Grind Startup Ventures

Building a startup (or an innovation arm of your business) is nearly impossible. There are countless challenges headed your way, and believe it or not, only a handful of factors can lead to success, while hundreds can cause you to fail.

We collaborate with seed stage - to series A founders and medium to enterprise-sized companies to accelerate innovation and drive critical initiatives forward. By empowering corporations to swiftly implement cutting-edge mobile products and advanced AI solutions, we mitigate risks and enhance agility. Our expertise enables businesses to navigate the ever-evolving tech landscape, ensuring they stay ahead of the curve and achieve their strategic objectives with unparalleled efficiency and effectiveness.

What We Offer:

Your Problem, Right Solution Fixes: We identify your most pressing issues and craft the right solutions to address them effectively.

Your Talent Requirements, Right Small Team Working on the Challenges: We provide the precise team with the expertise needed to tackle your specific challenges.

Your Headache, Guaranteed Relief: We guarantee measurable improvements, offering you peace of mind and concrete results.

Our projects start at $250,000 USD.

Principal Consultant

SeeSnap

SeeSnap: AI is Revolutionizing Project Management from Planning to Payment

About Us
SeeSnap is a pioneering SaaS platform transforming construction, property management, and contractor workflows. We provide seamless visual documentation and workflow automation to enhance efficiency from planning through payment.

Key Features
1. Smart Photo Workflow

Metadata Enrichment: Captures user, image, location, and timestamp data for accountability and compliance.
Real-Time Verification: Provides proof of work done, reducing disputes.
AI-Driven Insights: Flags issues and validates progress.
2. Automated Workflows:
Customizable processes for punch lists, change orders, and approvals streamline project efficiency.

3. Integrated Payment Solutions:
Connects payments to verified milestones, minimizing late payments and fraud.

4. Collaborative Communication:
Facilitates task assignment, issue resolution, and punch list management within a unified platform.

5. Vendor Management:
Effectively manage relationships with trades, contractors, and subcontractors for improved collaboration.

Core Solutions
Vendor Management:
Maintain vendor profiles and performance metrics with a centralized communication hub.

Property Maintenance & Punch Lists:
Track maintenance needs and create punch lists in real time.

Claims & Dispute Management:
Compile visual evidence to mitigate disputes and generate compliance-ready documentation.

Payment Milestone Automation:
Set payment milestones backed by visual proof to ensure accountability.

Why Choose SeeSnap?

SeeSnap reduces risk and increases transparency, streamlines vendor management, and ensures smooth cash flow from project completion to payment. Empower your teams to work more efficiently and drive success in every project.

Founder and CEO at SeeSnap

sxipped

Are you a Logistics Partner looking to Enhance your Cash Flow? Are you an innovator and early adopter?

We are developing an advanced A to B delivery engine powered by AI, set to revolutionize how goods are transported. Our solution modernizes the pickup, delivery, and safety processes, transforming the logistics landscape.

Our proprietary algorithm is designed to maximize financial rewards, ensuring fair compensation for every effort. By evaluating factors such as distance, time, and demand, the algorithm provides competitive rewards for each delivery.

Drivers can effortlessly track their earnings and performance through our intuitive interface, which highlights the direct impact of their work. Additionally, we offer ongoing support and training to help drivers optimize their earnings and excel on our platform.

Partner with us to boost your cash flow and ensure you and your drivers are rewarded for quality, service, and outcomes.

Founder - building an A to B delivery engine platform that rewards costs, times and outcomes. 

CoachCRM

We help customers track the Coaching Plans, Activities, and Results that drive sales rep performance. I'm a Closed Loop (CoachCRM) Triangle selling Certified. I use the S.C.A.L.E and P.L.A.N methodologies and connect smart business owners and founders to the CEO Cory Bray for review of sales team and possible induction of triangle selling courses as a first step.  

I highly recommend anyone with a sales team under 200 people take the Triangle Selling courses at Clozeloop University you can sign up at clozeloopuniversity.com

Advisory Board Member

Compliance PT

In under 12 months as Senior Advisor and acting Chief Revenue Officer & COO, I spearheaded the turnaround of multiple startup initiatives, including adding three multi-billion-dollar enterprise healthcare pilots, closing a co-marketing agreement for 5,000 locations, and securing major new logo pilot accounts. I built sales and marketing processes from the ground up, including CRM implementation, and provided strategic guidance for a new product build.

