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

The $100K truth about enterprise SAAS that everyone forgets!

Last year, I helped a nine-figure retail brand evaluate data analytics platforms, they wanted to understand & visualize an frontend A/B test. 

Standard buying process—shortlist vendors, book demos, compare features. 

Here's what actually happened: I joined every call as their technical advisor. 

Not to hear the AE's pitch. To strip it down. 

To see what the product actually did versus what the marketing claimed it did. 

Got a list of 5-6 platforms from Chatgpt. Booked calls. 

Removed all their positioning, all their messaging, all their sales theater. Just laid the core products side by side. 

Made the decision based on capability, differentiation, ROI & cost. That's it. This is the actual buying journey for most of SaaS right now. 

In most sophisticated markets. 

And this experience crystallized something I've been seeing across dozens of conversations with SaaS companies over the past few weeks: 

All the marketing gimmicks, all the positioning frameworks, all the clever messaging—they work exactly once. 

They get you shortlisted in the discovery phase. But when an enterprise buyer is actually deploying a $100K budget? 

None of that matters anymore. 

What matters is: 
1. Does your product actually do what you claim? 🤔 
2. How differentiated is the core capability? ⚡
3. What's the measurable ROI? 💰

The mid-market knows this. Enterprise buyers definitely know this. 

Yet somehow, SaaS companies keep optimizing for discovery metrics instead of decision metrics. 

As we move into AI-native products, this gap is going to become even more obvious. 

Because AI products are easier to test, easier to compare, and harder to hide behind marketing. 

The companies that win won't be the ones with the best positioning decks. 

They'll be the ones that built something meaningfully better. 

For companies wondering how their products stack up in an AI-native future (esp. ones who just rolled their eyes at that) you should definitely drop me a DM, saying "AI"

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

I help Tech Founders and Finance Professionals to get clients & customers through copywriting and brand strategy.

99% of my clients have the same 4 problems: 👇

❌Leads are inconsistent, and unqualified.
❌Getting low engagement and targeting wrong audience
❌Not signing enough clients as a result.

A while back, I faced the same challenges with my clients.

Today, my strategy has taken their profiles from 900 followers to 6K in just 3 months,and 1k to 10k in 2.5 month while attracting 4 quality inbound and 10+ outbound leads every week.

Here’s the 5-step result driven system I use:

-Define your ICP and target through funnels
-Ghostwrite targeted content to educate and grab attention.
-Build a profile that grabs attention and shows your credibility.
-Creating engaging info-products like scripts, e-books, newsletters, and landing pages to engage leads.
-Use content techniques to draw in quality leads consistently.

These elements are the foundation of signing more clients and growing your business on LinkedIn.

I have worked with 15+ founders till date.

Here’s what one of my clients achieved:
📌 Profile Growth: From 900 to 6,000 followers in 3 months,1k to 10k in 2.5 months.
📌 Lead Generation: 4 quality inbound and 10+ outbound leads weekly. .
📌 Newsletter Success: 35% open rate with strong conversion.

The system works.

If you're a Founder or Finance Professional looking to turn LinkedIn into a client acquisition engine, let’s connect.

DM “Appointment” to get started with a 15-min introductory call to see if i’m the right person to help you.

Hrittik Shaw

99% of advice on building a personal brand on LinkedIn will not suit you

- Post every day

• Chase virality

• Hack the algorithm

• Optimize for impressions

My advice:

- Post when you have something real to say

• Write for people, not metrics

• Use content to start conversations

• Engage to build relationships, not numbers

Follow the first list if you want reach.

Follow the second if you want relevance.

Reach gets attention.

Relationships get outcomes.

Generated 600,000+ impressions | I help Tech and Finance businesses create impactful brands that drive revenue | Trusted by 15+businesses | Ghostwriter + Copywriter.

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Everyone online tells you to “go independent.”

I’ll tell you something less sexy: get a job first.

Not because jobs are the dream.

Because they’re the training ground.

When you’re starting out, freedom isn’t the asset.

Skill is.

Exposure is.

Reps are.

Context is.

A good early-stage role gives you things no solo grind can:

You see real systems.
You work on real problems.
You get real feedback.

You understand how money, decisions, and execution actually move.

You’re not guessing.

You’re observing.

You’re learning in motion.

Most people want independence before they’re even competent.

They want leverage without foundations.

Autonomy without ability.

That’s backwards.

I learned faster working inside systems than I ever could alone.

Not because I was special 

but because I wasn’t guessing anymore.

Structure accelerated me.

Pressure refined me.

Exposure sharpened me.

Independence came later and it actually worked, because I wasn’t building on fantasy.

Don’t rush freedom.

Build capacity first.

Because independence without competence isn’t courage

it’s just chaos with a logo.

Build skills.

Build judgment.

Build leverage.

Then build your own thing.

In that order.

By the time you’ve done 1 post, you’re the same person as before.

A little more tired.

Maybe a little more hopeful.

But still the same identity.

Same fears.
Same thinking.
Same habits.

Even after 5 posts.

10 posts.

20 posts.

Nothing dramatic changes.

But something strange happens after 100.
After 300.
After 1000.

You don’t just improve your content.

You change your self-image
Your confidence shifts.
Your standards rise.

Your tolerance for bullshit drops.

Your clarity sharpens.

Your identity rewires.

You stop trying to “look like” someone.

You start becoming someone.

That’s the part people don’t understand.

Transformation doesn’t feel like transformation while it’s happening.

It feels boring.

Repetitive.

Invisible.

Just like the gym.

One rep changes nothing.

One workout changes nothing.

One month changes little.

But years change everything.

You don’t become unrecognizable through intensity.

You become unrecognizable through volume + consistency

And the real flex isn’t attention.

It’s identity.

Not followers.

Not likes.

Not impressions.

But becoming the kind of person who can’t go back to who they were before.

Takeaway if you’re building something:

Don’t ask:

“Is this working yet?”

Ask:

“Who is this turning me into?”

Because the real ROI isn’t growth.

It’s identity change

And once that shifts

everything else follows.

ROAD TO INVESTMENT BANKING PART:7

Every time I need money, I make one of two choices:

I either ask that one friend who says *no* first but eventually helps…

or I ask someone to trust me with money that I promise to return in a month

Different people.

Different expectations.

Different pressure.

Most people don’t realise this

but companies raise money the exact same way.

When a company wants to grow, it has only two real options:

1️⃣ Equity — Ask People to Trust You

This is when you raise money by giving someone ownership in the company.

What you get:

- No repayment pressure
- Shared risk
- Long-term capital

What you give up:

👉 Control.

Equity buys time and safety

but you no longer own the future alone.

2️⃣ Debt — Promise to Return the Money

This is borrowing.

What you get:

- Full ownership stays with you
- Faster growth
- Control remains intact

What you take on:

👉 Fixed pressure + risk.

Debt buys speed and scale

but one bad phase can break the business.

The real insight:

Smart companies don’t choose equity or debt.

They design the  right mix of both.

Because capital isn’t just money.

It’s risk, pressure, and control in different forms.

Why this matters in Investment Banking

This is the core of IB.

Every deal asks:

- Who should fund this — owners or lenders?
- How much control should be sold?
- How much risk can the company survive?

Capital raising isn’t finance.

It’s strategy

Money doesn’t build companies.

The way money is structured does.

And once you understand that,

you stop seeing businesses as products —

and start seeing them as systems.

Everyone tells you to do more.
I’ll tell you something less impressive: finish fewer things.


Everyone I see is busy. 
Everyone is “working.” 
Everyone is preparing something.
But very little actually gets finished.

We’ve normalized planning as progress and thinking as effort.
It feels productive, so we stay there.

Execution feels different.
It puts you on the spot.
It exposes your decisions.
It creates consequences.

That’s why people delay it.

You read more.
You plan more.
You refine more.
You wait for the “right time.”

And nothing moves.

The issue isn’t knowledge.
It isn’t resources.
It isn’t even discipline.

It’s the decision to act before you feel ready.
Especially when that action is visible.

I realized this when I looked honestly at my own days.

I was working a lot, but executing or finishing very little.

My days were full of plans, lists, ideas, and tasks.

They looked productive. They felt productive.

But the outcomes were thin.

So I changed one thing.

I stopped making long to-do lists.

📌 Now I pick 2–3 things every day that are actually executable that same day.

Not “important someday” tasks.
Not big vision ideas.
Just work I can start and move forward.

Even if I only get 50% done, something ships.
Momentum builds.
Speed replaces hesitation.

📌Seven tasks with zero execution change nothing.
📌A few clear actions with real movement change everything.

