2026
The Operator Award
Podium AI Hackathon 2026
Available for work
Builder. Engineer. Founder.
Co-founder & CTO of Grid. Previously co-founded Subitt. I build products that are purposeful, precise, and people-first.
RoleCo-Founder & CTO
CompanyGrid
EducationBYU-Idaho
DegreeCS + Finance
Based inUtah, USA
2Startups Founded
5+Years Building
JP → USTokyo → Utah
About Me
From Tokyo to Silicon Slopes
I grew up in Tokyo, Japan, a city that taught me to find beauty in precision and meaning in the details. In 2020, I made the leap to the United States to study at BYU-Idaho, chasing a degree in Computer Science with a Finance certificate tucked alongside it.
College wasn't just about coursework. It was where I discovered that the most interesting problems sit at the intersection of technology and people. That conviction led me to co-found Subitt in 2023: a startup born from a genuine frustration and built with a small team that cared deeply about what we were making.
In 2025, that same drive pushed me to start Grid. Each venture has taught me something the classroom couldn't: that building something real, with real stakes, is the fastest way to grow.
Today I sit at the overlap of engineering and leadership: writing code, making product decisions, and learning every single day. I build things that are purposeful, precise, and people-first.
2020Moved to the USA · BYU-Idaho
2023Co-founded Subitt
2024CS + Finance degree
2025Founded Grid
Where I've Been
Apr 2026 - Present
AI Specialist
I drive enterprise AI adoption at Scentsy, combining hands-on engineering with strategy. I evaluate and architect AI platforms, build agents and automated workflows on AWS and Microsoft 365, and modernize the software development life cycle with AI-assisted intake, QA, and governance, always keeping humans in the loop for risk, security, and quality decisions.
Enterprise Agentic AI Platform
Core strength- Evaluated Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Amazon Quick, Amazon Bedrock, AgentCore, and MCP, and delivered architecture, cost, security, and rollout recommendations. Helped shape a scalable supervisor-and-specialist agent architecture.
- Built a shared AWS backend for AI tools (Lambda, API Gateway, IAM, SSM) with environment-specific deployment, including a Bedrock-based model-picker proof of concept.
- Built and demoed a business-data agent on Amazon Quick, grounded in authorized sales, marketing, order, and inventory data with tiered access controls.
AI-Assisted SDLC & Quality Assurance
- AI Project Intake Agent: interviews requestors, structures requirements, scores value, cost, risk, and data sensitivity, generates a one-page project brief, and routes approvals through SharePoint, Power Automate, and Jira.
- AI-assisted QA: reads Jira tickets, checks requirement readiness, generates structured test plans, and runs Playwright browser tests, capturing logs and screenshots as evidence.
- Automated Jira deployment audits that interpret deployment labels and branch-cut rules and document deployment evidence.
- Created SDLC lifecycle maps, tracking workbooks, and leadership workshop materials covering definition through maintenance.
Data, Cloud & Workflow Automation
- Email Segment Builder: an end-to-end customer segmentation pipeline using SQL Server stored procedures and data-warehouse data, AWS Lambda, S3 presigned uploads, and the Customer.io import API.
- Built SQL Server and SSIS data solutions and AWS deployments (Lambda, CloudFormation, S3, SSM).
- Automated translation intake and delivery across Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, and Airtable with Power Automate.
Also
- SEO & Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): enabled AI crawler access, improved structured data and machine-readable product and FAQ content, and built executive visibility reporting.
- Application modernization: analyzed a legacy consultant back-office application and built an HTML prototype of a modern storefront experience.
2026
Builder
The Operator Award, Podium AI Hackathon 2026
- Built a fully automated website refactoring sales pipeline with zero human touchpoints from discovery to outreach.
- The system scrapes target websites, assesses design and copy quality, analyzes the data with AI, builds a brand-new landing page, deploys it live, then sends a cold email to the business owner, all autonomously via n8n.
- Leveraged Claude API for intelligent quality assessment and content generation, with n8n orchestrating the end-to-end workflow across scraping, building, deployment, and email delivery.
Feb 2026 - Present
Solo Development
- Orbit is a cognitive engine that transforms founder intuition into structured, evidence-backed decisions before a single line of code is written.
- It maps assumptions, forces systematic validation, and blocks execution until the evidence exists, replacing the illusion of progress with real learning velocity.
- Orbit helps founders move faster by helping them move in the right direction.
May 2025 - Present
Co-Founder & CTO
- Founded a 3D print business and developed an AI chatbot to conceptualize exactly what customers want, then build and ship it directly to them.
