LocalHost: A Fellowship for Young Dreamers Beyond Silicon Valley

In this exclusive interview, StartupReporter’s Sasha Komarevych speaks with Kei Hayashi, CEO and co-founder of LocalHost, a global fellowship that helps talented young people pursue their dreams across borders.

Tell us about how LocalHost began. What inspired you to start this initiative?

Hayashi: In secondary school, I sold my first start-up for a little over $100K. Even though the amount was small, since I was only 15, older founders and investors hyped it up as something far bigger than it was. I was becoming quite uncomfortable with the “age clout” congratulations — focused more on my age than the actual work — and worried I was getting a little too full of myself.

Over time, I started noticing a pattern with other young founders too. Many hit early traction — selling a start-up, landing a huge coding role — but then lose momentum. They get a bit too full of themselves. There’s no base of comparison, no one around to push them, and the praise makes it easy to fool yourself.

So, as a way to surround myself with people who would’ve pushed me to keep going, I took everything I’d saved from that exit and started a mini investment fund. The idea was to invest in and build alongside other young founders. We made a Google form, spun up a website, and launched it that same week. No pitch decks or long waits — just a yes or no in 24 hours.

Somehow, over 100 people applied in the first week. Students from MIT, Caltech, Ivy League universities— all these top schools—were applying to this random programme run by a school pupil. With that pool of exceptional applicants, we started building momentum and raising funds from outside investors.

What does LocalHost do now? How has it evolved from that initial idea?

Hayashi: We’ve become a travelling fellowship for young researchers, artists, and founders. In the last year alone, we’ve backed over 50 fellows across more than 20 countries — people working on everything from Zen Buddhism and biotech research to robotics.

We host founder residencies, co-working sessions, city tours, and organise dinners, workshops, and retreats across hubs like Tokyo, Cluj-Napoca, Zurich, Paris, New York, Toronto, and Bangalore. We also believe in travelling to where talent is: local secondary schools, grassroots maker spaces, rural towns—the places traditional accelerators often skip.

We began as informal matchmaking for fun — connecting people to the right researcher, sponsoring their visas, or flying them out for a project. But now we’ve formalised it. We run open application cycles, offer travel and accommodation support, and assist with legal structuring or investor conversations when needed.

How do you fund these initiatives? You’re not a typical venture capital fund, right?

Hayashi: We’re not a VC firm, and we’re deliberate about that distinction. We intentionally back people who don’t fit the typical start-up narrative — non-technical founders, pure researchers, artists, philosophers — anyone deeply committed to pursuing what excites them, even if it doesn’t yet resemble a company.

So far, we’ve raised about half a million dollars from a mix of unexpected sponsors and investors: early-stage funds, family offices, and curious angels who found us on Twitter. Some are driven by patriotism and want to see talent from their country thrive. Others are looking for early access to exceptional young people. A few are sector-specific. And some simply thought what we’re doing was too strange and interesting not to support.

We use that capital to offer R&D grants, sponsor international travel and visas, and provide hands-on support, not just casual mentorship, but real personal involvement. We write angel-sized cheques when appropriate, and offer non-dilutive microgrants when equity isn’t the right structure.

Because we operate outside the typical start-up mould, it’s been hard to label what we are. The closest comparison might be a student-led fellowship. We’re not here to churn out unicorns — we’re here to help unusually high-agency people commit fully to what they care about, even if it doesn’t fit any existing box.

What’s your approach to helping founders in different regions?

Hayashi: Every country has its strengths due to its culture, education, and local context. In Japan, we typically see more craft-driven or cultural projects. In India, there’s a strong focus on scrappy, consumer-facing ventures. People tend to lean towards research-heavy or systems-oriented work in parts of Europe.

We don’t try to impose a single model — we work with what makes sense in each place. The capital-to-impact ratio varies significantly. The same amount of funding can support far more people in India than in Western Europe or the US, which naturally shapes how and where we operate.

What’s your vision for LocalHost in the next 3–5 years?

Hayashi: I want to build a city-state for people who wish to turn their childhood dreams into reality. There are many online communities, VCs, and educational institutes focused on “networking,” but ultimately, people need personal relationships. So we’re experimenting with shared houses, multi-week fellowships, and a physical village model.

We’re exploring jurisdictions with flexible visa pathways and supportive legal frameworks open to special economic zones and experimental governance. The idea is to create a seasonal pop-up city: 50 to 100 people, with labs, co-working spaces, legal infrastructure, and real autonomy, running for a few months each year. You can build a concentrated zone of progress even with just a few houses and the right people.

Will this village focus on specific technologies or industries?

Hayashi: Not at all. The only theme is: “What did you want to do as a child?”

Whether it’s building new languages, publishing your physics research, starting a tree-planting movement, or developing hardware, we want to support people chasing what they genuinely care about. Not everyone wants to be a founder. We’ve helped fellows who became researchers, nonprofit builders, and even full-time artists.

If that makes them feel alive, that’s a win.

What are the next practical steps for people who want to get involved with LocalHost?

Hayashi: We’re launching our first LocalHost EU hub in Cluj, Romania, with founder accommodation opening in June 2025. It will serve as our European base for now, and we’re planning to expand to other Eastern European cities soon.

There will be a short online application (takes five minutes), open for about a month, and we’ll select 20–30 people per cycle to receive free housing, grants, and hands-on support.

We’re also planning a tour across emerging cities in the EU to meet people where they are — not just at prestigious universities, but also at public secondary schools and in smaller towns where a lot of talent is often overlooked.

What’s the most valuable advice you’ve received?

Hayashi: “You are not that exceptional.” It’s about accepting my limits and strengths—that I am more of a support character. I’m not the strongest mathematician, engineer, researcher, operator, or founder, but I’ve become skilled at spotting exceptional people early and helping them do what they’re meant to do. That’s the role I’ve grown comfortable playing.