# Ryuichiro Shimoda
Professional Profile
Independent Growth Hacker
Web Director / Infrastructure Engineer
Web Director / Infrastructure Engineer
Tokyo, Japan · English (business, TOEIC 880) / Japanese (native) · Open to full-time, contract, or multi-client engagements
19 yrs
Independent operation
(since Nov 2007)
(since Nov 2007)
100+
Baby strollers
hands-on tested
hands-on tested
300+
Cumulative purchase
consultations
consultations
2×
Client EC monthly revenue
(¥5M → ¥10M)
(¥5M → ¥10M)
Professional Summary
Independent operator with 19 years of running my own e-commerce and specialized-media businesses, combining growth-marketing and content strategy with the ability to build my own software. Grew a niche baby-products media outlet to 12,000 monthly unique users and ~140 paid subscribers, and as an external advisor doubled a client’s e-commerce monthly revenue (¥5M → ¥10M). Over the past year, shipped 9 of my own AI-powered web services using generative-AI development. Also bring 5+ years of network-infrastructure and IT help-desk experience (CCNP / CCDA). Seeking to contribute this cross-functional, results-driven skill set as part of a team.
Core Competencies
Growth & Marketing
SEO · Google Analytics · paid ads (GDN / YDN / Google Ads) · CRO · subscription monetization · content strategy
E-commerce & Web Direction
site design · UX / wireframing · vendor & team direction · project management · CMS / WordPress
AI & Automation
generative-AI development (Claude / Cursor) · Google Apps Script · Gemini API · workflow automation · HTML / CSS / JavaScript / PHP / PowerShell
IT Infrastructure
Cisco networking · Solaris / Windows Server · DNS · virtualization · help desk · vendor coordination
Languages
Japanese (native) · English (business — TOEIC 880; overseas work in Thailand & the Philippines)
Professional Experience
Founder & Operator — Specialized Baby-Products Media / Self-employed2012 – Present
- Founded and operate a specialized baby-products media outlet; grew it to 12,000 monthly unique users and ~140 paid subscription members.
- Built a subscription billing model (note.com / Stripe); delivered 300+ paid purchase consultations and 100+ hands-on product tests.
- Designed and built a 1,133-product database with an AI recommendation system (Google Apps Script + Gemini API); 1,500 users in its first year.
- Editorial supervision for publishers Kodansha and Shinyusha; direct business relationships with Cybex, Bugaboo, Aprica, and Pigeon.
- In the past year, developed and deployed 9 web services using generative-AI (“vibe coding”).
Independent Web Director / Growth Consultant — Own Sole-Proprietorship Office, Tokyo2015 – 2024
- Doubled a client’s e-commerce monthly revenue (¥5M → ¥10M) through site redesign, UX/wireframing, direction of outsourced designers, and Slack-based coordination with the in-house team.
- Provided outsourced EC / media operations and technical advisory work to multiple clients.
Director / Web Producer — Ohana Smile Inc.2009 – 2015
- Directed the company’s yoga portal and e-commerce site; ran SEO, Google Analytics, and paid-ad operations (GDN / YDN / Google Ads).
- Managed web projects and production vendors; produced 2+ external contract projects per month.
Founder — Web Production LLC2007 – 2011
- Founded an LLC providing web production and e-commerce development on a contract basis, establishing a foundation as an independent engineer.
Selected Infrastructure & IT Engagements — (fixed-term, alongside independent business)2002 – 2024
- IT Help Desk & Infrastructure Ops — major highway-infrastructure company (dispatch, 2022–2024): server operations & monitoring (Windows / DNS / virtual), PC/server/printer troubleshooting, account management, MS-Office and hardware support.
- Network Engineer — system integrator (2002–2005): build and troubleshooting of Cisco switches/routers and Sun Solaris servers; small-to-mid-scale network construction.
- Earlier: system administration for ~100 Macintosh clients at a major media company; bridge-direction at a Bangkok subsidiary; ISP backbone LAN construction.
Education & Certifications
2000University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences — B.A., Faculty of Commerce (Service Industries)
2000Digital Hollywood Osaka — Web General Pro Course (completed)
2001–03CCNP · CCDA · CCNA (Cisco) / Sun Certified System & Network Administrator (Solaris) * expired; listed as an obtained-history record
2005TOEIC 880
Development Portfolio
All 15 personal development projects, including active and archived ones. The “9 web services” above refers to the major services currently in production among these.
