Our Story
In 2016, we were working regular office jobs in Tokyo when we realized the ingrained social inequality and lack of opportunities for womxn and decided that we needed to take action. The solution was to empower women to be a part of the movement towards entrepreneurship.
The initial idea was to launch a video content platform; entrepreneurs can share their emancipation from corporate life and assumed societal roles to inspire others, while also sharing the challenges that they faced when establishing a company to provide guidance and support.
As we started interviewing; we realized that people needed more than just the knowledge of starting up a business. We met mothers that were struggling to rejoin the workforce after maternity leave, young womxn who had given up careers for marriage, womxn in high-level management positions but had to sacrifice their personal lives, young talent with great potential who got discouraged and lost their zest by their lack of impact. We noticed recurring themes of workplace harassment and long-term duress, oftentimes resulting in extended leaves of absence due to physical and/or mental health concerns. We realized that our focus was not only on the business hurdles of entrepreneurship, but rather on building a community and bringing these women together. The problem was much deeper; the human touch was what was missing.
We started Startup Lady as a community and a safe space for womxn to get the support and resources they need to take control of their own life - whether as a freelancer, self-employed, or business owner. To establish their life on their own terms while staying true to their core values.
Startup Lady was registered as a “general incorporated association” in the Summer of 2018, and is now growing steadily with pivots here and there to stay true to what we believe, as well as by listening and responding to the needs of our community. By bringing together and empowering women, we aim to create a business world where men and womxn are treated equally.
Why do we think that Startup Lady is filling a very important gap?
Startup Lady was created not just to support such women, but to inspire them to change — to be the change they want to see. Our mission is summed up in our slogan: “Be the game changer!”
Many many thanks to all the people who believed in us and our mission; who have helped us get to where we are today, and for the continued support of our community.
We are proud members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Startup Consortium
Our History
2017 | The First Meeting
May
Amee and Moeko met and discussed the difficulties facing women in business and being a foreign entrepreneur. They felt that maybe something can be done to make the situation better for everyone.
2018 | First Video
January
After some discussion, Amee and Moeko wanted to create videos that showcase role models for younger, aspiring female entrepreneurs. Steffie joined Startup Lady to help with video production and editing.
2018 | First Event
April
The team decided to try hosting regular events for women entrepreneurs as a way to build a small community. Koko joined the team around this time with her expertise in non-profit, event management, and community building.
2018 | First Legal Entity
July
Startup Lady officially registered as a legal entity, and a board of directors composed of the original members were officially formed as well.
2019 | Annual Women Entrepreneur Night @Ryozan Park
April
Being one of our earliest space sponsors, Ryozan Park opened its doors to Startup Lady and has supported many of the earliest Women Entrepreneur Nights. The event averaged 30-50 participants at the time.
2019 | Beta Membership
May
As a trial membership that includes both mastermind and online resources support, the Startup Lady membership has helped several of its members go from startup to growth stage. The membership was unfortunately discontinued due to the lack of resources and capacity.
2019 | Frank Discussion with the President of Estonia
October
Startup Lady had the honor to host the former (and first female) president of Estonia in a discussion series that included topics such as the current state of women entrepreneurship in Japan, Estonia’s startup culture and digital citizenship, etc. The audience was left impressed with Estonia’s efforts in digitization and inspired to continue to innovate and help change Japan’s startup ecosystem.
2020 | Annual Women Entrepreneur Night continues at @La Billage
March
La Billage (Shibuya) is a space that especially supported female entrepreneurs and has been a great space sponsor for Startup Lady’s Women Entrepreneur Night, meeting the growing capacity of event audiences. The event averaged 100-130 audiences at the time.
2022 | 60 days startup challenge and 6 weeks bootcamp
March
The Startup Lady team began investing more time and resources into creating educational content that will help benefit the community. The 60 days startup challenge and 6 weeks boot camp was successfully launched twice and has seen 20+ graduates from the program take their business to the next level.
2022 | Google for Startups Campus Partnership - Story Night
November (annual)
As part of an annual series, the Story Night program highlights the journey for entrepreneurs who have officially funded their startups, and continues to foster a close knit community of Story Night alumni through monthly mastermind meetings.
2022 | World Chicago Entrepreneurship Exchange Program
December
Startup Lady’s collaboration with World Chicago has sent a team of Japanese women entrepreneurs to Chicago to learn about entrepreneurship in America, and shadow other entrepreneurs based in Chicago. The program wrapped up in a successful capstone event, with all the participants presenting new learnings, and their future ambitions after the program ended.
Now | New Beginnings
Startup Lady continues to serve the community through education, events, and community building. Our current plan is to expand Startup Lady beyond the immediate Tokyo community and to reach all of Japan. We are also currently in preparation for exciting upcoming resources for our community!