- Identified demand from other business owners wanting the chatbot, so rebuilt it as a dynamic, objective-driven, shareable AI chatbot platform.
- Built a network of 3D modelers across the US to collaborate on personalized items, partnering with other 3D print services nationwide to utilize their free machine time and reduce shipping costs for customers.
Oct 2022 - Apr 2025
Co-founder · COO / CTO
International Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC) Winner 2024
- Co-founded a subscription management platform helping small businesses build repeatable revenue and customer loyalty through simple, scalable tools.
- Managed 100+ interns and developers across 10 countries, leading all engineering workflows using Agile methodology.
- Owned the full technical stack as CTO (architecture, sprint planning, code reviews, and product roadmap) while operating as COO to align business and engineering goals.
Sep 2022 - Mar 2023
Teaching Assistant, CS Data Structures
- Supported students in understanding core data structures including arrays, linked lists, trees, and graphs.
- Held office hours, graded assignments, and provided targeted feedback to improve student comprehension and performance.
Sep 2021 - Sep 2022
Teaching Assistant, English
- Assisted international and domestic students with English writing, grammar, and academic composition.
- Provided one-on-one tutoring sessions and detailed written feedback on essays and assignments.
Recognition
Highlights from competitions and entrepreneurship programs.
2024
Winner
International Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC)
- 2024
1st Place, Technology Category
International Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC)
- 2024
Special Recognition Award
Trolley House
- 2024
Golden Ticket
Boise Entrepreneurship Week (BEW) 2024
What I Work With
From SDLC and AI agents to cloud infrastructure and pixel-level CSS.
- Core
- Proficient
- Familiar
Process & DeliveryCore strength
Shipping reliably, from requirements to release
SDLC design & modernizationQuality Assurance & test planningRequirements discoveryAgile / ScrumSprint PlanningProduct RoadmappingAI governance & risk reviewStakeholder workshops & executive presentationsTechnical documentation
AI Tools & Platforms
Models, assistants, and agent platforms I build on
Claude / Claude APIAmazon QuickAmazon BedrockChatGPT / GPT APIMCP (Model Context Protocol)Microsoft CopilotCopilot StudioAWS AgentCoreAtlassian Rovo
AI Engineering
Designing agents that are useful, grounded, and governed
Agent architecturePrompt & instruction designHuman-in-the-loop designRetrieval-grounded (RAG) agentsAgent tools & actionsAI evaluation & accuracy controlsAI cost & licensing analysisAI adoption strategy
Software Development
Languages, backend frameworks, and tooling
Node.jsPythonC# / .NETRazorRuby on RailsC++API integrationPlaywrightGitCI/CDDocker
Frontend
UI layer, from markup to interactive experiences
HTMLCSSSassJavaScriptTypeScriptReact.jsNext.jsFront-end prototypingReact NativeExpoMapBoxp5.jsSpline 3D
Cloud
AWS services, plus the platforms I ship side projects on
AWS LambdaFirebaseAPI GatewayAmazon S3IAMSSM Parameter StoreCloudFormationAmazon AthenaAWS GlueAmazon QuickSightVPC / Security GroupsSupabaseCloudflareHeroku
Data Engineering & Analytics
Warehouses, pipelines, and the metrics on top
SQL ServerStored proceduresSSMSSSISETLData Warehouse (star schema)PostgresCustomer segmentationDashboards & business metricsSAP
Automation & Integration
Connecting systems so work moves without hand-offs
Power Automaten8nSharePointMicrosoft TeamsJiraConfluenceREST APIsWebhooksApproval workflowsCustomer.io APIAirtable
Web & Discoverability
Making content findable by search engines and AI
Technical SEOGEO (Generative Engine Optimization)Structured data / Schema markupMetadata & content architecture
Business & Finance
Financial analysis and spreadsheet tooling
Balance SheetExcel Macro
Soft Skills
Interview-validated strengths from real-world leadership
Logical ThinkingProblem SolvingLeadershipTeam ManagementCross-cultural CommunicationMentoring
Languages
Human languages that bridge cultures and contexts
JapaneseNativeEnglishFluent
Things I've Built
A mix of startups, experiments, and products. Each one a real thing shipped into the world.
Subitt
Mobile AppUnavailable
Native mobile companion to the Subitt platform, for subscription management and customer engagement on the go.
Playground
Let's Work Together
Have a project in mind, want to collaborate, or just want to say hello? I'd love to hear from you.
Or reach me directly at[email protected]