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 — a strategic AI consultancy for Retail & Ecom SaaS. We help mid-market platforms ($5M-100M ARR) build AI features that reduce churn, justify premium pricing, and turn their product into something merchants can't live without.

Over the past 5 years, we built 40+ products and helped founders go from zero to seven figures multiple times. Same playbook, over and over: take an idea, ship it fast, make it work, scale it.

After doing that tens of times, we wanted to take everything we learned and bring that energy to companies at the next stage. That's how we ended up focused on mid-market Retail & Ecom SaaS.

I'm genuinely passionate about this space. Generative AI lets us do something that was never possible before: personalize every single customer interaction. Not segments. Not cohorts. Actual one-on-one conversations at scale. Retail and ecom is where that has the biggest impact.

I've been working in AI since 2016 — back when that meant computer vision, not ChatGPT. Smart cameras, facial recognition, number plate recognition. That foundation matters when you're building production systems that actually need to work.

Previously: From 18 to 20, Sr. Software Engineer at SmartCow (Deep Tech AI company in Malta). At 17, Python work for a Mumbai startup, who are YET to pay me. At 15, building websites and apps for family friends in Java. It's been over a decade.

I started Ionio as a college junior, from my parent's bedroom, while hiring someone to do my assignments & a chauffeur to take me to college. Now it's a little less grunge than that.

In another life: rapper, musician, and cinematographer. Now I just build AI for retail... :(

What our clients say:

"Working with Ionio felt like having an extension of my own team — professionals who genuinely cared about delivering results, not just collecting a check."
— Stefan Georgi, Founder, 9-figure ecom founder

"Fastest I've ever launched a polished product. From wireframes to +1000 paying users in <8 weeks."
— Brad Milne, CTO, SupplierHQ

"Ionio has the character to navigate challenges and the technical depth to turn our 'AI-first' vision into reality."
— Sallyann Della Casa, CEO, Gleac

Read 35+ case studies on our site.

I post about: AI strategy for retail, technical deep dives, and behind-the-scenes of building Ionio.

If you're leading product, engineering, or strategy at a Retail & Ecom SaaS company, or a founder in any space — DM me, I always reply. If you're in Mumbai, I'll buy you a coffee.

Rohan Sawant

Every week I get on a call with a CEO who spent a weekend on Lovable and now thinks his engineering team is lying about timelines

It always goes the same way. They find Lovable, Emergent, bolt.new or Replit Agent, mess around for 2 days and suddenly they have something that looks like a real product.

They screenshot it, show the engineering team on Monday and go “I did this in two days why the fuck are you telling me 5 months”

And honestly? The CEO is right to be pissed

Not about the Lovable prototype being production ready, it’s not. But about the speed. 

Any engineering team in 2026 still operating at pre-AI timelines is just doing something wrong. 

If they’re not shipping at least 3x faster than they were 2 years ago you need to have a hard conversation with your developers

The leading players in every category are already building at this speed. 

The problem is both sides are delusional. The CEO thinks the Lovable thing is the product. The engineering team thinks 5 months is still a reasonable timeline. Both are wrong

We show up to the second call with a working prototype before the contract is even signed. Then we throw it away. 

Its only job was getting everyone aligned in 3 days instead of 6 weeks of arguing about button placement

Then we rebuild it properly. Production grade. In 6-8 weeks and not 5 months

If that sounds fast it’s because it is. And if your team can’t do it that’s the conversation you actually need to be having

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Nobody in B2B is competing on this one thing - “taste”

I’ve been looking at companies that have raised 50, 70, 100 million dollars and their landing pages feel like templates, their content is educational but forgettable and their product demos could belong to any of the hundred other tools in their category.

Then you look at the brands they’re trying to sell to, luxury D2C, premium ecommerce, companies that obsess over every pixel on their product page and the SaaS vendor pitching them can’t even get their own site to feel intentional.

What most founders miss is that when anyone can ship features in a weekend and the tech gap is shrinking by the month. 

A great product gets you in the room, but taste is what closes the deal.

When everyone is using the same models to write code, the same tools to ship faster and the same frameworks to build products, every app starts to look and feel like every other app. 

The UI feels generated, the experience feels generic and nothing has a point of view.

Taste is what defines your pricing, gets you into the premium segment of customers and increases your margins when everyone else is competing on features and discounts.

Nobody in B2B SaaS is competing on this. Everyone is racing to ship more AI features faster and the company that slows down enough to get the look and feel right will win deals they have no business winning.

PS: Pinak F. is on the 6th iteration of the UI just to get this right. That's the work nobody sees but everyone notices.