Our AI SaaS solution monitored insurance payer policies to ensure compliance with medical record requirements and reduce the noise-to-signal ratio. By combining algorithmic monitoring with human analysis, we deliver unparalleled accuracy, providing plain-English policy change notifications. Our solution makes important updates immediately actionable and trackable, aligning seamlessly with revenue cycle management needs.

Chief Revenue Officer (offered CEO role and equity) 

ANKR

Founder, CEO, and lead investor. 

ANKR was a napkin idea turned into a full-fledged IOT app-enabled hardware startup. 

I built the engineering team, set up the manufacturing partner in Asia, and lead the company to market.  I personally signed 2 nationwide retail distribution partnerships. This plan paved the way to me to add major eCommerce and retail partners, Including Walmart, HomeDepot and one hundred e-commerce partners in less than 90-days. 

The company was turned over to a new CEO in late 2015. (then crickets) nothing... sad.

 www.ANKR.com - Watch QVC video below.

Mark Russell Filaroski - Founder, CEO & Investor

Ncontracts

Ncontracts.com is a web-based contract management solution you can use to manage vendor contracts, client contracts, employment agreements, leases, and virtually any type of business contract.

Acquired. https://www.gryphon-inv.com/news-article/gryphon-investors-acquires-ncontracts-a-leader-in-integrated-risk-management-software-for-the-financial-industry/

Mark Russell Filaroski -  Investor

CompNation - Nashville Future 50 - Value added reseller for HP, Cisco, and 100's of OEMs (Exited) 

Bootstrapped to 13.1 million in revenue (from $0) 
Inc500 - List of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies 3x (2009, 2010, 2011)
Honored as an Internet Etailer - #538 (2010)
Nashville Area Chamber announces 2010 Future 50 Award winners

Hardware/Software VAR / 150 + million sold.

Solo Founder & CEO -Multiple time INC 500 - #538 Internet retailer -Exited - Protected under NDA

Continental Computer Corp (On prem server software and equipment) 

In my initial role post-college, I started as a Sales Representative and, within just over a year, advanced to the position of National Sales Manager. During this period, I played a crucial role in driving the company’s revenue growth from several hundred thousand dollars to over $10 million.

This role required navigating significant challenges, including a comprehensive reorganization and a complete overhaul of sales processes and hiring practices. I was responsible for revamping sales territories, scripting, and operations, and for developing the company’s entire go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

I managed the daily cold calling operations, leading a team that averaged over 4,000 calls per day. In this capacity, I served as a trainer, sales manager, and closer, ensuring high performance and adherence to best practices.

My leadership extended to coordinating the company’s sales and marketing functions, where I developed and executed comprehensive strategies across both areas. I closely monitored and analyzed sales and marketing activities to ensure alignment with goals, making necessary adjustments to drive continuous improvement.

Additionally, I strengthened partner relations with over 100 OEMs, negotiating and managing product agreements, and overseeing the integration of hardware and software solutions. Through these efforts, I ensured that sales and marketing initiatives were aligned with the company’s strategic goals, leading to substantial growth and enhanced operational efficiency.

From graduating college to National Sales Manager in less than 2 years - EXIT - Protected Under NDA

SeeSnap is focused on helping those in construction/proptech have fast, efficient, and error-free operations

Board Chairman | Founder & CEO, SeeSnapINC | Startup Mentor | 3X Inc. 500 Alumnus | Nashville Future 50

As the Founder and CEO of SeeSnapINC, I lead the company’s strategy, vision, mission, and funding efforts, always with a customer-centric approach. I'm a results-driven startup leader with a proven track record of taking companies from inception to multi-million-dollar success. My relentless commitment to winning the hearts and minds of our customers drives me daily. I'm an ENTJ personality type—assertive, strategic, and focused on achieving excellence.

Professional Expertise:

Self-starter with a talent for implementing and driving transformative change.
Strategic and analytical thinker, adept at planning, motivating, organizing, and achieving specific outcomes.
Skilled at swiftly building relationships, maintaining credibility, and fostering teamwork to achieve 100% of key objectives.
Goal-oriented, with a natural drive to lead and influence others to act.

100% Guided by Faith: I believe God gives us the ideas, courage, smarts and abilities to deliver his will.  God first—upholding faith-based values in all aspects of my life and work. I strive to exemplify professionalism, unquestionable integrity, and the highest moral and ethical standards in everything I do. Because of this, I recognize that challenges often arise, including encounters with bad actors who must be dealt with firmly.


