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Ponotech Inc. has two defining strengths. First, it can develop systems across a broad range of technologies, from hardware to software. Second, ZERO-SaaS enables app development with no initial cost.

After working on electrical system design at an industrial machinery manufacturer, Representative Director Yasuhiro Hayano gained software experience at an IT company. This background allows him to consider both hardware and software.

With conventional Contract Development, building a solid app tends to be expensive, which makes it difficult for many companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses, to take the first step. When an app is not the core of a business, the business can continue without it, so development often falls down the priority list and some companies never build it.

While working in Contract Development as a full-time employee, Yasuhiro Hayano experienced how the initial estimate covered only a limited view and the client's goal did not always match the development company's goal. Responding to discoveries made during development required additional fees, leaving neither the client nor the development company satisfied. That experience led him to consider ZERO-SaaS.

ZERO-SaaS sets the initial cost at ¥0 and charges afterward. Payment is either a Monthly Billing Model based on the number of accounts or a Revenue Share Model when the app generates revenue.

Under the Revenue Share Model, Ponotech Inc. receives a percentage of the sales generated by the app as its fee. For example, if an app for a tutoring school helps attract students, the model can charge the end users, the students, for access.

Yasuhiro Hayano imagines a future in which AI can program applications and a simple instruction is enough to create one. That raises the question of whether conventional Contract Development can continue to command the same prices.

ZERO-SaaS is positioned as a service model that is already putting into practice the kind of offering expected to expand in the future.

For a trading card retailer, the team checked how much rare cards were selling for online each day and used those prices to set the retailer's own prices. AI now automates that work by looking up the relevant card prices online at a scheduled time each day and presenting them to staff, reducing costs.

For tutoring schools, the team is developing a web app that creates a textbook for each student from a profile of their strengths and weaknesses. It also generates questions automatically, with small changes in wording each time so students cannot simply memorize a question and choose an answer.

In conventional Contract Development, the price and specifications are agreed before the contract is signed. Because additional work raises costs and reduces the development company's profit, extra requests require additional fees and can lead to disputes.

With a Revenue Share Model, Ponotech Inc. also has an incentive to improve the app in ways that increase sales. Both sides can work toward the same goal. In one example involving a new business at a large company, that alignment led to a proposal to add features without additional fees when an upgrade was needed.

Ponotech Inc.'s vision is "Build together, grow together." As a technology partner, it works alongside clients not only to develop an app but also to grow the business that the app is meant to support.

In the long term, Ponotech Inc. aims to be the right-hand partner that businesses can rely on.