built-in incentivization model that we provide, giving more convenience to earn rewards from us while you are building your own program.
2. Promotional Features
Sponsored Listing
Campaigns
Outreach
Event promotions and shoutouts
Co-blogging and content co-creation with us
Get featured on our social media and tagging
3. Academy Features
Bootcamps: A transformative four-stage program of “Discover, Build, Launch, and Grow” designed to challenge and strengthen participants, fostering collaborative efforts and strategic collaborations.
Launch: It’s a special program to help you to prep, reach, promote, and manage collaboration campaigns with a combination of our platform features.
Workshops: Hands-on learning experiences and practical insights into the intricacies of partner program development.
Events: Insightful sessions, network with industry experts, and discover opportunities to enhance your partner program strategy.
Office Hours: One-on-one sessions with mentors and experts to address your specific questions and challenges in partner program development.
4. Partnership Features
From us: We make you our affiliate partners and help you to build partnerships by using our offerings. The more and better you use our platform the more chance to get affiliate earnings you can get from us.
From you: As part of our offering we also help you to build your own partner program, including an affiliate program, and we integrate your program as well. the more activities you can do with us the more revenue you can generate from our community as well.
Paid collabs: Create collaboration ideas, define a budget with tier-based contributions, define what they will get, and invite your audience to crowdsource your paid collabs.
7. Updated Pricing plan and Packages
Our plans and packages consist of the following:
Product
Training
Promotion
Incentivization
We have updated 4 major plans Freemium, Light, Standard, and Advanced packages. We always have more advanced solutions open as bespoke as well. The basic logic behind the pages is the higher the plan is better the incentivization, product support, and back-office support from us. So it gives you a chance to take advantage of partnerships to your business.
Select the package that suits your partnership goals and let Openfor.co amplify your success.
8. Introducing the collaborative approach
If you look at the successful businesses closely, you would notice that they are very much collaborative to some certain extent. Naturally, most businesses start very small, and they are required to use resources very efficiently and make the right decisions that can grow sustainably long-term. The collaborative approach is undermines the following:
Value Creation through Collaborations (Collabs): Collaborations bring together diverse strengths, perspectives, and resources, leading to innovative solutions and enhanced offerings. They provide a direct feedback loop and ensure that any co-created product or service aligns with real market needs.
Adopting a Giving Mindset: The strategy involves continuously providing value through sharing knowledge, insights, and solutions, fostering trust and positioning oneself as an industry leader. This approach creates a magnetic pull where clients seek to do business with you due to the value you bring.
Building a Collaborative Audience First: The strategy starts by building a community of engaged individuals and businesses who believe in the vision. This community is not just potential customers but active collaborators.
Monetizing Before Product Development: Once a thriving community is established, the next step is monetization through understanding community needs and offering valuable solutions, often with the help of partnerships to expand reach and create new revenue streams.
Product Development After Monetization: With a monetized, engaged audience, product development becomes more informed, guided by direct feedback and insights. The launched product is more likely to be met with anticipation and excitement.
Pros and Cons: The approach has benefits like market demand validation, early revenue streams, and strong customer relationships. Challenges include managing expectations, balancing focus, and resource allocation.
The essence of this strategy is building relationships not only with customers but also with partners, influencers, and competitors, recognizing the potential for mutual growth in collaboration and then building or pivoting or re-positioning your product accordingly.
9. Featuring voices from our collaborative community
Some of our community members were kind enough to give us some testimonies. We would like to show our appreciation by mentioning this here as well. Here are the published ones, there are many testimonies on the way!
Here’s our community blog post - The Collaborative Approach Made Possible: Spotlighting Our Most Recent Collaborators (openfor.co). A new community blog post is coming soon and we’ll be regularly updating our supporters there, collaborate with us and become part of it!
We were astounded by the positive feedback. Here are some standout comments:
"This will be a valuable opportunity to rapidly prepare for partner development and engage at a high level!"
- Daisuke Ito - Founder and CEO of Ad-Dice
"Looks interesting. I know you both have succeeded at making many partnerships in Japan and also Korea too now!"
- Tyson Batino - Founder and CEO - Scaling Your Company
"🚀 Congrats to Openfor on launching this golden opportunity for startups! A comprehensive boot camp to master collaboration and supercharge growth. 🤝"
- Khatanbold Bat-Erdene - Co-founder and CEO of GerTech - OkusuriAI
"This looks great! Thanks for providing opportunities to collaborate and build our network!" - - - Raghvendra Jain Ph.D. - Co-founder at Optimays Inc.
"Absolutely thrilled about this! 🚀 Sounds like an opportunity not to be missed."
- Ace Apolonio - CEO at Fusionate AI
"This looks like a really unique opportunity! Partnership development has become a new focus for my company, so I will definitely look into applying for the cohort!"
- Devin Overman - Founder at Banter English
"The fact that the first pilot cohort is FREE makes it even more exciting – kudos for making it accessible to aspiring entrepreneurs."
- InGyn Nyi - Assistant Business Advisor at SME intellect
Openfor's 4-week boot camp will begin on August 22. (Erdinç Ekinci 🙋♂️ & Yu Li Shein) The deadline to register is August 20. I'm planning to attend!
