Founder-led software studio
We build custom apps, put AI to work inside your operations, and help you make the technology calls in between — led personally by founder Roland Labana.
Working prototype in two weeks.Engineering leadership from Google, Motorola and Snap.
Who we work with
What we do
Your business runs on spreadsheets, email and workarounds.
We replace them with software your team actually uses — designed, built and handed over ready to run.
Typical start: A usable prototype within two weeks
More about custom applicationsEveryone's talking about AI. Nothing's in production yet.
We put AI to work on one specific job — drafting, routing, research or support — with the review steps your team needs.
Typical start: One workflow, measured before and after
More about ai and agentsA big technology decision, and no one senior to pressure-test it.
Build, buy or wait? You get a clear recommendation, an architecture and a plan — and we can deliver it too.
Typical start: A fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement
More about technical and business advisorySelected work
On a hillside with no signal. At a door with guests waiting. At payroll time.
Featured case · Vatican-affiliated
A visitor guide that works where the signal doesn't.
An offline-first audio tour of about twenty stops at the ecological village in Castel Gandolfo — seven languages, a live map that follows visitors as they walk, and an AI assistant that answers their questions.
A short film of the Explorer app in use at the Borgo. Featuring the Borgo's opening event.
Caregiver hours go from approval to payroll with no spreadsheet in between.
Caregivers log hours, managers approve them, and approved time syncs to QuickBooks for payroll.
“Thank you for automating our time entry and payroll system! It integrates perfectly with QuickBooks and has saved us many hours per week not to mention removing all of the frustrations, errors and rework.”
Guest check-in for every event the Borgo hosts, from community gatherings to an evening with Andrea Bocelli.
Organizers create events, send QR invitations by email, manage guest lists and scan guests in live at the door.
“I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of our entire team, to express our deepest gratitude for all the support, time, dedication, and effort you invested to make this process run as smoothly and successfully as possible. The interactive part with the app was truly outstanding. Everything worked exceptionally well and at the highest level. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
Course placement recommendations, with staff making the final call.
Schools import rosters, review AI recommendations and adjust them before anything is published.
One place for a ministry community to message, plan and gather.
Messaging, a shared calendar, and event invitations with RSVPs and organizer notes.
About
Founder
“Big companies taught me how to build software that holds up. AI tools now let a small senior team build it in weeks, not quarters. IlluminatingAI puts the two together.”
Roland spent 30+ years leading engineering and product teams — including Snap Lab consumer hardware-software programs and mobile platforms at Google and Motorola, with features shipped on flagship devices. He leads every IlluminatingAI engagement personally, and brings in senior specialists in engineering, applied AI, design and process when a project calls for it.
MBA, Kellogg · M.S. EECS (AI), UIC · B.S. CS, University of Michigan
LinkedIn
Partner · Software Engineer & Cybersecurity
Giancarlo is a software engineer and cybersecurity researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, where he conducts client-side web application security research in CMU's Security and Privacy Labs and spearheads the modernization of the Autolab educational platform's backend cloud infrastructure on AWS. As a contracted software engineer for the Vatican, he architected and deployed — alongside IlluminatingAI — a custom, high-availability reservation and event check-in application for high-profile international dignitaries and VIPs. His background also includes work on autonomous robotic systems at Andean Systems, applying AI to automated CNC pipelines.
Carnegie Mellon University · Security and Privacy Labs · Autolab · Andean Systems
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