SolanaLink

Founding Team Member

Not a sales role.Someone who has a dialogue with the market.

SolanaLink already ships 5 products. The next one — MinpakuPlus — launches soon. What we still need is someone to face the market head-on and dig out PMF (product-market fit) with us.

Let's be straight: the salary is not high. ¥260,000/month to start.

In return, you'll receive Phantom Stock — virtual equity that converts to cash as the company grows. We're not hiring an employee. We're looking for someone who builds this with us.

Apply Now Reach out on LinkedIn

Live: 5products
Coming: 3candidates
Founded: 20251 year old
Hiring: #02founding member

Why This Role Exists

Why this role exists.

An honest read on where the company stands, and why we're hiring a Founding Team Member rather than a salesperson.

SolanaLink was founded in January 2025 in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo. In just over a year, we've shipped 5 products: WordQuest, PickMe, MinpakuX, HanaPal, and the SolanaLink platform.

We have technical capability — that's not the question. What we cannot say with confidence is which product will break out in which market.

So what the company needs right now isn't someone to sell what they're handed. It's someone who can have a dialogue with the market and find the answer with us.

Form hypotheses, meet customers, bring back feedback, sharpen the product. Repeat that loop until we hit PMF. That's the work.

In the short term, even ¥1M/month in revenue may be hard. But long term, this is the role that can change the company's trajectory.

That's why the salary is low. But through Phantom Stock, we share the company's growth with you. Honestly, fairly.

Year 1 Focus

Year one — concentrated here.

SolanaLink runs multiple products, but for your first 12 months as the Founding Team Member, you'll focus on PMF discovery for MinpakuPlus.

Year 1 Mission

MinpakuPlus

Building, from zero, Japan's largest support ecosystem for resident foreign entrepreneurs.

The October 2025 revision to Japan's Business Manager Visa raised the bar for resident foreign entrepreneurs (especially in the Chinese-speaking community): ¥30M capital, one full-time employee, JLPT N2. MinpakuPlus is the only platform that addresses this market end-to-end — short-term rental operations, AI concierge, real estate investment, and immigration/visa support, in one place.

FEATURE 01

Property management + AI concierge

From micro-apartments to luxury villas. Multilingual assistant powered by OpenAI.

FEATURE 02

Real estate · Stay-to-Buy

Convert villa guests into real estate investors. Japan property investment support in partnership with licensed brokers.

FEATURE 03

Immigration · visa support

Business Manager Visa applications, taxation, and licensed administrative scrivener coordination — all under one roof. The founder has lived this himself.

Your Mission

What we'd like you to do in 12 months.

The KPI isn't ¥5M in revenue. It's the more fundamental work that only the founding stage allows — and we'll do it together.

PHASE 01 / Months 1–3
Know the market.
Resident Chinese entrepreneurs, short-term rental operators, affluent inbound visitors, real estate investors — interview at least 30 people from MinpakuPlus's target segments. "What's painful about renewing the Business Manager Visa?" "What's the real pain in running a vacation rental?" Collect the answers on foot.
PHASE 02 / Months 4–6
Test hypotheses.
Distill 3–5 hypotheses from interviews. Pick the most promising segment. Redesign product priorities with the founder. Build a landing page. Acquire 5 paying users — not via paid ads, but through SNS and community.
PHASE 03 / Months 7–9
Build the playbook.
Watch the behavior of those first 5 users and codify how to win: who, what, and how to deliver to close a deal. Prepare demo videos, sales collateral, contract templates, and pricing. Aim for the next 10.
PHASE 04 / Months 10–12
Lay the foundation for scale.
Target a cumulative 15–20 paying users and ¥5M in annual revenue. Begin transferring what you've learned to the other products (WordQuest, PickMe, MinpakuX). Help recruit hire #3 and beyond.

Real Talk / Speaking honestly

We want to run withpeople like this.

People like this

+Prefer building over selling
+Have started something on their own initiative without being asked
+Genuinely love listening to customers
+Can form their own hypotheses when there's no right answer
+Can keep going for 3–6 months even without seeing returns above their salary
+See uncertainty as opportunity, not anxiety
+Can work remotely and autonomously, but stay open with the team

Not a fit

−Whose go-to phrase is "please give me a manual"
−Whose first question is "is there a training program?"
−Who keeps complaining about past employers
−Whose creed is "I work exactly what I'm paid for"
−Who has spent their career hitting quotas mechanically
−Who can't tolerate the chaos of the founding stage
−Who can't shake an employee mindset

POSITION

Position overview

Title: Founding Team Member — Business Development
Main focus: MinpakuPlus (Business Manager Visa support × short-term rental operations × real estate investment ecosystem). Year 1 is dedicated to this product; from Year 2, expand the playbook to other products.
Compensation: ¥260K/month + Phantom Stock up to 2% + milestone bonuses. A fair structure tied to the company's growth.
Work style: Remote-friendly (1–2 in-person meetings per week). Daily check-in via written report or video.
Hours: Flex time (core hours 11:00–15:00) / outcome-based evaluation
Office: GC Nishi-Waseda 101, 3-13-3 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Employment: Permanent (full-time) / 3-month probation (same conditions)
Headcount: 1 | Open to starting on a contract basis (project-based). Conversion to full-time targeted for H1 2027.

Compensation

How we pay

"Modest cash now. Share the long-term upside." That's our compensation philosophy at this founding stage. If you only want stability, this won't fit. But if you want to grow with the company, we believe this is as good a structure as you'll find.