A — Flagship Project
babycar-kun (AI Stroller Advisor)Private
Tech: Google Apps Script / Gemini API / Stripe API
1,133 products
Database scale
33 questions
Questionnaire items
1,500 users
AI advisor users (1st year)
Problem solved: Eliminated the information asymmetry of choosing the right stroller from ~1,133 products, using a 33-item questionnaire plus two-stage AI scoring (primary scoring → in-candidate differentiation → brand-diversity selection). Direct Stripe API integration removed a structural failure source caused by webhooks.
B — Public Web Tools
spec-comparisonPrivate
Tech: GAS + Netlify (JavaScript)
Web tool comparing up to 5 stroller models side-by-side from a ~1,000-product database.
Problem: Solved inconsistent comparison criteria with a unified 32-item format and automatic rival detection based on spec-similarity scoring.
spec-table-generatorPrivate
Tech: GAS + Netlify (JavaScript)
Admin-only tool that generates blog-ready HTML spec tables.
Problem: Removed manual data transcription and fixed WordPress editor attribute-corruption issues by generating paste-ready HTML.
handle-heightPrivate
Tech: GAS + Netlify (TypeScript)
Web tool that calculates the optimal stroller handle height from the user’s height.
Problem: Removed guesswork at the store by instantly suggesting matching products from height input alone.
whats-my-handlePrivate
Tech: GAS + Netlify (JavaScript)
International edition of handle-height with 7-country Amazon links.
Problem: Solved cm/inch unit barriers and missing multi-country Amazon links for overseas users.
C — Media Operations Infrastructure
babycar-price-systemPrivate
Tech: GAS + WordPress (PHP) / Rakuten API
Automatically fetches lowest prices from the Rakuten API and updates WordPress.
Problem: Eliminated manual price research through direct API integration and daily batch updates; automatic retries stabilized operations.
stroller-page-creatorPrivate
Tech: Google Apps Script / WordPress (PHP)
Auto-generates WordPress pages and tables from the product database.
Problem: Removed manual transcription from spreadsheets with GAS Web App-based auto-generation.
content-preview-protectorPrivate
Tech: WordPress plugin (PHP)
Plugin that automatically protects fresh articles and shows freshness warnings on older ones.
Problem: Removed the manual workload of time-limited publication and freshness management, and solved Cloudflare APO edge-cache incompatibility with a CSR approach.
D — Internal Research & Knowledge Tools
counseling-viewerPrivate
Tech: GAS + Netlify (JavaScript) / Gemini API
AI-tags 4 years / 355 cases of purchase-consultation history for similarity search.
Problem: Solved poor searchability of past similar cases with AI tagging plus similarity search.
research-toolkitPrivate
Tech: GAS / Gemini API / YouTube Data API
Automatically collects, structures, and AI-analyzes Rakuten and YouTube reviews.
Problem: Replaced manual industry-research collection and analysis with a 4-stage automated pipeline.
weekly-researchPrivate
Tech: GAS / Gemini API + Search Grounding
Auto-generates and emails a weekly industry report via Gmail.
Problem: Replaced recurring industry-monitoring hours with an automated generation and delivery system.
collect-shopsPrivate
Tech: Python / WordPress (archived)
Collected rental-shop data for 1,919 regions nationwide and auto-generated SEO pages.
Problem: Voluntarily archived in January 2025 after judging Google Places API terms constraints and SEO risk — a real example of risk-management decision-making.
E — General-Purpose GAS / Data Tools
gas-product-sort-by-categoryPrivate
Tech: Google Apps Script
Automatically sorts spreadsheet rows by column-value frequency.
Problem: Removed manual re-sorting with stable sort plus change detection (no write-back when unchanged).
google-sheet-color-analyzerPublic on GitHub
Tech: Python / OpenCV / K-Means
Detects dominant colors from product images and writes them back to Sheets.
Problem: Replaced visual color classification of hundreds of items with automatic detection via OpenCV + K-Means clustering.
gas-sheets-csv-exporterPublic on GitHub
Tech: Google Apps Script
Exports all sheets to individual CSVs on Google Drive in one batch.
Problem: Removed per-sheet manual exporting and solved HTTP 429 interruptions with exponential-backoff automatic retries.
Contact — I remain open to a range of engagement models: full-time employment as well as contract, multi-client, or advisory arrangements. Please feel free to reach out via LinkedIn or email (info@ryuichiroshimoda.com).