Ayako Ishikawa

Ayako Ishikawa is the Founder and CEO of MeetsMore, an automated service platform that matches local service professionals (such as photographers, house remodelers, accountants and cleaners) with the right customers and sends customized estimate quotations.

MeetsMore is a platform that aids the growth of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As small businesses often lack sophisticated processes for sourcing customers and closing deals, Ayako took it upon herself to help SMBs run their businesses to create value.

Growing up, Ayako gained insights into how profit and loss was the bottom line for small businesses. After graduating, she worked as a consultant, during which time she acquired deep domain knowledge in different fields, most importantly, a regional bank in Japan. Ayako observed firsthand that the banks’ customers, mostly SMBs, were struggling to operate their businesses and grow their customer bases. Having realized that her birthplace had the most to gain from this massive market, she took the reins and founded MeetsMore in Japan in 2017.

Ayako holds a Bachelor of Laws from The University of Tokyo and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to founding MeetsMore, she was a consultant at Bain & Company. She has also previously worked as a business intelligence analyst at Zazzle.

Ayako was awarded the Joseph Wharton Fellowship. MeetsMore formed an alliance with BS Summit, the biggest car repair association in Japan, and raised 500m yen (US$5m) from World Innovation Lab (WiL) and AngelBridge.