Accomplishments:

Bootstrapped multiple startups to over $10 million in revenue each ($11.6M, $13.1M, and $15.8M).
3X Inc. 500 honoree as a solo bootstrapped founder.
Mentored, helped, or invested in over 200 startups, with 16 achieving successful exits and 30+ reaching Inc. 500 status.
Nashville Future 50 
Named Internet Retailer of the Year (#538).
Past member of the Young Presidents Organization.


Philanthropy:Actively supports initiatives led by people of integrity.

Local Catholic Church and affiliated groups.
Tucker's House (Talk to Graham Honeycutt about sponsoring a special needs project today).

Mr. Mark Russell Filaroski 🤳

Ionio

I run Ionio - We are a GPT4 & LLM, AI consulting company. We specialize in training, integrating & deploying LLMs (GPT4, ChatGPT, Alpaca) and other generative AI technologies into existing products and services - enabling up to 20x increase in efficiency and up to 90% operational automation.

Our end-to-end solution covers everything from ideation, development to seamless integration in 6-10 weeks. Value-based billing. 10x ROI Guarantee.

• We built Pumice.ai for Width.ai, a GPT4-powered E-Commerce taxonomy SaaS built with Python - React, Celery, Django, Redis, AWS & Docker in ~10 weeks.

• We helped ClearlyTrained with the strategy, research, ideation & product design of their in-house GPT4-powered eLearning Content solution in 4 weeks. GPT4, Python & NodeJS.

• We built Revvyco.com, an AI-powered revenue optimization platform in for a real-estate consultancy in Utah. Revvy runs on Django, React, Celery, Redis, AWS & Docker and was built in ~16 weeks with a team of 3.

• We built HypeMail.io, an AI-powered cold emailing SaaS built with Python - Flask, React, Celery, Redis, Docker, and AWS in ~12 weeks with a team of 5.

• We built FIT24TW Platform, a fitness startup based in Taiwan - 2 iOS/Android apps & 3 websites based on NodeJS, Flutter, Webflow & Docker in ~12 weeks per entity with a team of 4.

Send me a DM to brainstorm your AI strategy! 🛠

Founder & CEO

SmartCow

• Lead architectural, database, AI/DL and UI/UX design on various Full-stack Applications, built with Python and JavaScript
• Contribute to engineering efforts from planning and organization to execution and delivery to solve complex engineering problems.
• Manage individual projects priorities, deadlines, and deliverables
• Enforcing and maintaining code quality, and limiting technical debt through code reviews.
• Promote a culture of learning within the company, by mentoring, training colleagues, creating learning paths - modular projects which can be used to learn, teach, sharpen skills and then be integrated into production.

Senior Software Engineer

• Architect, develop and optimize the middleware, UI and storage microservices for edge systems.
• Design, build, test, and deploy software for internal and external use
• Ensure the continuous availability and throttling the downtime of core internal frameworks. 
• Design and implement scalable APIs and web services 
• Build dependable test cases and robust CI pipelines for multiple codebases

Software Engineer

Pseudtech Technologies Pvt.Ltd .

• Head research on the entire software side of several pilot-projects.
• Work with Python's leading web frameworks - Django and Flask with Heroku, AWS - S3, RDS and Google Cloud's App Engine to create software products to drive growth
• Work on Computer Vision and Deep Learning projects using OpenCV, Tensorflow, and Keras.
• Design several embedded Linux products including a (Facial Recognition Doorbell) using the Raspberry Pis and Python
• Work with AWS, Google App Engine, Angular and S3 to bootstrap a simple web application to monitor employee productivity
• Creating Facial Recognition POVs utilizing Microsoft Azure's Cognitive Services
• Contacting vendors and suppliers to acquire the resources needed for projects
• Work with Motor Drivers, Servos and Relays to create IOT devices which integrate seamlessly with the company's internal infrastructure. - IOT SwitchBoard
• Creating numerous software POCs and beta projects to meet the requirements.

• Understanding the workflow and commonly faced business problems
• Maintaining existing web apps and routine maintenance.
• Developing small tools and utilities for the upper management to help them automate office tasks.

Junior Software Engineer

Self-Employed

• Developed a Java and JavaFX Desktop App to manage a database of Fixed Deposits of Customers, added SMS integrations, encryption, and FTP Backups

• Created a corporate website for an investment firm using BootStrap, HTML, CSS, configured DNS, CPanel, and optimized it for SEO

• Created a desktop automation software using AutoIT that automated a BPO job of 3 Shifts of unskilled workers working 24x7, saving the client 33% in expenses and increasing efficiency by 50%

• Developed a Python Application to preprocess data received over the network and display it on the screen using PySide and PyQT.