Layer 1 / Base salary

Monthly

¥260K

Approx. ¥3.12M/year

Monthly salary (12 months). No fixed summer or winter bonuses (replaced by variable milestone bonuses). 3-month probation under identical terms.

Includes: full health insurance, pension, employment insurance, workers' comp; commuting expenses up to ¥30K/month; ¥10K/month remote work stipend; company-issued PC.

Layer 2 / Milestone Bonus

Performance-linked cash

Up to ¥2.3M

/ 12 months

Bonuses tied to clear PMF milestones. We pay for "done," not for "tried."

① 30 customer interviews completed: ¥100K
② First 5 paying users acquired: ¥300K
③ Cumulative 10 paying users: ¥500K
④ Annual revenue exceeds ¥5M: ¥400K
⑤ Revenue beyond ¥10M: 3–5% of the excess
⑥ Large deals (single contract over ¥1M): 3% spot bonus

Layer 3 / Phantom Stock

Phantom Stock

Up to 2%

4-year vesting

A direct way to share the company's growth with you. Not real shares — virtual equity that converts to cash, valued at the company's then-current valuation, when vesting conditions are met.

VESTING SCHEDULE

After 6 months0.5%
After 12 months1.0%
After 24 months1.5%
After 36 months2.0%

Cash-out triggers: external funding round (Series A or later), M&A, IPO, or annual net profit exceeding ¥50M — paid in cash at the company's then-current valuation.
Valuation method: 3× trailing twelve-month revenue, or fair valuation by an external investor.
Example: if 2028 revenue reaches ¥200M, valuation ≈ ¥600M → 2% Phantom = ¥12M paid in cash.
* The above is a hypothetical illustration and does not guarantee any actual payout amount. Specific terms are governed by the employment agreement and Phantom Stock agreement.

Honest 3-year compensation scenarios

No sugar-coating. Three realistic scenarios. Every one of them is plausible.

Scenario A / Conservative

PMF not reached, but steady progress.

≈ ¥9.5M

/ 3-year cumulative

Year 1: ≈ ¥3.52M (base ¥3.12M + milestone ¥0.4M)
Year 2: ≈ ¥3.5M (base ¥3.12M + small bonus)
Year 3: ≈ ¥3.5M (same as Year 2)
Phantom 1.5% (not yet liquidated)

Scenario B / Standard

PMF reached, ¥30M annual revenue.

≈ ¥17M

/ 3-year cumulative + Phantom

Year 1: ≈ ¥4.92M (base ¥3.12M + full milestones ¥1.8M)
Year 2: ≈ ¥5.52M (base ¥3.12M + revenue share ¥2.4M)
Year 3: ≈ ¥6.12M (base ¥3.12M + revenue share ¥3.0M)
Phantom 1.5% → ≈ ¥1.5M (paper gain)

Scenario C / Breakout

Explosive growth and external funding.

≈ ¥30M+

/ 3-year cumulative + Phantom liquidation

Year 1: ≈ ¥5.3M
Year 2: ≈ ¥7.5M
Year 3: ≈ ¥10M+
Phantom 2% → ≈ ¥7.2M+ (cashed out at funding event)

REQUIREMENTS

Who we're looking for

Must Have

Without these, it'll be hard.

✓Japanese citizenship (required by Business Manager Visa rules)
✓Native or near-native Japanese (JLPT N2 or above)
✓A track record of "building something from zero" (personal projects, side projects, clubs, near-startups — anything counts)
✓The ability to listen to customers and form your own interpretation
✓A mindset that treats uncertainty as opportunity, not a problem
✓The grit to keep going for 3–6 months even without returns above your salary
✓Honesty and follow-through

Nice to Have

These would help you go further.

+Knowledge of inbound tourism and the travel industry
+Experience in short-term rental operations or real estate
+Network in the resident Chinese community in Japan
+Chinese fluency (Mandarin / Cantonese)
+Experience as employee #1–3 at a startup
+BtoB business development or consulting experience
+Presence on LinkedIn / X / Xiaohongshu
+Marketing knowledge (SEO, SNS, content)

PROCESS

Selection process

We're not measuring sales skill. We're checking whether you'll thrive in the founding stage.

STEP 01
Casual chat
30 minOnline
30 minutes to get to know each other. Tell us about something you've recently built without being asked — not your motivation letter.
STEP 02
First interview
60 minOnline
A direct conversation with the founder. Past experience, what you want to do next, and your commitment to the founding stage.
STEP 03
Case presentation
90 minOnline
Topic: "How would you acquire MinpakuPlus's first 10 paying users?" Free format — your call.
STEP 04
Final interview
90 minIn person · Nishi-Waseda
An in-person check on each other's commitment. Compensation and Phantom Stock terms included — let's talk straight.

Let's Build Together

From Waseda,to the world.

SolanaLink's second story starts with you. Begin lightly — the time it takes to share a coffee. No résumé needed. One email is enough.

Apply Now Reach out on LinkedIn

RECRUIT@SOLANALINK.JP: Contact
Applications: Open / rolling basis
First interview: Online

← Careers

Not a sales role.Someone who has a dialogue with the market.

Why this role exists.

Year one — concentrated here.

MinpakuPlus

Property management + AI concierge

Real estate · Stay-to-Buy

Immigration · visa support

What we'd like you to do in 12 months.

Know the market.

Test hypotheses.

Build the playbook.

Lay the foundation for scale.