"bae pls go to sleep you are not on linkedin anymore, it's 3am on saturday"
.
"Last week I got on a call with a SaaS CEO. Retail space. <$5M ARR. Sideways growth.

He told me they'd been planning an AI feature since December. Two months in, they JUST had wireframes and a Figma prototype. Bunch of screens that looked pretty in a presentation. Fake demos on the landing page.

His exact words: "We're probably ~5 months out from shipping something."

5 MONTHS. GPT-4.5 was 5-6 months ago. The entire landscape shifts in that window.

"This is not even 2 months of work," I told him.

2 days later, we took the call transcript and showed up to the next meeting with a clickable Lovable prototype of the same feature. The call after that, we'd started fleshing out actual React components — 20% of functionality done.

Here's how: Pinak F. sketched rough screens in Excalidraw — maybe 15 minutes — then recorded an audio walkthrough of what each screen should do. 

That audio got fed into Claude to generate component-level prompts. Those prompts went into Antigravity IDE, which generated the full UI. Then Cursor Claude polished everything into clean, production-ready React.

Total time from "here's what I want" to clickable prototype: half a day.

His designers spent weeks on wireframes that could've been a 5-minute sketch. His product team spent weeks in Figma building pixel-perfect mockups nobody outside the company ever saw. His engineers hadn't written a single line of code in 2 months of "planning."

Meanwhile his competitors — GenZ YC brollihaired founders — are turboramming and rebuilding his product brick by brick.

The month most teams spend going from idea to mockup? Now less than a week. The 4-6 months of dev after that? Closer to two. Timelines have 1/3rd-ed themselves.

You don't have to work with us. Work with anyone who understands this. 

But if your team is still running the wireframe, Figma, sprint planning, dev, QA pipeline for EVERY feature...

Do they not know these tools exist? Or do they know, and they're just not telling you? 

Godspeed.

Hi, I'm Sayed! I'm an entrepreneur and growth marketer with 6+ years of experience helping companies scale.  I’ve built and led a marketing team for a health equipment company, launched and grew my own online printing business. Currently, I am writing a newsletter focused on practical strategies for online business growth.

If you're interested in growth insights and actionable tips, subscriber to my newsletter: www.startupblitz.net

Sayed Habib

You can do a lot with the free plan of Claude. Here are three practical ways it will save you time.

1️⃣ Create ready-to-use documents

Claude can generate downloadable Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files based on the conversation.

How to use it:

1. Tell Claude what document you need and the requirements.
2. It generates the file
3. Download, review, edit, and use them for your work

Quick wins:

1. Create meeting minutes templates
2. Create simple budget or schedule tables in Excel
3. Prepare draft proposal documents in PowerPoint

2️⃣ Expand what you can do with external tools

Claude can link to apps like Canva, Notion, Figma, Asana and Google Drive so you can reference data and perform actions inside those tools.

How to use it:

1. Enable connectors in Settings
2. Connect the app you want to use from the chat screen and give instructions
3. Review and tweak results inside the connected app

Quick wins:

1. Create images for social media by integrating with Canva
2. Organise tasks while referencing a Notion database
3. Summarise key points from documents stored on Google Drive

3️⃣ Reduce repetitive instructions by adding skills

You can package common workflows or specialised knowledge as Skills. Once set up, they can reproduce the same quality results without giving detailed instructions every time.

How to use it:

1. Go to Settings > Capabilities > Skills
2. Describe the workflow in text or upload it as a ZIP file
3. Claude will load the required Skills based on the task

Quick wins:

1. Register internal report formats and procedures
2. Automate material prep for recurring meetings
3. Generate work-ready files using official Excel and PowerPoint Skills

🔁 If you found this useful, please like and share with your connections.

Sayed Bin Habib 🐋

Practical AI tactics that save startups time and money | Zero breathless hype

“Which AI is the smartest?” - That’s the wrong question.

The better question is:  Which AI fits the job you’re doing right now?

Here’s a practical breakdown based on real use cases 👇

🟢 ChatGPT - The All-Round Operator

If you need versatility, this is usually the default choice.

Use it for problem solving, extracting meeting minutes from audio/notes, generating and fixing code, and automating regular content (templates, social posts).

Think of it as the “Swiss Army knife” AI.  Wide task coverage, reliable and Flexible.

🔵 Gemini - The multimodal integrator

Gemini is powerful when your work lives inside the Google ecosystem. If your workflow is deeply tied to Google tools, this can save serious time.

It is also best when you need image/audio/video/PDF understanding.

🟠 Claude - The writing & deep thinking specialist

Claude is strong at structured reasoning and natural writing.

Use it for brainstorming, long-form content, and deep analysis of complex documents or contracts.

Cowork/Claude Code can also handle tons of your enterprise work.

If clarity and depth matter more than speed, this is often the better pick.

💡 If you want to subscribe to one AI tool, I highly recommend Claude.

Which one are you currently using the most?

Here’s how you can use AI to find million-dollar opportunities in unfamiliar industries.

If you were to start a company, would you choose to solve a problem you already understand well, or explore a completely unfamiliar industry?

Let me tell you about Jordan Katz and Michael Mattheakis.

They entered the insurance world as complete outsiders. Yet they built an automation platform for insurance brokers that now generates tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

🚩 There's a widely held belief in Silicon Valley: the best startup ideas come from solving your own problems.

But Jordan, founder of Comulate, saw a flaw in this logic. 

Think about it: what happens when everyone in tech is solving their own problems? 

The market would surely be flooded with tools to boost developer productivity, software to optimise product manager workflows, and collaboration tools for designers.

But these areas are already incredibly crowded.

It's like casting a net in a tiny pond already overcrowded with fishing boats.

So, Jordan and his co-founder, Michael, chose a completely opposite approach: they deliberately sought out industries the tech world had no idea about.

Eventually, they landed on insurance.

🛠️ They approached insurers not as salespeople, but as product managers.

A salesperson might ask: “What are your pain points? Our product can help you fix them.”

But a product manager would ask:

- “Why is this process designed this way?”
- “How do you handle edge cases?”
- “What's the historical reason for this seemingly cumbersome step?”

When they met with insurance companies over Zoom, the conversations often lasted for hours.

They’d walk through their daily processes step by step. When they saw a cumbersome task, instead of immediately saying “we can automate that,” they’d ask, “Why does this step exist? Who defined this rule? Are there exceptions?”

Only by understanding can you know which parts can be changed.

👨🏻‍💻 Redesign from first principles

When building solutions, Comulate would first map the client’s current workflow.

Typically, the diagram had over 30 nodes, with arrows resembling a maze.

Most software companies would simply replicate all 30 steps into their product, giving each step an interface.

But Comulate took a step back and asked: “If we could redesign this from scratch, what would the ideal flow look like?”

They found that, using AI and modern software architecture, 30 steps could be reduced to just three or four.
Michael mentions in an interview that during platform shifts, the winners are never the ones who simply copy old products into new formats.

The transition from PC to mobile internet is a classic example.

Instagram didn’t just shrink a desktop photo-sharing website to fit a phone screen. It redefined mobile photo sharing. 

The AI era is no different.

Many companies are using AI to boost existing processes.

But the real opportunity lies in asking: What old constraints no longer exist because of AI?

Anthropic has released a 33-page guide on building Claude Skills. It signals a shift in how we should think about working with AI.

The old question: “How should I write this prompt?”

The new question: "How do I make AI operate as a system?"

Skills are the answer Anthropic has provided.

So what's a Skill? 🤔

Skills ≠ prompts. It’s a structured, reusable system.

A Skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with structured instructions that teach Claude how to handle a specific task. You write it, Claude learns it, and it works consistently from that point on.

A simple way to think about it:

🔌 MCP gives Claude access to your tools (Notion, Linear, Figma)
🧠 Skills teach Claude how to use those tools the way your team actually works

You can package in scripts, references, and assets alongside the instructions. It will turn a one-time explanation into a repeatable, reliable workflow.

In other words, we're moving from "conversational AI" to "AI that automates work".

And what's crucial is this 👇

Anthropic built Skills with testing, reproducibility, and efficiency in mind.

No more: 

❌ “It worked well this time.”
❌ “Accuracy depends on the mood.”

The goal is to move toward AI that works reliably every time.

This isn't some prompting trick. It's an official framework for turning chat-based AI into business infrastructure.

The era of “just write a better prompt” is ending.

Read the full document to learn how to build skills  👇

The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude

A $10 alternative! Stop buying Mac Minis just to run OpenClaw 😭

Recently, I've seen so many people spending hundreds of dollars on Mac Minis just to run OpenClaw. 

But you can run OpenClaw on anything, really. There are so many perfect, low-cost alternatives.

The star of this show: A Qualcomm 410 Based Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Modification checklist:

✅ Heatsink + Fan (Enhanced cooling for the Qualcomm 410, rock-solid stable after installation).
✅ Expansion board (Adds USB, TF card, and Type-C power).

