[Employee Interview] Growth Partner Tomoya Hori — "I Want to Grow Both Businesses and People": The Philosophy of a Growth Partner Who Pursues Growth for Clients and Their Business

StoreHero's "Growth Partners" are Shopify × growth professionals who help e-commerce businesses solve challenges and achieve growth. This time, we spoke with Hori, who leverages his experience in EC consulting and web direction to thrive as a Growth Partner — sharing what makes the work rewarding and what it's like to work at StoreHero.

Not Just "Building" — He Chose the Path of Running Alongside Clients

── First, tell us about your career history and what brought you to StoreHero.

Hori: My career started with growth support for stores listed on Rakuten Ichiba, where I learned the fundamentals of consulting — specifically, "what does it take to increase sales?" After that, I moved to the web marketing division of a payment company, where I handled direction and design for our own website.

The turning point came when I got involved in a Shopify design project as a side job. I enjoyed creating designs, but I felt a little unfulfilled by the "deliver and done" nature of the work. I became strongly drawn to a "running-alongside" style of support — staying with clients over the medium to long term and growing their business together.

── That's when you became interested in the Growth Partner (GP) role.

Hori: Yes. I felt that StoreHero's Growth Partner role was where I could best apply my EC consulting experience from a previous job, the Shopify knowledge I'd built on my own, and my desire to "be there for clients."

Actually, I had received offers from three companies, including StoreHero.

── What was the deciding factor that ultimately led you to choose StoreHero?

Hori: The biggest factor was the "feedback" I received during the selection process.

During the offer interview, even before I had decided to join, they gave me specific feedback: "Hori-san, your current strengths are here, but if you develop this area, you'll be able to contribute in these ways."

I felt that they were truly paying attention to each individual. If they were this thoughtful at the interview stage, I was convinced they must be equally sincere with their clients. I decided to join because I felt this was the place where I could grow the most.

Lead Responsibility After One Month — "Hands-On Practice" Is the Fastest Way to Learn

── You've been with the company for about three to four months now, and you're already the main point of contact for four clients. The speed of your ramp-up is impressive — what was the onboarding like?

Hori: Honestly, I was surprised at first (laughs). During the first month, I took in knowledge about StoreHero's proprietary apps and tools and the basics of Shopify, while also sitting in on senior GP meetings.

Then, around the one-month mark, I was assigned as the main contact for one client. I thought, "Wait, already!?" — but in the end, that's what accelerated my growth the most.

── That's quite a hands-on approach. Were you worried?

Hori: Of course I had concerns, but it's not like you're left on your own. Senior colleagues sit in on meetings, and there's an environment where you can ask questions right away whenever something comes up.

The style is "try it yourself first, and learn through practice." Rather than understanding everything through classroom study before heading to the field, I found that learning through actual work — experiencing firsthand "why is this initiative necessary?" and "how do I analyze this?" — leads to much faster absorption.

── Is there anything from your previous experience that's proving useful in your current work?

Hori: "Communication" with clients.

Even within EC support, the level of data literacy and domain expertise varies widely among client contacts. The skill of adjusting my speaking pace based on the other person's expression, or breaking down technical jargon into plain language — that comes from my past client-facing experience.

StoreHero in particular places great value on data, but simply showing clients a cold string of numbers doesn't resonate. I'm mindful of first communicating the "purpose" — "why we're looking at this data" and "what's the intent behind this initiative" — and then presenting the data as supporting evidence.

The Joy of "Running Alongside" — Not Just Data, But Getting Your Hands Dirty

── As a Growth Partner, can you share an episode where you felt a particularly strong sense of fulfillment?

Hori: A case that stands out involved working on "demand forecasting" for an apparel company.

The brand was selling collaboration T-shirts tied to film properties, but since the target demographic shifts dramatically with each property, it was difficult to predict how much inventory to produce based on past data alone.

So I proposed creating a landing page before the product launch, running ads, and conducting a survey. We built a process to analyze the enthusiasm of prospective buyers from the survey results and use that to determine production quantities.

── That sounds very StoreHero.

Hori: Exactly. Our job isn't simply to install a tool and call it done — it's to think alongside clients about how to solve business challenges.

The moments when I can share with a client the process of a problem being resolved through my involvement — watching sales grow together — are truly the most rewarding part of the work.

── Tell us about the team atmosphere as well.

Hori: It's less "everyone getting along" and more the feel of a group of professionals.

The atmosphere is great, of course, but in meetings, people will openly share healthy pushback on each other's ideas: "Is that really in the client's best interest?" or "Isn't there a better approach?"

Because everyone is genuinely focused on "solving the problem," there's an environment where we can debate without holding back — and that's something I find really comfortable.

Contributing Through Both Logical Thinking and a Design Perspective

── Looking ahead, what kind of career path do you envision for yourself?

Hori: First, I want to reach a place where I can independently deliver the value the company provides at the same quality — "standing on my own two feet." From there, I'd like to become a Growth Partner who can combine that with my background in "design" to offer an even broader range of proposals.

Logical, data-driven proposals paired with a design perspective that honors a brand's world view — I believe these two wheels working together will become my unique strength in supporting clients.

── Finally, do you have a message for job seekers reading this article, and for future clients?

Hori: The kind of people I'd love to work with are those who genuinely enjoy helping others. And people who can embrace change. The Shopify ecosystem evolves every day, so I think it's an incredible environment for anyone who loves learning new things.

And to potential clients — this might sound a bit unusual, but I want to continue offering a kind of support that "nurtures people" — helping the client company's own team members grow alongside us, not just their business results.

StoreHero Is Hiring People Ready to Take on New Challenges Together

StoreHero is recruiting GPs (Growth Partners) who use Shopify to support the business growth of commerce operators across Japan and around the world.

Won't you join us in shaping the future of commerce?

View the Growth Partner job listing here