Commercial AI Builder

I build systems that solve commercial problems and unlock growth.

I've spent my career inside founder-led businesses, close to the customers, the systems, the numbers and the daily friction. I use AI, automation and product thinking to turn that friction into tools, workflows and decisions that help the business move.

Zac Ellis

£1+ mil

Revenue generated as co-founder at No Ordinary Moments

2x

Butter & Crust revenue in 12 months

33%

CAC reduction at Butter & Crust

£6.2M

Email revenue driven at ENVU

iOS

Native iOS app shipped to the App Store

10 hrs/week

Saved through AI CS automation

Work

Selected builds

These started as problems I kept running into: slow support, scattered data, clunky Shopify tools and workflows that were being held together manually.

I used AI, automation and code to understand the problem, build the fix and put it into use.

Chatbot

Ask the portfolio

Ask about Zac's projects, technical depth and role fit.

Portfolio assistant

Built to help recruiters, founders and hiring managers scan the work quickly.

Claude AI logoPowered by Claude AI

Ask the portfolio about Zac's AI work, commercial background, project fit or technical range. It answers from public portfolio information only.

Process

How I build useful systems

Most AI work fails because it starts with the tool. I start with the workflow, then build the smallest useful system around it.

01

Find the bottleneck

Start with how work actually happens, not with the tool.

02

Define the outcome

What should be faster, clearer, cheaper, more consistent or more valuable?

03

Build the smallest useful version

A working prototype beats a perfect spec.

04

Ship into the workflow

A tool only counts if people actually use it.

05

Measure and improve

Track the change, tighten the system and keep the commercial outcome visible.

Story

Why this work

I've always been drawn to the point where a problem turns into something you can make.

That started in ecommerce: customer journeys, campaigns, websites, reporting, subscriptions and the awkward operational bits that sit behind a growing business. I liked the creative side, but I was always just as interested in the system underneath: why something was slow, where the friction was, what was being repeated, and what could be built to make it better.

AI changed the scale of what I could do with that instinct.

Over the last year, I've used it to build things I would previously only have been able to brief: a customer service automation, commercial intelligence reports, Shopify systems, postcode tools, a native iOS app and a team operating system for my football club.

That has changed what I want from my next role. I still care about growth, customers and commercial outcomes, but I want to work closer to the future of how businesses operate: finding valuable problems, building useful systems, helping teams adopt them, and delivering impact at a much bigger level.

Built with

This site was built with

Next.js
TypeScript
Tailwind
Vercel
Claude API
Codex
ChatGPT

The chatbot uses public portfolio content only. No confidential client data.

Contact

Email: zacellis@gmail.com