News
![[ENGLISH] Startup Lady Association has become a member of “Startup Ecosystem @ Tokyo Consortium” by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca74fb4a37da50001b80ace/1579918562206-JJBJB9GK8VU4SXXPXEC3/x74_0150_4_750x503.jpg.pagespeed.ic.JZ9IJuaksQ.jpg)
Founders & Board
Koko R.
Sato
co-founder & CO-CEO
Amee
Xu
co-founder & CHAIR
Moeko
Suzuki
Co-founder & BOARD
Steffie
Harner
co-founder
Maki Rui Nagamori▾
CEO & co-founder of
Leaflow Inc.
Rui Nagamori is a Tokyo-based serial entrepreneur who successfully exited in 2021. Graduated in the Keio University, Bachelor of Arts and has 10+ years of experience at event operation, international shipping business, and public relations as a freelance bilingual emcee/narrator/interpreter. She co-founded Carry On Inc. in 2013 operating "Carry On (Social Closet®)" hassle-free sharing platform for gently worn children’s clothing and also launched private kids inner-wear brand "kinico". She currently leads as the CEO and co-founder of Leaflow Inc., a company that is leading the next generation of CBD products throughout Japan and Asia.
Visit Leaflow Inc.
Board Member
CEO & CO-FOUNDER
LEAFLOW INC.
Chika Tsunoda ▾
CEO of Anytimes Inc.
Graduated Keio University, majored in Economy and Politics. After the graduation, she entered Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. as a sales for equity and debt finance.
After experiencing PR/planning at CyberAgent, Inc., she established Anytimes Inc. in May 2013, wich the vision of “Creating a society with various measures for happiness”.
At the end of the year, she released ANYTIMES, which is a platform for help seekers and job seekers in a local community.
Visit Anytimes
Yuya Ishikawa ▾
CEO of ISKMA
Yuya Ishikawa graduated in the Keoi University, Faculty of Law. He specializes in preventive legal affairs such as divorce counseling, and his business ISMA also provides a wide range of services in cooperation with other law firms, detective offices and clinics. Furthermore, the business is engaged in entrepreneur support, management consulting, life consulting, ect., not only in Japan, but overseas as well.
Visit ISKMA
Auditor
CEO,
CCMO consulting
Advisors
Annie Chang ▾
Founder & CEO of AC Global Solutions and Women In Tech
Annie Chang changed the status quo in Japan when she became the first Asian woman to successfully build a recruitment company. The company has succeeded in placing hundreds of candidates into professional roles in the workplace so far. Annie has a driven passion for increasing women in the tech-workforce, and founded ‘Women in Technology Japan’ (WITJ), a non-profit organization to empower women in the industry. WITJ is made up of female IT professionals of all nationalities, and offers them an exciting opportunity to exchange ideas, share experiences, and improve work-life balance.
Visit AC Global Solutions
Founder & CEO
AC Global Solutions
Founder & CEO
Women in Tech
Yan Fan ▾
Co-Founder & CTO of Code Chrysalis
Born in China and raised in Seattle, Yan graduated from Dartmouth College with degrees in Economics and Arabic. After graduation, Yan worked at Bunge Global Agribusiness, a commodities trading house. After a career change into tech, Yan worked as a software engineer at Ayasdi, a leading Silicon Valley machine learning startup, and as an instructor for Hack Reactor's prep course.
Code Chrysalis is Yan's second coding bootcamp: with Hack Reactor, she co-founded and served as CTO of a coding school in Jordan helping refugees in 2016.
Visit Code Chrysalis
Megumi Iguchi ▾
President of
Kanatta Inc.
Megumi Iguchi was born in Japan, raised party in the US partly in Japan. She attended Yokohama National University, where she majored in international business. Kanatta Inc., the startup she founded in 2016, promotes women via technology, financing, and networking platforms. Kanatta has developed three business pillars: Community of female drone pilots and educators, women-only crowdfunding platform, and events and networking platform for aspiring female founders. The company's mission is to contribute to SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) number 5, "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls".
Visit Kanatta Inc.
Mayu Arimoto ▾
PARTNER,
OGAWA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE
Mayu Arimoto is an attorney admitted in Japan (2010) and New York (2018). A partner at Alesia International Law Office in Ebisu, Tokyo. She works for international companies, startup companies and individuals. Has extensive experience in the area of labor law cases (overtime pay, dismissal, etc., including international cases), Internet-related cases, contract law issues, and corporate law cases. The word “ALES” included in her office name means ‘wings’ with a wish to support clients to take the next steps and fly higher.
Visit Alesia International Law Office
