Time to Build: Applications Now Open to Founder Institute Japan 2023

Founder First, Founder Always. Join us in 2022: Founder Institute is the #1 place in the world to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses.

Today’s economic 'New Normal' is full of reshuffling industries, and new problems in need of solutions - now is a time for entrepreneurs to act.

Whether you need to test and validate early hypotheses before making a large financial commitment to your startup idea, or you are ready to push your startup to the next level through aggressive weekly growth sprints to refine your vision, improve key metrics, and prepare for investor diligence, Founder Institute has the proven processes and network to help you do it.

If you could use a structured process that tells you what to focus on when, and a lifetime of support from Japan's top investors and entrepreneurs, then apply to the Japan 2023 Founder Institute today.

We will be hosting several free startup events in Japan over the coming weeks, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs all from the comfort of home:

Japan Events:

Cross-Border Startup Funding: Insights from International Investors : 6:30pm, Apr 25, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/343385
Pitch Your Ideas to Japan/ Korea Investors & Experts, Online: 6:00pm, Apr 30, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/326990

Global or Regional Events:

Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
Co-Founders Connect: Find a Business Partner Online: 9:00am, May 02, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/338045
Ask an Investor Anything: Q&A with a Venture Capitalist: 9:00am, Jun 06, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/340966
How to Come Up with Great Startup Ideas: 9:00am, Aug 29, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/341846
Employee to Entrepreneur: How to Make the Transition to Startup Founder: 9:00am, Sep 03, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/343240
What is the DNA of an Entrepreneur? Insights from 15 Years of Research: 9:00am, Sep 10, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/344206
Startup Fundraising Q&A: Meet Investors from the FI Venture Network: 9:00am, Oct 15, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/342446
How to Come Up with Great Startup Ideas: 9:00am, Oct 24, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/344504
Startup Fundraising Q&A: Meet Investors from the FI Venture Network: 10:00am, Dec 24, 2024 (Asia/Tokyo): https://FI.co/e/342625

See all upcoming events

Make better, faster business decisions in 2022 by sharing your latest progress, challenges, and strategies for constant feedback and evaluation from our expert mentors and advisors, every step of the way–scale your team, develop new business opportunities, and recruit an amazing advisory board with the world's largest network of international startup founders, CEOs, advisors, and investors.

The Japan accelerator is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Erdinc Ekinci (Co-founder, CEO , Openfor.co, inc / Founder Institute Japan), YuLi Shein (Co-founder, COO, Openfor.co, inc). In addition, some of Tokyo's top entrepreneurs will be participating as mentors in the program, including:

Abe Rezai: Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, H.B. Fuller
Aki Ohashi: Vice President, Evolution Ventures
Alexander De Vore: CEO, 3D Printing
Andrew Shuttleworth: Mentor, Founder Institute
Benjamin Joffe: Founder & CEO, Plus Eight Star
Cedric Wagrez: VP, ML Tech & Japan AI, TaskUs
Chiamin Lai: Managing Partner, UB Ventures
Chintan Oza: Founder, Anantam Ecosystems
Chris Foltz: Entrepreneur In Residence, Founder Institute + Responsible Solutions Ltd + IRG 100 CMO's & Change Agents
Christoph Sollich: Christoph Sollich - The Pitch Doctor, The Pitch Doctor
Conrad Kimball: CEO, ADU.Works
Daisuke Ito, ad-dice Co., Ltd.
Darren Menabney: Lead, Global Employee Engagement, Ricoh Company
Dr. Mayank Singh: Co-founder, CEO , Impute Inc.
Ed Thompson: Marketing Consultant / Founder, Concept Design I/O
Erdinc Ekinci: Managing Director, Founder Institute Korea & Japan
Evan Burkosky: Co-founder & CRO , kimaru.ai
Fuminori Gunji: Business Coach | Startup mentor & investor | Ex-SoftBank | Ex-Startup COO | M&A exit | Trilingual BizDev expert, Gunji Works
Hideki Suzuki: CEO , TSUCREA Co., Ltd.
Hiroshi Nishikawa: Representative Director, Solve AI
Hiroyuki Anno: Co-Founder and CEO, DELIGHT Global Inc.
IBRAHIM ORHAN, Kanaria Tech Inc.
Jack Huang: Managing Partner, Dreamhub Ventures
Jad Tarifi: CEO & Co-founder, Integral AI
Jared Campion: Founder & CEO, Dream Drive
Jatin Kataria: Founder & CEO, InMeSta
Jay Onda: Director (Investments) | CVC Advisory Board Member, Marubeni Ventures | National Venture Capital Association
Jay Ashcroft: Founder, Growth Engine Consulting
Jeni Chang: Founder | Investor | Mentor, .
Jet Son Tan: Director of Product & Technology, AVANT Corporation
Jinho Jang: Founder , Agoras Inc. - CodeFriends.net
Joe Hug: Professor, Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation
John Kirch: Director, Ichigo Asia K.K.
Jordan Fisher: Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Zehitomo
Joshua Flannery: Founder & CEO , Innovation Dojo Japan
Jun Miyazaki: CEO / Mentor, OrangeTechLab
Karin Wellbrock: Mrs. / Partner , Kay Group K.K.
Kei Shimada: Executive | Entrepreneur | Award-winning Innovator | Global Keynote Speaker| Startup Mentor | Angel Investor | EMBA, Liquid One Studio
Ken Sobajima: Founder & CEO , Tomorrow Access LLC
Ken Covey: Investment Manager, QXLV
Kevin Brockland: Founder & Managing Partner, Indelible Ventures:
Khalil Maaouni: Head of Data and Digital, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc.
Kim Yongho: Co-Founder and CEO, STRA Co., Ltd.
Kiyotake Sugita: Founder, KLAR K.K.
Kojiro Seto: Startup Advisor, bTANK LLC
Kota Fujinuma: Lawyer, Kobayashi Yugeta Law Office
Krishan Caldwell: Senior Software Engineer, Kraken
Kyo Ueda: CEO / Founder, Lingo Mii
Lu Dong: Founder and CEO, TakeMe Co.,Ltd.
Maaike Doyer: Founder, Epic Angels
Mahesh Kasar: SVP, Head of Sales - APAC / Global Partner Alliance and Indirect Channel Sales, Rakuten Symphony
Makihara Arisa: Junior Associate , Anobaka
Mari Nishiyama: Startup Partner Lead, Stripe
Marko Simic: Chief Technology Officer, Ascent Robotics, Inc.
Masafumi Kamishiro: Senior Vice President, Bain Capital
Masaru Nagura: General Manager, CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center)
Masumi Shimafuji: Co-Founder and CEO, xRsion Inc.
Maximillian Naza: Chief Executive Officer , PasciVite
Michael Sheetal: Founder / CEO, PlayBrain Inc.
Michael Sudano: Senior Robotics Operations Engineer, Woven Planet Holdings
Mikio Kawahara: Chief Investment Officer / Head of Investment and Business Development, UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd.
Naoko Kurosawa: Senior Manager, TSUCREA Co., Ltd.
Naoko Fujihira: Founder/CEO, Kachibin
Naotake Murayama: Head of Global Operations, SplitX
Niklas Karvonen: Community Director, Nordic Innovation House - Tokyo
Noriya Tarutani: Director of Innovation Division, JETRO / J-Startup Affairs
Paloma Lecheta: Regional Director - LatAm, Founder Institute
Paul Ashton: Country Manager, Japan, Nord Security
Pina (Yoichiro) Hirano: CEO, Asteria Corporation
Raphael Hodé: CEO, Design Director, nowthen
Rebecca Chai: Ventures Associate, Plug and Play Japan
Reisa Matsuda: Community Manager, Google Japan
Roger Do: Co-Founder, QSearch
Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
Ryoichi Kaneko: Partner, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
Satoshi Nunokawa: Associate , Incubate Fund
Schyler Alexandra Cole: Managing Director, Qrea8iv Venture Studio
Sergio Elias Wilson: Foreign Associate, So & Sato Law Firm
Shigeru Sumitomo: Founder and Representative Director, Conselux Corporation
Shinya Yamamoto: Founder & CEO, Link & Innovation, Inc.
Sho Sato: CEO, LUDiMUS Inc.
So Saito: Founder, So & Sato Law Offices
Steve Monaghan: General Partner, Finmirai
Takaaki Ono: Co-Founder, BlueCircle, LLC
Takeshi Maruyama: President / Chief Marketing Officer, Sekisui Fuller
Taku Furukawa: Founder & Organizer, Tokyo Fabhub
Takujiro Oto: Co-Founder and CEO, Drive Japan Inc.
Tao Romera Martinez: Chief Operating Officer, Soundraw
Theodore Kee: Founder, The Elect Advisory
Todor Panev: Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Web Factory, Sigoor, Talnets
Tom Moss: CEO, Skydio APAC
Tomohiro Uchida: Partner, Translink Capital
Tyson Batino: Founder 創業者, Scaling Your Company
Xinmei Cai: Engineering Director, Google Japan
Yamato Sasagawa: Investor, World Innovation Lab (WiL)
Yoichi Ito: Dean of entrepreneurship dept., Musashino Univ.
Yoshiki Kimura: lawyer , MURATA & WAKATSUKI LAW OFFICES
Yoshimi Shinohara: Founder / CEO, Yokohama Ventures LLC
Yoshiro Tasaka: Director of Global Strategy Division, Shibuya City Government / Shibuya Startup Support
Yuichi Terada: Founder & President , Hiyoura Lab
Yuji Tanabe: Co-Founder and CTO, Aeterlink
Yuki Shirato: Managing Director, Yakumi
Yuki Sato: Co-founder, CEO , Obniz Inc
Yu Li Shein: Co-Director, Founder Institute Korea/Japan, Co-founder, COO, Openfor.co, inc
Yves Lehmann: Mr., if21
Zak Murase: Managing Director, Pacific Sky Partners

And many more to be announced.

Since 2009, Founder Institute’s highly-structured accelerator programs have helped over 7,000 entrepreneurs to grow quickly, know what to do next, and make key connections through the largest community of startup advisors in the world.

It all starts with our renowned ‘FI Core’ accelerator, which pushes founders at the idea and pre-seed stages to reach the milestones needed for investment and sustained growth. Alumni of FI Core then receive free access to our advanced ‘Founder Lab’ accelerators for years to come, and can get matched with prospective investors in the FI Venture Network - a collection of global funds actively investing in the earliest rounds of funding.

The results speak for themselves: FI Alumni have raised over $1.75BN in funding, and are building impactful businesses across 200+ cities and 100+ countries all across the globe. (see the FI 50 Report here).