Buy days in my calendar
I will use them to give free technical help for women founders.
Backers
Who’s supporting the work
Every backer’s name and brand shown here, carried into every founder presentation, report, and story this work produces.
Every day bought is a day I spend building for a woman founder. Thank you for making this possible. ♥
How this started
It started with a bet.
In November 2024, I publicly bet Acquire.com that my startup listed on their marketplace wouldn’t sell for $15,000. The stakes: whoever lost would put $5,000 toward women builders. It didn’t sell, and that $5,000 became the first funding IrisImpactCircle ever had.
Backed by
Leo Nagano
@leonagano · Nov 9, 2024
I challenge you this won’t sell for 15k.
If it does, I’ll give 5k to women’s builders.
If not, you give 5k to women’s builders.
Deal?
View the original post ↗
Who’s behind this
One builder, working full-time, paid for by backers.
I’m Leo Nagano (site, X), a solo technical founder and AI automation consultant. I built and sold an IT company, EverestI, and now run a paid AI consulting practice alongside this. IrisImpactCircle puts that same experience to work for founders who couldn’t otherwise afford a technical cofounder, funded by backers instead of billed by the hour.
As the community grows, I want to bring in other specialists (design, marketing, legal, finance, and more) so founders get more than just technical help, and so this isn’t dependent on one person’s time and skills alone.
A note on who’s building this
I’m a solo male founder building mainly for women founders. That’s a real tension: it comes from a documented funding gap and real skills to offer, not lived experience. I’ll bring in women advisors as this grows, and let outcomes carry the credibility, not my own framing.
“Being financially dependent on men is at the root of most of the issues women face in this male-centric world.”
Transparency
Where every dollar goes
No fixed finish line and no hidden math: this is the exact breakdown, published here for as long as the campaign runs.
Next day
21
The next day of help could start with you.
Every day funded is one more step toward more women building, leading, and growing without needing to pay for it themselves. There’s no set finish line here. Just the next day, and the one after that.
Add your support →Stories
Founder stories
Real outcomes, published as they happen, not written in advance.
The first stories are still being written.
As days get funded and founders get supported, their real outcomes will be posted here, not placeholders, not projections.
Questions
FAQ
Why women entrepreneurs first?+
Women face real, well-documented structural barriers to funding and financial independence. Entrepreneurship is one direct way to close that gap. This starts there, with room to grow to other underrepresented founders as the model proves out.
Why does most of it go to salary?+
60–80% is what lets this work happen full-time, so founders never have to pay for it. It's disclosed here in full, and it's the reason founders are never billed for it.
Does any of this money go directly to founders as cash?+
Up to 20% is set aside for AI tools, infrastructure, and possibly direct support to entrepreneurs. Exactly how that last part would be distributed is still being worked out, and will be published here once it's decided.
What happens once a day is funded?+
That day goes toward real technical work for a founder: an automation audit, office hours, MVP help, or ongoing advisory time, depending on what's needed most.
Is there a total goal?+
No fixed target. This stays open, and every funded day extends how long founders can keep getting technical help without paying for it.