"Entrepreneurship" Articles (8)

I read all 236 companies in YC Summer 2026: AI agents became the customer, and two-person teams are building factories

I went through all 236 companies in Y Combinator's Summer 2026 batch using the public directory data. Median team size is two people, industrials make up 23%, and a cluster of companies sells to AI agents rather than to humans. Here is what is happening and what it suggests for anyone building something, with links to every company.

2026-08-26Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Consulting

Secondary transactions in private company shares: what changed in Japan, and what it means for founders

Smartround Securities has completed registration as a Type I financial instruments business, clearing the way to handle secondary transactions in private company shares. Here is what a secondary transaction actually is, why the market never developed in Japan, what the 2024 amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act changed, and what founders should decide before the first request lands on their desk.

2026-08-23Ryuta Hamamoto

WARP

A Differentiation Strategy for the Age When Features No Longer Set You Apart｜Emotion, Personality, Worldview, and Community

AI has slashed the cost of building software, and a feature advantage now decays to almost nothing within six months.

2026-07-19Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Consulting

Solving Social Issues Is the Largest Business Opportunity (SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026)

At SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, one session put forward a clear thesis: solving the world's social issues is the largest business opportunity.

2026-04-29Ryuta Hamamoto

Challengers

EMC GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Special Report: 'Don't Be the Last Samurai!' — Ikuo Hiraishi and a Dialogue with Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs

EMC GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Special Report: 'Don't Be the Last Samurai!' — Ikuo Hiraishi and a Dialogue with Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs.

2026-02-13Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Consulting

[October Update] Upcoming Accelerator Program Schedule

[October Update] Upcoming Accelerator Program Schedule. ① Acceleration program name: Business Model Award 2024. Application deadline: Sunday, October 22, 2023.

2026-01-21Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Consulting

SXSW Session Report #06: Confronting Social Inequality — Supporting Entrepreneurs of Color and Women Founders

SXSW Session Report #06: Confronting Social Inequality — Supporting Entrepreneurs of Color and Women Founders.

2026-01-21Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Consulting

SXSW Session Report #14: The Path to Entrepreneurial Success

The following is a session report from SXSW. The speaker was a woman who founded her first company — a babysitting business — at age 14.

2026-01-21Ryuta Hamamoto