Helping non-tech businesses build software products in 8-12 weeks | DM me your app ideas | Owner - Ionio |

Hi, I'm Rohan! I run Ionio. We are an AI consulting company specialized in LLMs training & deploying, building AI agents & Generative AI. We publish research on our site. Google "Ionio Research"

Our end-to-end solution covers everything from ideation, development to seamless integration in 6-10 weeks.

We are currently doing exactly this for our clients in the SaaS, eLearning, real-estate, fitness & lead generation space. 

Here's what they have to say :)

“We’ve had the opportunity of working with best full stack software engineering company in the biz.  Ionio makes it happen”.
- Greg Warner - Founder - Revvy 🏢

"Working with Ionio has been a game-changer for my business. The way they can take my vision and turn it into a reality better than I imagined is second to none".
- Thomas Manwaring - Founder - HypeMail 📧

“The Ionio team is just fire. Want something done fast? “Yep Yep”. Want something cool and innovative? “We can do that”. Nothing is beyond their reach....”.
- Brooke Daye - Founder - FIT24 🏋🏽‍♂️

Case Studies 👇🏽

• We built a Revvy, a revenue optimization platform in 4 months with a team of 3 engineers for a real-estate consultant in Utah. Property management companies pay a monthly recurring fee to use it. Saved +7.5 hours/week/client, automated 85% of the service

• We built the entire technical infrastructure for FIT24, a fitness startup based in Taiwan - 2 iOS/Android mobile apps & 3 websites in 5 months with a team of 4. Automated away +25 hours/week at the reception desk, saved +40 hours/week total

• We built HypeMail, an email outreach tool for small digital agencies with our client Thomas Manwaring. Took us 5 months & a team of 3. Agencies now pay a monthly recurring fee to use it. Automated away 7.5 hours/week of sales

Drop me a DM if you'd like to brainstorm your AI strategy. 🤖

Previously, I worked as a Software Engineer at SmartCow, an AI company. Before, that I worked in Python for a startup in Mumbai. Before before that for family friends, building websites & apps in Java. Been at this since I was 15 :)

Rohan Sawant

“Chatbots for ecommerce don't work.”
There I said it…

Since 2023, we have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to build exactly those. 

We’ve built, launched, and analyzed dozens of ecommerce chatbots for small DTC brands, retail giants, and marketplaces. 

After reading through thousands of real customer conversations, one brutal truth keeps surfacing, now in almost-2026.

But before you cancel your chatbot project, let me add the nuance: they can work—but almost never in the way we originally imagined.

The flawed assumption we all made

Back in 2024/25. We thought users would land on a merchant's site and ask the AI, "What's the best running shoe for me?" or "Help me find a gift under $50." 

We assumed they'd treat it like an unbiased shopping assistant.

Here's why that falls apart:
Trust is dead on arrival. Users aren't naive. 

They know a brand's chatbot will only recommend that brand's products. The "unbiased advisor" pitch was never believable.

Quality control is a nightmare. Even if you wanted unbiased advice, how do you verify the bot's answers?

One hallucination about material safety or sizing, and you're facing a PR disaster.

The mobile experience is terrible. 70% of traffic is mobile. 

Nobody wants to type full sentences into a tiny corner widget on their phone. It's clunky, slow, and frustrating.

ChatGPT already won. 
Why would I use your chatbot when I already have the ChatGPT app? 

It knows my style, my budget, my quirks—I talk to it for hours. Your bot doesn't know me and never will.

So where do chatbots actually work?

Here's the pivot: Discovery within a brand.

When a customer is already on your site—because they love your aesthetic or trust your quality—they don't need selling. They need navigating.

Example: "Build me a complete work-from-home outfit using only your new collection." Or, "Show me everything in muted olive green."

This is where conversational AI shines. Not as a shopping advisor, but as a personal catalog curator.

The implementation fix nobody's talking about - 
Stop putting chatbots in the bottom-right corner.

That's not where discovery happens. Discovery happens in the search bar.

We're working on a POC that moves the conversation into search. 

Users type naturally, the AI responds with products inline, and it feels like upgrading search—not adding another layer.

The lesson? Don't fight ChatGPT. Don't try to replicate it. Instead, make your own discovery experience better.

Bottom line: The future isn't a chatbot that talks. It's a search bar that listens.