After modification, simply flash Debian Linux, and the Go-rewritten PicoClaw runs smoothly.

💥 Key Comparison of this $10 Solution vs. Mac Mini

❌ Mac Mini: Costs $600+, bulky and takes up space. Pure overkill since you are not running local models.
✅ Qualcomm 410 Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot: Max $10, palm-sized, plug-and-play, power consumption comparable to a phone charger.

❌ OpenClaw: Heavy load, memory-intensive.
✅ PicoClaw: Lightweight and streamlined, adapted for low-spec configurations. Runs smoothly on the Qualcomm 410 with no pressure, fully supporting AI command execution and chat integration.

✅ The model also doesn't clutter your desk, can be tucked away next to a power socket, invisible and hassle-free.

You don’t have to build this janky solution. You can also run it on an old phone, old laptop, or simply run it on a vps.

Don’t get swept up in AI hype. Don’t pay too much attention to influencers. You don’t have to buy a Mac Mini.

Quick tip: You can use Nano Banana 2 inside Google Flow and generate unlimited images without any watermark.

Google Flow is an AI video generation platform that can create and edit high-quality videos from text and images.

While primarily known as a video tool, it actually supports image generation too.

Even with the free plan, you can use Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro.

🟢 What I like:

- More generations available on the free plan compared to via Gemini
- Generates 2-4 images at once with a single prompt
- No "♦︎" watermark in the bottom right corner
- Choice of "1K/2K" output sizes

⭕️ What I don't like:

- Aspect ratio limited to "16:9" and "9:16" only

If you are using Nano Banana to create images for LinkedIn, definitely give Google Flow a try. You’ll thank me later.

Generate Nano Banana 2 Images Without ♦ Watermark

I've organised what can be done with the current Gemini.

12 practical use-cases. You can try them right now to make your work more efficient:

1. Brainstorming — rapid idea lists and angles.
2. Writing & editing — polish emails, posts, proposals.
3. Research — Summarise trends and recent findings.
4. Meeting notes — turn recordings into decisions and action items.
5. Task management — extract unfinished tasks from your inbox and drives.
6. Image creation — make infographics and visuals.
7. Video creation — script or assemble short corporate clips.
8. Music generation — quick background tracks for videos.
9. Slide creation — build presentation decks from a brief.
10. Long-document editing — improve structure and logic at scale.
11. Guided learning — step-by-step lessons for upskilling.
12. Data integration — turn notebooks and docs into reports.

Give Gemini 3.1 a try. You will find it much more reliable than the previous versions.

If you're a frequent user of Gemini, you should definitely download the Gemini Voyager browser extension right away!

Those who use it will know how convenient it is. It has several key features:

1️⃣ You can create folders: You can drag conversations into these to manage them. Previously, finding similar conversations was a real hassle. Now it's so much easier.

2️⃣ Super fast search through chat history: If you've had long conversations and can't find specific parts, you can now directly navigate to exactly where you want to be.

You can also adjust the conversation width, making it even easier to view.

3️⃣ Remove watermarks from generated images: You just click to remove the watermark, and it downloads the watermark-free image for you. How cool is that?

4️⃣ If you have any prompts that you think are exceptionally well-written, you can save them directly into your 'favourite prompts' for future use.

5️⃣ You can save particularly good conversation records as Markdown, PDF, image, or JSON files and download them locally.

6️⃣ You can open multiple tabs and directly rename each conversation tab to whatever you want.

So download the extension. You can find it in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari store.

You’ll thank me later.

⚠️ Warning: Stop 'Googling' right now. 

Continuing to search for information via Google Search is an utter waste of time. In this day and age, NotebookLM's Fast Research is overwhelmingly the strongest tool.

Simply instruct it with the information you want, and it will automatically stock 10 relevant webpages and YouTube videos. 

From there, simply ask questions about what you want to know. The AI will instantly extract and output the most optimal answers from the stockpiled sources.

Compared to Google search, the research efficiency is on a completely different level.

❌ Limitations of Google search:

- Top results are often filled with affiliate marketing and SEO-optimised articles.
- It takes a long time to find the primary information you really want.

✅ NotebookLM "Fast Research" revolution:

- Simply ask "Tell me about X," and the AI will automatically select reliable sources.
- With a single prompt, it loads up 10 articles or YouTube videos at once
- Zero ads, zero noise. Only pure "knowledge" is delivered to you.

From now on, instead of Googling, ask NotebookLM.

taplio

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taplio

The Battle

Rohan Sawant

Sayed Habib

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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

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