AWS Impact Bootcamp Tokyo: Building tomorrow, with purpose

Tokyo is a megacity of skyscrapers, bright lights, futuristic technology, and an active startup community. Its evolution has been shaped by the needs of its citizens, offering a blueprint for overcoming constraint with creation. Land reclamation in Tokyo Bay resulted in a major industrial center. New urban districts like Takanawa Gateway City showcase cutting-edge innovation. Looking ahead, projects such as Tokyo Bay eSG aim to integrate technology and green infrastructure to drive sustainability and meet long-term goals.

Tokyo’s history and dynamic evolution therefore made it a natural choice as one of the global stops for the AWS Impact Bootcamp series, delivered in partnership with Techstars. The Tokyo program brought together underrepresented founders who aren’t merely chasing growth, but solving real-world problems. Over two days, founders gained the tools and learnings needed to grow, including training, real-world business advice, and direct access to mentors, investors, and strategic partners. Tapping into Japan’s considered, purpose-driven approach to business, the bootcamp was designed to help startups turn big ideas into real impact. 

Personal journeys shaping bold ideas

Those big ideas spanned numerous sectors, and were sparked by personal missions and influenced by bold visions. Bootcamp participant Sasha Lee Seals has been living in Japan for 21 years and is the Executive Director of Nagareyama L.E.A.D. The startup’s goal, she says, is “to be the Techstars for children,” incorporating an accelerator program teaching young people how to start their own business. “We think innovation starts where children have ownership of who they are and what they can do.” This ethos is grounded in her own experience as founder. “I come from the countryside in Jamaica. In Jamaica, everybody wants to start a business, it's not even a case of if and when. People are always aiming to create their own path.”

Her story was echoed across the cohort, with founders heading up ventures ranging from fermented food boxes and AI-driven skincare, to a healthcare recruitment platform, professional networking platform, and more. All of the founders at AWS Impact Bootcamp Tokyo represented self-funded and early-stage startups with a goal to scale or prepare to raise funds.

Progressing to these crucial next steps of the startup journey is not easy, and founders everywhere face similar challenges: access to funding, establishing and growing networks, navigating uncertainty, and managing limited resources. “Building something from scratch is always very challenging,” says Impact Bootcamp participant Laney Huang, XXX. For underrepresented founders, these challenges are often more pronounced, shaped by structural barriers, limited visibility, and fewer opportunities to break into established ecosystems.

Breaking through barriers

In some cases, founders are also navigating industry dynamics that have not always reflected their perspectives or experiences. Katherine Tanoto, Founder and CEO of AI skincare startup Callara, has years of experience in the beauty industry and had previously sought advice and access to funding. However, she says, “unfortunately, a lot of VCs I've talked to are males.” She continues, “they will look at me and be like, ‘Oh, skincare. Do you do skincare every day? Is there some problem that you face?’ And then I have to use very basic information to first feed them the information about what this industry is, how big it is and if it's still growing, the market potential, etc.” She contrasts this to other sectors which are traditionally male-dominated, such as gaming, which (also typically male) VCs often have more knowledge of.

Similarly, Akari Terell, Founder of fermented food startup, Komorebi Culture Collective, said she’d had a “hard time just talking to people, because we went to some events and sometimes they're like, ‘Oh, you're a woman?’ And that's something that we are trying to avoid.” She aims to work and foster connections with more female leaders in Japan: “we want to make sure Japanese women are represented in so many different industries.”

AWS Impact Bootcamp Tokyo offered the chance for founders from different backgrounds and different experiences to come together and learn with and from one another, through workshops and networking opportunities. Dedicated sessions also provided guidance on topics like navigating fundraising bias, helping to tackle challenges many underrepresented founders face.

Mentorship, education & connection

For many early-stage founders, access to networks and honest, constructive feedback can be just as important as funding or technical support. “We have a lot of ideas and just coming to one place together is really hard,” says Terrell. “That's why this kind of event is very helpful, having different ideas but also to get good feedback.”

This is where structured mentorship becomes critical. As Huang explains: “Mentorship and education is really important when you are at this stage in your startup journey. We have a lot of things going on at the moment, and it's going really fast, so it’s very important for us to get new insights with regard to new technologies and trends, and get different perspectives from different markets.”

For Catrinel Hagivreta, Co-founder and CEO of MEDIjobs, the value of Impact Bootcamp has come from gaining “awareness and information on what it means to launch in Japan as a market.” The purpose of her participating in the Bootcamp, she continues, was to find out about “interesting topics, like customer discovery and how to assess if there is an opportunity for you, and how to present your product.” Unlocking that knowledge and finding out about cultural differences and how to sell into a new region was achieved, she says, “very quickly and efficiently in the two-day program.”

Turning insight into action

Takeaways from Impact Bootcamp are designed to be actionable, delivering real impact to startups at the crucial early stages of their journey. Majid Hashmi, Founder and CEO of networking platform Bridging Connect, says his solution is at the minimum viable product stage and he is focused on product growth. “Whilst being in the program,” he explains, “we're getting tips on the presentation and the pitch deck. I've learned things here that I'll be applying to my current deck.” In addition to “knowledge I’m getting from the workshops,” he continues, the primary benefit of Impact Bootcamp is “connections.” At the program, “people are meeting face to face rather than just connecting on LinkedIn and so on. This is more valuable than anything.”

Similarly, Terrell plans to channel learnings from and connections made at Impact Bootcamp directly into the development of her startup. “We met a couple of amazing people at the startup bootcamp,” she says. “There are a lot of people having different ideas, especially right now. There are people focusing on AI, and that's something we are still missing. So just having a little bit of connection to understand what we can do with AI is really helping.”

Connecting innovation with opportunity

Tokyo’s growth has been driven by its ability to connect innovation with opportunity. AWS Impact Bootcamp is designed do something similar, helping startups forge meaningful relationships with partners, mentors, investors, and peers, and opening up possibilities for future collaboration and shared growth.

Huang shares how she’s hoping to reconnect with peers she met at the program: “We're going to exchange some resources and partnership, and we might have a lot of chances to cooperate in the future.” In doing so, she hopes to achieve her startup’s grand ambition: “to add value to the whole of society and to help to provide different groups of people with better services and a better life.”

By fostering connections and offering actionable insights, AWS Impact Bootcamp Tokyo helped founders build tomorrow, with purpose, ensuring early-stage startups are prepared to scale and empowered to shape the future of the city’s dynamic startup ecosystem.

In addition to programs like Impact Bootcamp, AWS is also widening access to funding through initiatives such as AWS Activate. The program offers technical support and resources as well as AWS Activate Credits which can be used to deploy AWS services and solutions while minimizing costs.