How Vibe Coding Put Data Visualization Back in Our Own Hands — How Squadbase Changed the Development Flow at SHIBUYA CITY FC
Overview
SHIBUYA CITY FC is a soccer club aiming to reach the J.League from Shibuya. While the club had long wanted to build out a richer data page for fans, the process — spanning design, development, and multiple handoffs — kept updates from happening. We spoke with Naohide Hatama, a business-side team member who built the official site's data page himself using Squadbase, about the background, his experience using the tool, and his vision going forward.
Background
What did the process look like before you started building the data page yourself?
Naohide Hatama
We always wanted a page where fans could enjoy all kinds of club data. We were collecting a lot of information, but turning it into something visual just wasn't happening.
The flow was: work with our partner Queue to organize the data, have our in-house designer decide on colors and chart layouts, then hand those specs to Queue for development.
It was a linear process — requirements definition → design in Figma → development request to an external engineer — and it took a significant amount of time. That's part of why updates kept stalling.
Why SHIBUYA CITY FC Chose Squadbase
What made you want to build it yourselves?
Naohide Hatama
Squadbase is a service for building dashboards through vibe coding — and the fact that non-engineers could use it freely was really appealing. When Queue proposed it to us, I thought, "maybe I can actually do this myself."
We wanted to break out of the cycle of outsourcing every update and get to a place where we could build and fix things on our own terms. So we decided to give it a shot.
What Vibe Coding Actually Looks Like
What was your first impression using it?
Naohide Hatama
The biggest thing was being able to do everything through natural language in a chat interface. Just having a conversation with the AI — "I want to show this data," "I want to present it this way" — and watching a rough version take shape. It was beyond what I expected.
After Queue gave me a quick orientation, they said, "Okay, try building a data page." I typed in one line as a prompt, and something came out that looked like "this is it" — honestly, I was surprised.
What did that first MVP look like?
Naohide Hatama
It was a page showing player data rankings for fans — things like goal rankings and minutes played, presented visually. Simple, but a solid starting point.
I looked at what came out and thought, "this could work," so I sent the URL straight to our designer. They came back with "this is great, let's go with this." The only tweak was deciding whether to use a white or black color scheme. The designer gave the green light and we went live from there.
How were you giving instructions to the AI?
Naohide Hatama
I started by entering something like "I want to present this in an interesting way for fans" — just one sentence. But even that changed the output. It came up with layouts and ways of presenting data I never would have thought of myself. I was genuinely surprised by how much it exceeded my expectations.
There was one moment that stood out. When I tried to add a page for the 2024 season, the AI noticed that some player data (like height) existed for 2025 but not for 2024, and asked, "This data is missing — would you like me to add it?" I told it, "Please look it up from the SHIBUYA CITY FC official site," and it immediately did just that and updated the page.
Where did you get stuck, and how did you work through it?
Naohide Hatama
Early on, I ended up with extra pages multiplying on me. Eventually I consolidated everything into one page, but that was more about not being fully familiar with Squadbase yet. There were still features I didn't know about — like being able to select individual elements and edit them in isolation.
The feature I found most useful was being able to roll back to a previous state when something didn't come out right. Being able to undo immediately was a lifesaver.
How the Workflow Changed
How did this experience change your process?
Naohide Hatama
Before, the flow was strictly one-directional: requirements → design → development. Now it feels like "figure it out as you build."
I build something in Squadbase, decide on the spot whether it works, send the URL to our designer, and get feedback right away. Ideas and structures keep emerging that I never would have arrived at on my own — that's a completely different experience from what we had before.
Results and What's Next
What was the response like after launch?
Naohide Hatama
We haven't officially announced it yet, but when I showed it at a staff meeting, the reaction was "wait, you built this? This is amazing!" Our designer — who has very high standards — said "I love it" right away, so that genuinely made me happy.
We're planning to announce the data page refresh around the time this article goes live, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the reaction from fans.
What's your vision for the data page going forward?
Naohide Hatama
I'm currently exploring whether we could add a chatbot feature where fans and supporters can pull up whatever data they want through a conversation-style interface.
Something like: "What's the correlation between this player's height and goal count?" — and the system would combine the relevant data and answer. To make that work, though, we need a massive amount of well-organized player and club data, so we're working on that in parallel.
For the 2026 season, I also want to build a page where the day's data updates in real time. Players themselves pay close attention to their minutes and top speeds, and we already share that data with them in seasonal reviews. It would be great if players could check their own stats in real time during the season.
Are you thinking about using Squadbase beyond the data page?
Naohide Hatama
Two areas where I think it could really shine are EC (e-commerce) and CRM.
On the EC side, we still do a lot of things manually since we're not operating at a huge scale yet — things like inventory management and order data. I'd love to streamline that with Squadbase.
For CRM, I want to use Squadbase to organize ticketing data and audience demographic information, so we can make better decisions around "what brings fans back?" and "how do we make people fall in love with the club?"
We're also growing the team this season, and I'm working with our on-field staff to explore whether we could use Squadbase to organize Catapult tracking data and apply it to conditioning and performance improvements.
Finally, what would you say to others in a similar position — business-side folks who aren't engineers?
Naohide Hatama
When I first heard the phrase "vibe coding," I was a little nervous about whether I could really do it. But once I actually tried it, that anxiety disappeared fast. It became "if I can do this, maybe I can do that next" — ideas just kept expanding.
Before, I had to fully define what I wanted to build before anything could be designed or developed. With Squadbase, you can think and build at the same time. For business-side people, that difference is huge. I'd encourage anyone to just try it.
You can access the page Naohide Hatama built at the link below:
Visit the SHIBUYA CITY FC official website here:
