Building with AI
I learn by doing. In the last 6 months, I've spent my evenings building & shipping three AI-powered products (not just prototypes). It feels like a new superpower has been unlocked. Each project has taught me something different about designing with LLMs, moving fast, and also made me realize how important brand & distribution will be when almost anyone can build & ship products.

June 2025
Replit · Web


Letting kids create unique stories by dropping emojis into a magical pot with Storypot


One Thursday evening at bedtime, my 5-year-old pointed at a ceramic frog-shaped container and said, "Papa, can you tell me a story about that?" Five days later, I had a prototype.

Storypot lets kids drop emojis into a magical pot to create unique stories tailored to their age and interests. Parents can weave in themes like kindness, big feelings, or trying again—helping kids explore emotions through stories they're excited to hear.

Since launching, over 1,000 stories have been created, it's been featured in Lenny's Newsletter, has its own podcast (also using LLMs with ElevenLabs to generate audio from text), and has received love from parents and kids across the world. I'm now working with a small team on an iOS app and evolving the product based on what we've learned.







Aug 2025
Claude Code · iOS


Teaching basketball fans the strategic side of the sport  with Sideline


Sideline is a basketball strategy game for people (like me) who love the tactical side as much as the highlights. You step into the coach's shoes and make the calls that win games.

I wanted to see if I could use LLMs to build a fully functional iOS app, learn how to publish things to the App Store, and brush up on some SwiftUI – so I took a topic I love (basketball!), and used a simple card based mechanism like Reigns to create something that would put a spotlight on all the tactics and the terminology of basketball.

I learned how painful it is to actually get something approved & published on the App Store, in addition to a whole lot about how Claude Code works, how to keep the project on track, what to do when solving one problem creates multiple new ones, etc. 

The launch was very well received within the basketball community. I also learned to use TikTok to distribute the app and drive traffic. I also quickly realized that it is extremely difficult to get people to pay for a niche basketball strategy game app like this one (: 






Oct 2025
Claude Code · iOS


Helping parents understand their child’s perspective in difficult moments with Little Voices


I’m a parents to 2 kids under the age of 5, and I know how beautiful it is, and how crazy it can get. A wave of emotions from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, and through the night too. Raising young children makes you confront your own emotional response and behaviours because you are confronted with a series of difficult moments all the time. 

It started as a dinner table conversation with my wife. I got excited about this idea of revealing your child's perspective through an "unblurring of the fog", an interaction pattern where things gradually become clearer. I prototyped that interaction and posted it on Reddit. The response was encouraging enough that I decided to turn it into a full app.

This is one of those projects where I took my time with the visual language and emotional tone. The topics can be sensitive and personal, so I also partnered with a child psychologist to vet the content. I haven't done much marketing yet—maintaining and distributing three apps on the side is hard work, even with our friendly LLMs always ready to help. 






Akshan Ish
Last Updated: November, 2025
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