Profile

About

JT Imagine was founded by Jarod Trebas, an American operator based in Japan. With experience as the former COO of HobbyLink Japan, director, and advisor to multiple international companies, and proven track record of going from 0 to 1 and 1 to 100, JT Imagine can provide the competitive edge you need.

Jarod Trebas

Founder, JT Imagine · Based in Japan

LinkedIn jarod@jtimagine.com

I have lived and worked in Japan for more than fifteen years. Most of that was inside a Japanese international e-commerce company, where I moved up through operations to COO where I managed over 70 people across international and domestic retail, wholesale, purchasing, logistics, warehousing, customer service, and technology projects.

During that time the business grew substantially in both sales and profit, driven by cost reduction, workflow automation, vendor renegotiation, and warehouse automation, while customer service stayed consistently strong. I took that experience and have since helped various international companies grow and expand, as well as helped prepare them when they were looking for outside funding.

Today I use that background, plus daily hands-on work with AI, to help other companies turn ideas into results.

Strategy

Before spending heavily on an idea, find out whether it is commercially viable. That usually means a business-model check, a quick prototype, and a real test with real customers, instead of months of theorizing. The same rule applies to AI: we look for where it saves money, saves time, or increases sales, and skip it where it does not.

Being based in Japan and working with US companies is part of the strategy too. It puts JT Imagine between two large markets that still misunderstand each other, with a cost structure that does not require a large team.

Skill set

Cross-functional by design. Comfortable owning an entire problem, from the business case to the working product to the rollout.

Business strategyOperationsProduct managementProduct developmentAI implementationSoftware developmentQA and testingAutomationResearch and reportingSales and outreachInternational businessE-commerceLogisticsVendor negotiationCustomer experienceUX and usabilityRapid prototypingInvestor Pitch PreparationDue Diligence supportPresentation Coaching

Markets

English and Japanese, working between Japan and the United States. Industries where the experience runs deepest:

E-commerceRetail and wholesaleSaaS and AI softwareReal estate and landConstruction and procurement techLogistics and warehousingConsumer productsJapanese marketplacesEducationInternational tradeB2B salesTravelSMBs and startups