Daiji Hirata

Specialties

Internet Technology, Venture Finance and Investment, Online Public Relations, Negotiation

Current Position

Representative Director, CEO and CTO, Six Apart Ltd. Jan 2024 -

Director, CTO, Six Apart Ltd. Jun 2016 - Jan 2024

Cooporate Officer, CTO, Six Apart Ltd. Oct 2012 - Jun 2016

Six Apart became an Infocom company in 2010. As CTO, in charge of Engineering and Product

Jun 2016, led employee buyout from Infocom and turned Six Apart to an independent company, signed as a director.

Jan 2024, signed as Representative Director, CEO & CTO for re-orgranize board of directors.

Working Experience

Chief Technology Officer and Director, News2u Corporation, Sep 2009 - Jun 2012

Chief Financial Officer and Director, News2u Corporation, Jun 2007 - Sep 2009

News2u Corporation was a leading company of Online PR to distribute News Releases to online media in Japan since 2001. Joined as an outside board member since March 2006 and became CFO in June 2007.

VP of Technology Six Apart, Ltd.
Corporate Officer, Technology and Privacy, Six Apart K.K., Dec 2003 - Jul 2006

Created weblogging business and market in Japan as visionary. worked at Six Apart K.K. as technology lead and corporate management. Introduced TypePad, a blogging service to Japan market and delivered to two big customers, Nifty and NTT Communications. Built engineering and operating teams and service facilities in Japan. Led localize and ports team of Movable Type, now becomes the most famous weblogging application in Japan. Enforced internationalization, localization and multilingualization ability to Six Apart products.

Chief Research Manager, Neoteny, Jul 1999 - Mar 2004

Did Technology evaluation and valuation of investments for high-tech companies in IT industry and advised to portfolio companies about technical and management issues. Handled a joint research project of 5 GHz Wireless LAN and multimedia communication system with NTT East. Wrote many articles to both technical and non-technical magazines on weblogging and web services and evangelized weblogging and moblogging in Japan since 2002.

Engineer, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Apr 1996 -J un 1999

Designed protocols of Wirelss LAN system with IP mobility at Multimedia System Department and Multimedia Communication Promotion Department in 1996-1997. Planned and designed multimedia communication systems in 1997-1998. Worked for NTT West Provisional HQ in 1999.

Other Jobs

Current

• Advisor, BeatCraft Inc., 2018 -
• Advisor, FarmNote Holding, Inc., 2020 -
• Director, Japan Society for Corporate Communication Studies, 2019 -

Past

• Technical Advisor, Ai Land Co Ltd., 2015-
• Board Member, BeatCraft Inc., 2003-
• Senior Advisor, Six Apart K.K., 2006-2012
• Advisor, Neoteny Co., Ltd, 2004-2015
• Senior Writer, Lifehacker Japan, 2008-2011

Education

BE and ME in electrical engieering, Osaka University, Japan, 1994 and 1996.
Surface Physics and process engineering of III-V semiconductors.

Publications

• (translation) The New Rule of Marketing and PR, Feb 2009, Nikkei BP
• (co-author) Movable Type Handbook 2nd Edition, Oct 2006, Impress
• (co-author) Movable Type Handbook, Feb 2005, Impress
• (co-author/mook) Bloggers, Nov 2003, Shoeisha
• Beginner's guide on Weblogging with Movable Type, Aug 2003, Impress

Other Activities

• ping.bloggers.jp
  the largest update ping server in Japan. Widely used as the seed of search engines and blogging services.
• moblog.uva.ne.jp
  moblogging gateway service for Movable Type and other blogging services/applications.

Honor

Web Creation Award, Web Advertising Bureau, 2004

Certificate

Passed Senior Programmer Exam (MITI/Japan, 1990)

Language

Business writing and oral in English, Native in Japanese

Residence

Tokyo, Japan