2st Program Participants Voice

I was able to meet external mentors with whom I would have not met if it were not for APT Women. Their accurate instructions helped me decide on the future direction of my business. Also, the network with my fellow women entrepreneurs has become a precious treasure for me. I realized that everyone is going through trials and errors as they move forward and that it was not only me who was struggling. I held a study session with my fellow participants with the hope to contribute some lessons based on my experience to other members. Now I have friends that I can talk to even about small things, which makes me feel much stronger than before. I would like to cherish these friendships for a long time into the future.

I participated in APT Women as I wanted to examine and verify the potential of my business from a different perspective. Through the domestic and overseas programs, I was able to examine whether my business could appeal to VCs. As a result, I came to a conclusion that it was best for my company to establish a solid business model first with some business loans, and then expand the business across Japan. The APT Women’s program, which lasted for about four months, was a great journey for me to explore the potential of my company. I was able to receive sometimes painful but practical advice from famous venture support experts, senior entrepreneurs, and mentors. I owe this precious experience all to APT Women.

Through the APT Women program, I noticed how I had been failing to clarify or verbally express why I and my company Crossdoor were engaged in business and what we wanted to achieve through business. After I became more aware of the purpose and started to share it with people, I and my company saw great progress. I am now feeling the importance of the “intention,” which I had been failing to be aware of and embrace for a long time. Also, I was fortunate enough to foster friendships with my fellow participants, which I think will last for a long time even after the program. Not only in terms of business, but also their lifestyles and characters have been a great inspiration for me. I would like to do my best to make these friendships last, while also collaborating with each other in business.

Craftie runs a website to sell seats for various experiences and workshops with a focus on arts and crafts. When I started the APT Women program, I set two goals: the first goal was to examine the scale of our new B-to-B service, and the second was to develop a globalization plan for my company. Throughout the three months of the domestic program, I closely worked with my mentors and saw steady progress. I was also able to come up with some hypothetical scenarios that could serve as a foundation for our globalization plan. Although our new business and scale-out have only just begun, the friendships with my fellow participants have already become a precious treasure for me. I would like to continue to work on my business at full throttle into the future!

Through this four-month program, I learned the importance of being confident not only about my business, but also about myself, of always keeping a high perspective, and of being bold and showing who I really am.

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Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. We always have hard time finding our own pace.
We often get so caught up in miscellaneous day-to-day things and lose the mid- and long-term perspectives.

In Japan, women entrepreneurs are still a minority. Sometimes we are even labeled as eccentric. And from a global perspective, Japanese women entrepreneurs are still too shy and reserved, and often not assertive enough.

On the contrary, entrepreneurs were heroes in Silicon Valley; in this city, taking on a challenge was something to be praised. APT Women was a great program that made me want to expand my business to the US market as soon as possible.

I think it is important to really incorporate what I learned through the APT Women program into my business, rather than keeping this experience as a mere “good memory.” I tell myself that this is the true beginning of the battle, and I am getting ready for it.

APT Women was a great experience. I am so glad that I participated in the program and very grateful to all the people that I met through the program.

It was soon after I founded my second company when I started the APT Women program. At the beginning, my business model was still unstable and unreliable. But with the help from my internal and external mentors, the lecturers, and the people from Tohmatsu, I was able to develop a solid business model soon after, which allowed us to achieve quick growth. I learned a lot because my second company’s business model is totally different from my first company’s and also because it was my first time to participate in the program. Also, the dispatch program to Silicon Valley gave me a great opportunity to look at the global market.

I am also grateful that I was able to grow great relationships with my fellow participants in the second season. We can share our struggles with each other and inspire each other. These friendships are a precious treasure for me. Thank you.

It was a great experience for me to learn various know-how about entrepreneurship from such extraordinary lecturers.
It was particularly exciting for me to directly receive a lecture from the author of a book that I had repeatedly read for so many times, holding my own copy full of sticky notes that I inserted while reading. This would have been impossible if I hadn’t participated in the program. Thank you so much.
Also, all my fellow women entrepreneurs from the second season were great people with high standards and they had strong beliefs in what they were doing. The experience of learning together with them and the friendships that we fostered together have become my precious treasure.
I would like to thank all the people involved in the program for giving me such a great opportunity.

I decided to participate in the APT Women program as I became aware that the company’s growth would be impossible unless I grow myself. Although I still have to put much energy in dealing with day-to-day things because my company is still in the startup phase, the APT Women’s program gave me great opportunities to get information that I would have never had a chance to know if it were not for the program and to take time to re-examine my company’s products.
From the business perspective, I was able to make great progress in relation to financing and partnership. But aside from the growth that I was able to achieve as an entrepreneur, probably the greatest gift from the program was the friendships with my fellow women entrepreneurs, with whom I could share my views and struggles as a woman.
I hope to make my company into a great company loved by many people and capable of making a positive impact on society.

The entire program was so insightful that I felt my perspective changing on a daily basis. Although I had already had a strong interest in business expansion to the US market, I thought I was going to work on it at a later time. However, through my visit to Silicon Valley, I was able to see a great potential for my business and gained great confidence about expanding my business to the US. So, I changed my plan and am now putting more energy in to making it come true. Also, I am grateful that I was able to meet my fellow women entrepreneurs. It is wonderful that we can share our struggles with each other and inspire each other. Our friendship is one of the greatest treasures in my life.