cyborg21 Inc.
A company that works with AI,as an open experiment.
We design how businesses work, and run them with AI. We run this company itself as an experiment, and share as much as we can.
01 — The company
One founder. AI heads.
At cyborg21, the founder, Donan Noka, works alongside AI department heads, each with a defined role.
Research, drafting, checking and record-keeping are done by AI. The founder makes only three kinds of decisions: money, anything that goes outside, and anything irreversible.
- 1human founder
- 3decisions reserved for the founder: money, external, irreversible
- 4steps: write it down, AI works, check, a human decides
02 — Hire
What you can ask for.
An idea on paper or a business that has stalled. We rebuild it from the structure up.
Business structure design
Who you sell to, what, how, and where the profit comes from — broken down into numbers and assumptions.
Launch and exit decisions
We set the criteria for starting and for stopping before we begin.
M&A (DD to PMI)
From evaluating an investment to running the business after integration.
CRM, e-commerce, OMO
Membership and repeat design, logistics and inventory, store and online combined.
AI strategy & implementation
Designing AI into an organization and making it actually run. This company is the example.
Advisory
From once a month. A sparring partner for management.
Talks
AI, organizations, and how businesses are built.
Projects
A fixed scope and outcome, worked through together.
03 — Track record
28 years of business design
From video production to online advertising, e-commerce, travel, media, retail digital and corporate new business. The common thread: designing the structure of a business.
- 19981998–2005
Video production
Assistant director, systems engineer, producer
Produced video for trade-show booths and dome concert tours; later, video and talks for a global brand.
- 20052005–2007
CyberCommunications
Online advertising
Online advertising business within the Dentsu group.
- 20072007–2016
Rakuten
Rakuten Travel CRM / Head of Highway Bus
Designed membership and repeat programs; led the highway bus business from 2014.
- 20162016–2018
Microsoft
Product Manager
Microsoft News for Japan, Thailand and Indonesia.
- 20192019–2025
XEBIO (contract)
Associate Officer / Head of Digital New Business
Oversaw e-commerce, CRM, logistics, inventory and OMO.
- 20242024–
KOKUYO
Head of the Innovation Center (Jan 2024 – Sep 2026)
Responsible for launching new businesses inside a large company.
Speaker: JAPAN & AI SUMMIT 2026, “RECRUITING & AI” (Aug 2026, Toranomon Hills Forum)
04 — How it works
Humans decide.
AI runs.
- 01
Write it down
Every instruction, decision and deliverable goes into a shared record. Chats disappear; the record stays.
- 02
AI gets to work
AI department heads read the record and move research, drafts and checks forward without waiting for a human.
- 03
Pass the gate
Anything external or involving money is reviewed independently by a second AI and run through an automated confidentiality check.
- 04
The founder decides
A human makes the final call. The criteria are registered before the results are known.
05 — What’s next
What we ship next.
We use it ourselves first, and release what works.
- Prototype
bucciless
From scheduling to splitting the bill. No typing: AI reads your photos and messages. It is a prototype, so please do not enter personal information.
Try the prototype → - Testing
Spotting what feels off
People catching what feels off in AI answers, and fixing it.
- Running in-house
A company run by AI
This company is the test bed. We will open the system to others in time.
- Paper trading
Stock selection model
Investment decisions made by rules and data alone, tested on paper first.
- Concept
Okinawa: primary industry
Bringing bookkeeping and decision systems to primary industry in Okinawa.
Concept image at the planning stage (AI-generated) ConceptOkinawa: a small inn
A small inn for one group a day, with a sauna. Now in concept.
06 — Writing
Experiments, shared openly.
What we tried and what failed. Only first-hand information, on note and X (in Japanese).
07 — Profile
Where the name comes from.
Donan Noka野底 土南二・一
Representative Director & CEO, cyborg21 Inc.
The stamina to keep going for hours once I focus, and decisions driven by numbers. People often told me I wasn’t human.
I turned that into a joke: cyborg. Then I added 21, from the “二・一” (two-one) in my name. My car plates all read 21, too.
(pen name: Donan)
“Donan” comes from the pen name my father wrote under.
Born in Naha, Okinawa. Graduated from Hosei University (Economics). Studying machine learning since 2014. A BMX rider since primary school. Preparing to move my base from Shibuya, Tokyo, to Okinawa.
Here, we are building a system that keeps running without depending on any one person.
08 — Contact
Let’s talk.
Email us with what you have in mind, and a word on how you heard about cyborg21.
- Company
- cyborg21 Inc.
- Founded
- January 16, 2023
- CEO
- Donan Noka
- Business
- Planning, building and running AI-oriented businesses
- donan21@cyborg21.io