This isn’t about productivity systems.
It’s about honesty.

If I can’t execute it today, it doesn’t go on the list.

If nothing is changing, it’s not because you’re lost.

It’s because you’re not executing on what you already understand.

That’s the separator.

Because action compounds.
Ideas don’t.

P.S. This is the to-do system that’s helping me execute instead of just plan.

Would love to hear what actually works for you.

People start treating you differently when you adopt these quiet founder behaviors:

1. You stop explaining your product to everyone
2. You don’t overbuild, you over-communicate
3. You start explaining the problem instead
4. You don’t chase visibility, you structure it
5. You don’t pitch, you position yourself
6. You speak in outcomes, not features
7. You stop trying to sound smart
8. You don’t argue, you frame
9. You start sounding clear
10. You demonstrate clarity
11. You filter for signal
12. You look deliberate
13. You build trust optics
14. You stop looking busy
15. You stop being a “builder”
16. You don’t sell confidence
17. You build narrative assets
18. You stop building in silence
19. You stop saying “we’re early”
20. You stop talking to everyone
21. You stop collecting feedback
22. You become a category voice
23. You design an ICP gravity field
24. You build in public strategically
25. You start saying, “We’re specific.”
26. You stop chasing funding optics
27. You stop copying the founder's content
28. You don’t rush partnerships, you create brand pull

Because here’s the real game

Products scale on code.

Companies scale on distribution.

Founders scale on perception.

And perception is not marketing.

It’s positioning.
It’s narrative.
It’s psychological leverage.

Most founders don’t have a growth problem.

They have an invisibility problem.

And they’re trying to solve it with features.

How to Overcome The Quiet Founder Mindset

3 “professional” branding advice that’s actually improved my clients' conversions

When I started helping founders build their brands, I made the same mistake everyone does.

I tried to make them look “professional.”

Perfect website.
Clean logo.
Flawless copy.
Everything looked premium.

Except for one thing:

It didn’t sell.

We’d post beautiful content, but it had no pulse.

It sounded right but didn’t feel real.

And I remember thinking 

“How the hell do people with worse design, worse writing, and half the followers make 10x more money?”

Then it hit me.

Professional doesn’t mean profitable.

The market doesn’t buy “perfect.”

It buys personality, perspective, and proof.

You know what actually drives revenue?

Not the fancy fonts or brand colors.

But clarity, consistency, and confidence.

Here’s what I started doing differently for my clients:

1️⃣ Dropped the corporate tone.
 If your content reads like a press release, people scroll. Talk like a human.

2️⃣ Built a story, not a slogan.
 People don’t remember your tagline. They remember why you exist.

3️⃣ Made offers part of the narrative.
 When your content and brand feel connected, selling stops feeling salesy.

Once I made that shift things changed fast.

Founders started attracting inbound leads.

Their brands finally sounded like them.

And trust turned into transactions.

So if you’re still trying to look “professional,” stop.

Start sounding personal.

Because professionalism builds distance.

But personality builds demand.

If you want to build a brand that feels human but still converts, DM me “REAL” and I’ll walk you through how we do it for founders every day.

I used to freeze when I wasn’t sure what to do next.

With too many options for the longest I remember
But, for the past 15 days, I’ve been following this one rule instead

When I’m not sure what to do I build capacity.

📌 I go to bed on time even when tomorrow isn’t mapped out.
📌 I keep building an audience even without a clear product.
📌I add value to for my audience with no promotion planned.
📌I train even when there’s no immediate payoff.
📌 I save money even when I don’t have an investment thesis yet.

This isn’t discipline.

It’s optionality.

Opportunities don’t come with instructions.

They appear briefly and only people with capacity can recognize and act.

Look at how this plays out at scale:

Joe Rogan talks about aliens, comedy, fighting, politics, bio-hacking.
Dwayne Johnson spans WWE, movies, football, fitness, tequila.
Alex Hormozi built leverage by stacking skills: sales, marketing, capital, and endurance.

None of them picked a niche first.

They built themselves wide and sharp enough that the niche revealed itself.

Same rule applies in business.

You don’t pick your niche.

You are your niche.

So now, when things feel unclear, I don’t wait.

I prepare.

Because when that fat pitch comes

I want to already be at the plate.

taplio

The Battle

Rohan Sawant

Hrittik Shaw

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taplio

The Battle

Rohan Sawant

Hrittik Shaw

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

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