What Waon does

Waon Co., Ltd. (株式会社わおん) is a privately held Tokyo-based company incorporated in October 2008 with registered capital of ¥2,000,000, founded and led by representative director Tomomichi Kawae (川会 知道). The company operates two consumer-facing web platforms: RecipeMode, launched in April 2010 as a posting-style recipe sharing site that renders cooking recipes as easy-to-understand diagrams aimed at homemakers and inexperienced cooks; and Synapse (also branded EasyStep), launched in beta in November 2008 and promoted to an official menu in March 2009, a community site where users create tree-structured mind-map-style association diagrams for information organization, idea generation, and book recommendations.

Underlying the products is a web-based Rich Internet Application stack focused on diagram authoring and visualization in the browser, with both services distributed through self-serve portals (recipemode.com and easystep.jp) requiring no sales interaction. Waon also offered inquiry-based website planning, production, operation, and management services alongside Rich Internet Application development and consulting, though no customers, pricing, or contracts for this line are publicly disclosed.

Waon's go-to-market has been community- and PR-led: a self-serve consumer model with no listed paying customers, no external funding rounds, and no institutional investors recorded in the available data. The company accumulated earned media in 2009 (Nikkei Netnavi, Yahoo! Japan, Tokyo IT Newspaper, ITmedia Biz.ID), but all documented activity ceases in 2010, the corporate site is archived, and operating status is logged as closed.

Name

Waon

Legal name

株式会社わおん

Website

https://e-waon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Closed

Short description

Waon is a small Tokyo-based private company that operated RecipeMode, a recipe diagram-sharing web platform, and Synapse/EasyStep, a mind map-style information sharing community site, alongside web development and Rich Internet Application consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Web Development & Consulting Services: Provides website planning, production, operation, and consulting services for rich internet applications. This appears to be a primary service offering alongside their consumer platforms.
2. RecipeMode Platform: Recipe sharing website with illustrated recipe creation capabilities. Business model for this community platform is not explicitly disclosed but appears to be free user-generated content platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Waon operates two web-based community platforms — RecipeMode, a posting-style site where users create and share illustrated recipe diagrams that make cooking accessible to homemakers and novices, and Synapse (EasyStep), a community site for creating tree-structured mind map-style association diagrams used for information organization, idea generation, and book introductions. The company additionally provides website planning, production, operation, and Rich Internet Application development and consulting services for business clients.

Product overview

株式会社わおん (Waon) operates two distinct web-based products: RecipeMode, a recipe illustration and visualization platform where users create and share recipe diagrams on the web; and Synapse (EasyStep), a mind map-style community site for creating tree-structured diagrams for information sharing, brainstorming, and idea organization. Both products are web-based services accessible through dedicated portals, with RecipeMode launched in 2010 and EasyStep/Synapse launched in 2008. The company also offers general website planning, production, operation, management, and Rich Internet Application development and consulting services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RecipeMode: 料理のレシピ図をWEB上で作成できる投稿型の共有サイト。レシピを図解で表現するため、料理が作りやすくなっている。
• EasyStep (Synapse)

Products and services

• RecipeMode A web-based posting-type community site where users create and share recipe diagrams that visually illustrate cooking steps. Recipes are expressed as diagrams so that cooking becomes easier to understand for a broad audience from homemakers to cooking-inexperienced users.
• Synapse (EasyStep) A web-based community site for creating tree-structured association diagrams inspired by mind mapping methodology. Used for information organization, idea generation, and book introductions across a variety of scenarios.
• Website Planning, Production, Operation, and Rich Internet Application Consulting Professional services covering website planning, production, operation and management, plus Rich Internet Application development and consulting, provided to business clients on an inquiry basis.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Coggle: Browser-based collaborative mind-mapping and diagram tool. Closely comparable to Waon's Synapse as a lightweight, web-first, free-tiers mind-mapping community platform.
• Cookpad: Japan's dominant consumer recipe-sharing platform, founded in 1998. Directly comparable to Waon's RecipeMode as a user-generated recipe community targeting Japanese home cooks; far larger scale but operating in the same recipe-sharing category.
• MindMeister: Web-based collaborative mind-mapping tool launched in 2007. Directly comparable to Waon's Synapse/EasyStep as a browser-based platform for creating mind-map-style information diagrams and organizing ideas.
• XMind: Long-standing mind-mapping software (desktop and web). Directly comparable to Synapse/EasyStep as a mind-mapping and structured-thinking tool for general consumers and knowledge workers.

Regional players

• note (note.com): Japanese creator/content platform enabling users to publish and share written works. Comparable as a Japan-focused consumer web community platform with similar DIY-publishing orientation to RecipeMode and Synapse, though note focuses on prose rather than diagrams.
• Hatena: Long-running Japanese web platform for blogs, bookmarks, and community-driven content. Comparable as a Japanese-era community/content platform with similar go-to-market era and target audience, though broader in scope than Waon's two niche products.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Waon