- Takamichi Matsusako - Founder / CEO / Habit Designer at CALENDAR Inc.
9. Testimonies about Openfor.co
Dogukan Atar, KOHO
“As a graduate of the first cohort, I have to say that it was quite helpful. Whether you're just starting out or already have experience with partnerships and collaborations, the Openfor.co, Inc. team teaches how to make good collaborations. It is also another opportunity to network with quality entrepreneurs and give and receive feedback on each other's businesses.”
"The diversity of the international cohort at Openfor.co is one of its standout features. Gaining momentum for our startup has been vital. Their approach has allowed us to delve into the intricacies of partnership dynamics, and provides resources, including online tools and a specialized academy, making it a valuable platform for growth and collaboration. This will be essential as we venture into an international collaboration of innovation and startup ecosystem building.”
Achieving the first wave of traction is a game-changer for startups. With openfor.co, I've grasped the significance of harnessing partnerships. The resources they provide, from a collaborator academy to a unique incentivization model, and the online platform are noteworthy.
Naoko Fujihira, Kachibin Co.Ltd.
Our partnership with Openfor.co brings a new perspective and highlights that even start-ups can grow through strategic partnerships. Insights and guidance from Erdinc, Yuli, and their dedicated team guided us towards an ideal collaboration for market validation and traction. They generously shared their precious time and passion with us. Also, the tools combined with training are essential and highly recommended.
10. Our Notable Public Partnerships
Reaching new milestones, we're delighted to share our partnership with Founder Institute Japan and the exciting launch of FI Korea. Together, we embark on a journey of innovation and entrepreneurial excellence, fostering growth and empowering aspiring founders in the dynamic landscapes of Japan and Korea.
Launching Founder Institute Korea
For us to support more startups, we have partnered with the Founder Institute, a renowned global pre-seed accelerator. This partnership represents a significant milestone for FI, as it enables FI to tap into the resources and expertise of one of the most respected organizations in the startup ecosystem.
Founder Institute is the largest pre-seed accelerator and world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, FI structured accelerator programs have helped over 6,000 entrepreneurs raise over $1.75BN in funding. We have 25,000+ mentors worldwide in 200+ cities and 95+ countries.
"In 2023, the Founder Institute decided to establish the Korea program, intending to transform the Korean startup community into a global one. To achieve this, the program is conducted entirely in English and will cater not only to Koreans but also to foreign startup entrepreneurs.
With the leadership of Erdinc Ekinci and Yu Li Shein, the co-founders of Openfor.co, the Founder Institute Korea 2023 Cohort program was initiated from scratch on Mar 23rd, with the recruitment of partners and mentors. In a remarkably short span, the program was launched in March, with support from early supporters in the Korea Startup Ecosystem. And we have successfully conducted our 2023 cohort now.
More than 35 Mentors from Korea and global startup ecosystems joined FI to help the next generation of entrepreneurs build great businesses in Korea.
More than 90 ecosystem partners joined as well.
Founder Institute Korea '23 Program is finally kicking off on Mar 23rd, 2023 . The Founder Institute Korea '23 cohort has kicked off with over 12 Founders, representing very different nations, joining from different countries and an exciting array of industry and sector innovations out of around 100 applicants.
With founders from diverse backgrounds and industries, like Sport, Education, AR(3D), SNS, Real Estate, NLP, Fintech, E-commerce, HR, Travel, and many more innovative, change-making startups led by talented entrepreneurs.
Founder Institute Japan continues
The Founder Institute Japan recently celebrated the graduation of 23 startup founders from its 2023 cohort, a notable increase from the original 17. This diverse group was chosen from a group of over 100 applicants, embarking on a focused 14-week program that included challenging assignments and mentorship from over 60 industry experts. The Founder Institute Japan's dedication to fostering innovation is evident in the significant growth of successful graduates, showcasing the program's effectiveness in preparing emerging entrepreneurs for success in the competitive startup landscape. The Founder Institute Japan remains at the forefront of supporting and empowering the next generation of startup leaders, as demonstrated by the remarkable achievements of its 2023 cohort.
FI Global Highlights
This year we collectively:
Eclipsed 7000 FI Portfolio companies, spanning 107 countries worldwide
Established a record number of partnerships with governments, universities and corporations (in both deal volume, and deal revenue)
Grew the FI Venture Network to over 700 “first and second-check” investors, facilitating hundreds of targeted introductions for our portfolio
Hosted 652 global and local startup events (including 96 in-person events), providing education and networking opportunities to over 60,000 aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs worldwide
Hosted our first in-person FounderX Conference since 2018, with FI Network members from 40 countries in attendance
Released a massive update to our ‘Entrepreneur DNA Assessment’, providing more accurate results, personalized reports, and new partnership opportunities
Perhaps more impressively, our brave Alumni raised over $75M in 2023, rising above the hype-based companies that have flooded our communities, and displaying the resilience and determination that we preach.
11. EVENTS
In 2023, Openfor.co had an amazing year, hosting 8 successful events, with 4 fantastic collaborations with Founder Institute Japan and 3 awesome partnered events with Founder Institute Korea! Alongside these international adventures, we also led eight exclusive Openfor.co events, all geared toward sparking innovation and collaboration within our wonderful entrepreneurial community.