Agree? Disagree? Have you seen chatbots work differently? Let me know in the comments.

#chatbots #ecommerce #ai

CEO & Founder | AI, LLM & NLP Consulting | Training, Deploying & Scaling GenAI Applications

We predicted this. "Shopping Research" in ChatGPT just launched —an deep research experience that asks clarifying questions, scours the web, and delivers personalized buyer guides in minutes.

We mapped this exact trajectory months ago.

Our white paper predicted how foundation model companies would evolve from assistants to autonomous shopping agents, and why this signals the end of the SaaS dashboard as we know it.

In 24 months, your most engaged customers will be the ones who never log in at all.

The three-layer architecture we outlined—Agent-to-Site → Agent-to-Agent → Broker-Agent-to-Site—is unfolding in real-time. 

OpenAI just made Layer One consumer-facing.

Layer Two (Merchant APIs) and Layer Three (Broker Agents) are next.

For retail & e-commerce SaaS platforms, this isn't a feature update. It's an existential pivot:

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) becomes table stakes
• GXO (Generative Experience Optimization) decides who wins the transaction
• Your moat isn't UI/UX anymore—it's how easily AI agents can negotiate with your backend

We've spent 5 years building agent-ready architectures for 40+ platforms. The 2-year window we predicted is now a 2-year deadline.

Is your platform is architected to survive this & the dozen other upcoming launches shaping how we shop?

Like + comment anything on this post and I'll DM you our full strategic briefing. Drop me a DM if you want to discuss what this means for your roadmap.

ChatGPT just launched Shopping Research. HONESTLY most brands are sleeping on what this actually means...😪

Spent the last 72 hours in calls with our advisory board and retail partners, and the consensus is clear: 

It is a fundamental shift in the interface of commerce.

We are moving away from "Search, Scroll, Filter". 

Eventually, buying will simply be: "Ask, Confirm, Done"

For brands, this introduces a terrifying new reality.

EVEN if you PAY for the ad and get the click typical CPC atm, the user can now pause, tab over to ChatGPT, and ask: "Is this brand actually GOOD?"

If it says "Reviews suggest the battery life is poor," you just paid for the click but lost the sale.

How do you protect your brand?

Here is the tactical focus you need right now depending on your size:

🟠 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 ($1𝐌 - $10𝐌)

- Relax, you don't need to hire an AI expert or burn cash fine-tuning models. 

- The AI agents are looking for "signal." Your best bet is focusing entirely on getting genuine, high-quality reviews and social proof.

- If your product is great and real humans are talking about it, the AI will find you.

🔵𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐝-𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 ($10𝐌 - $150𝐌)

- You need to focus on your data plumbing. You are too big to manage things manually. 

- If your product specs and catalogs are messy or unstructured, you are invisible to the model. 

- Push your vendors to ensure your data feeds are clean and machine-readable.

🟢 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 ($100𝐌+)

- Your biggest enemy right now is internal silos. You can't buy a plugin to solve this. 

- You need to get your Product, Marketing, and Tech leaders in the same room immediately. 

- You need a dedicated team simulating exactly how these models view your brand versus your competitors and building the tools to fix it.

The gatekeeper is changing. Make sure you aren't left outside.

If you’re trying to figure out what this roadmap looks like for your brand, or if you are a retail SaaS company wondering how to navigate this, 

DROP ME A MESSAGE.

"If ChatGPT can answer product questions better than your site can, why would anyone visit your site first?"

ChatGPT Shopping dropped last week. (Something we predicted, 1st white paper)

Now, we are writing our 2nd predictions essay, "The Aftermath" - where the industry goes next and the ripple effects on marketplaces, brands, and the SaaS companies that serve them.

Fellow men & women leaders in retail & ecom.  Have you considered the 

-  EFFECT of the impending shopping assistants roll-out?

- IMPLICATION of chatgpt ads for your business?

- CUSTOMER STRATEGY for what will be the most demanding, inquisitive buyers of the melliania -  customers who now expect instant, perfect answers just like they get from their "AI".

Drop me a message, comment, start a conversation what do you think, where is the space going? First impressions?

"Where do you see this space going in the next 12 months?"

I will be picking the best insights to feature in the final essay.

it has burnt a hole in my retinas yes.

taplio

The Battle

Mr. Mark Russell Filaroski 🤳

Rohan Sawant

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taplio

The Battle

Mr. Mark Russell Filaroski 🤳

Rohan Sawant

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rohan Sawant's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRohan Sawant's LinkedIn Performance