WorkCircle

WorkCircle, Inc., established in Japan on January 28, 2021, operates as a specialized, anonymous career social networking service targeting professionals in the tech and international business sectors. The company was co-founded by Terry Philip Drew and Toshiaki Tominari, who serves as the Representative Director. The founders' diverse backgrounds were pivotal in identifying the market need. Drew, a software engineer with extensive experience in Silicon Valley, moved to Japan in 2015 and noticed a significant disparity in salary transparency compared to the U.S. This led him to first create OpenSalary, a salary-sharing platform, and later to conceptualize WorkCircle to address broader career information gaps. Tominari, after studying in the UK from the age of ten, gained experience in sales, software engineering, and product management at major Japanese and multinational corporations. His career transitions highlighted the challenges of information asymmetry in the job market, aligning with Drew's vision.

The firm's primary offering is the WorkCircle mobile application, a free, anonymous community where employees from verified companies can discuss careers, compensation, company culture, and other professional topics. To ensure authenticity, users register using their work email addresses, which verifies their current employment without storing the address itself. This creates a trusted environment for users to exchange candid information. The platform is designed for professionals within the tech, consulting, and foreign-affiliated industries in Japan. Within the app, users can join general discussion areas like the "Tech Lounge" or company-specific private circles. A key feature is the "OpenSalary" database, which provides detailed, crowdsourced salary information, requiring users to submit verifiable proof of their own compensation, such as an offer letter or pay stub, to gain access. This database includes granular details like base salary, bonuses, and stock options.

WorkCircle's business model aims to empower employees by increasing transparency in the job market, thereby improving their negotiating power for salary and working conditions. In the long term, the company is considering providing anonymized data analysis from its private company circles to corporate HR departments. The platform also facilitates networking, which can lead to referral-based hiring opportunities, and includes features for direct messaging and job searching. Having started as HonneWorks, the company rebranded to WorkCircle, Inc. and has successfully raised capital, including a seed round of 130 million JPY in January 2024, to fuel its growth and product development.

Keywords: career SNS, anonymous community, tech industry Japan, foreign companies Japan, salary transparency, OpenSalary, professional networking, career information, job market data, employee community, Toshiaki Tominari, Terry Philip Drew, compensation database, peer-to-peer career advice, verified employee network, referral hiring, consulting industry, WorkCircle app, financial services careers, workplace communication