Two-time founder building AI companies – and writing about them 🛠️🤖
Hi, I'm Maiko – a two-time founder in Tokyo. I've spent the last decade building AI companies (and wrote a book about it). Off the clock, I'm happiest traveling or with a good book.
Crafter, Inc.
formerly ChatBook · acquired by Monex Group, 2022 · fully distributed, 7-country team
I founded ChatBook in 2016, grew it, and sold it to Monex Group in 2022 – then stuck around to build Crew, an enterprise AI tool that ended up in 200+ organizations, including 100 city governments here in Japan.
Recruit Technologies Co., Ltd.
subsidiary of Recruit Holdings · Tokyo
A short stint owning the strategy for Recruit ID – the login system sitting behind 40 million users across Recruit's services.
Primeagain Co., Ltd.
Tokyo, Japan & Bangkok, Thailand
My first company, started while I was still at university. We made mobile apps – one of them hit 5M downloads. This is where I taught myself to code.
Waseda University
School of Political Science & Economics · International Politics & Economics
Studied politics and economics – and stretched it to five years so I could keep running Primeagain on the side.
Textbook of Generative AI for Business: Driving Corporate Competitiveness
Gakken Publishing, 2025
I wrote this after sitting down with 1,000 corporate AI leaders to understand what actually works. It became a Top-5 IT bestseller in Japan (Kindle, Computer & IT) and was featured in President Online.
Certified partner and integration across leading enterprise platforms – including Salesforce ISV (AppExchange), Meta Platform Development (Automated Chat), SAP.iO, and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
80+ engagements per year. A selection: