DNX

Interview

• Creating spaces where people and knowledge intersect, as a platform for startup growth
• From art, to craftsmanship, to today. At art university, I studied arts management and worked to connect young creators and artists with broader society. Through planning and running exhibitions and competitions, and introducing artists on web media, this was when I began to find value in shaping the environments and points of contact that help creators’ work and ambitions lead to their next opportunity. At the company I joined after graduating, I handled collaboration projects with creators while also helping build a network with them. My work was about creating the spaces and relationships that connect creators’ expression and ambitions with society. Later, having been a user of orthopedic footwear myself, I set out to become an orthopedic shoemaker and moved to Germany, the birthplace of the craft. In Germany, I worked one-on-one with people whose conditions all differed—those who had difficulty walking due to disability or injury, or for whom commercially available shoes did not fit—assessing their feet through manual examination and gait observation, and delivering solutions through shoemaking to help customers live a little more comfortably each day. Honing my skills as a craftsman, facing each person as a practitioner, and building trust in a foreign country while working in a foreign language—these experiences form the foundation of how I view my work. No matter how my field evolves, I want to keep working through people’s challenges and difficulties, and shaping the opportunities and environments that help them move forward, as the core of my work.
• The value of community, realized over time After returning to Japan, I spent about two and a half years as SPROUND’s Community Manager, and formally joined DNX in 2023. At SPROUND, I worked on building an environment for startups centered on the office space, and now, as a member of DNX, I spend time thinking about how a community of startups should be fostered. I see community not as an end in itself, but as a method that support the growth of our portfolio companies. Precisely because DNX invests with a focus on the B2B/AI software domain, founders and team members taking on challenges in that same domain can meet through our network , learn from one another, sometimes share their struggles, and draw their next move from each other’s experience. The value of community lies in designing those opportunities. My encounters with startups began at SPROUND. I hope to keep carefully nurturing spaces where trust grows among participants as they spend time together, and where their sense of community gradually grows.
• As the designer of the DNX community When you hear the word “community,” what comes to mind? What I want to cherish most in the DNX portfolio community is creating an environment where our portfolio companies can look back and think say, “Because of the time we spent here, we are where we are today.” In a startup, from founding to exit, so much happens that you could talk about the experience endlessly. There are periods of smooth growth, and phases that don’t go as hoped expected. In each of those moments, I want to build the support and trust that lets companies feel comfortable with DNX’s presence. Founders, management teams, and members each have their own point of contact with DNX, and peers taking on challenges in the same B2B/AI software domain learn from one another’s experiences, draw inspiration, and move forward again. To make that happen, we work as one team—together with the investment, Partnership, and Finance teams—to build spaces for growth support rooted in learning. As someone who designs the DNX community, I want to keep thinking deeply about the kind of community the DNX should build, and nurture trust with our portfolio companies through long-term partnerships.