← Rolio · Free hiring software

HOW WE BUILD

Building better products.
With AI.

At Cofounderie, we bring design, engineering and product management together to build, test and refine products with AI. Rolio is one example of that approach.

It started with the work in front of us.

We wanted our hiring information in one place, without high software subscription fees. So we built Rolio for ourselves and made it available to other teams for free.

Using it in our daily hiring work helps shape what we build. Every feature has to be useful when reviewing a candidate, preparing for a conversation or working with a colleague.

A handmade wooden tray gathers candidate cards, conversation notes, a checklist and pipeline dividers, with small paper patches showing everyday refinement

AI drives much of the work. We steer it.

We use frontier AI models to explore ideas, research features, write code and tell the product’s story, for Rolio and for the internal tools we run our own work with. Our experience shapes the direction: what to build, which approach to take and whether the result is good enough. We test, challenge and refine the output, and take responsibility for what we deliver and support.

Siti guides little Royo with an interface sketch while Royo builds Rolio at a keyboard, with AI-generated code and a hiring interface on screen

Build more, in less time and at lower cost.

In our work, AI has dramatically shortened the path from an idea to working software. It lets us build and revise features at a fraction of the time and cost of doing that implementation by hand. The gain depends on the task, but it changes how much we can explore, test and improve.

We made the candidate workspace, the job board and the hiring report this way: each began as a clickable prototype our recruiters tried in a usability session, was reworked from what we saw, and was integrated only once it held up in use.

Code can move faster than a team’s calendar. People still need time to try a feature, discuss what they experienced and make decisions together. We keep that human feedback in the loop, using faster implementation to bring better options to each conversation.

From a problem to a feature people have tried.

The whole team works together throughout the cycle. AI helps us move quickly between defining a problem, trying an interface and integrating what we learn.

AI accelerates the development loop Four stages around a circle: define the problem, build a clickable frontend prototype in real code, run usability tests, then refine and integrate into the product and backend. Arrows with lightning marks, coloured by the stage they leave, represent AI accelerating the transitions. People guide the work and judge the results. FROM PROBLEM TO PRODUCT AI AI AI AI 01 / TOGETHERProblem definitionUnderstand the need. 02 / QUICK FRONTENDClickable prototypeReal code. Real interactions. 03 / OBSERVEUsability testingLearn from live feedback. 04 / PRODUCT + BACKENDRefine & integrateImprove, connect and deliver. A faster loop. AI helps us movebetween each step. New needs start the next round. People guide every step.
Define, prototype, test, integrate. Then repeat as new needs emerge.
  1. Define the problem. We start from what someone needs to do and what gets in their way.
  2. Build a quick frontend prototype. We test the small interactions in real code, before any backend exists.
  3. Test with people. Learn as a team. The whole team watches where people hesitate, so everyone sees what needs to improve.
  4. Refine and integrate. Only what holds up in use goes into the product and backend.

Exposure hours build shared empathy.

The whole team watches people use the product. These exposure hours, researched by Jared Spool, build empathy and give everyone a shared basis for decisions.

With Rolio, weekly usability sessions led to an improved prototype the following week. Feedback shaped details such as salary checks, readable numbers and keeping important candidate notes easy to find.

A bald, bearded teammate in a lavender shirt tests a prototype with a mouse while Siti stands beside him observing

Our aim: the Most Delightful Product.

For us, an MVP—a minimum viable product—is no longer the right ambition. We aim for an MDP: a Most Delightful Product. Something people want to work with, that makes their day easier and feels natural to use.

Delight lives in the details: a clear next step, an interaction that behaves as expected, important information exactly where someone needs it. People should be able to focus on their work without having to figure out the interface.

AI gives us room to reach that quality sooner by making it faster to build, test and revise.

Build something with Cofounderie.

Rolio shows what we can build. Through Cofounderie, we can also help you create a product or explore how AI could improve the way your organization works.

We bring the taste to shape an experience people want to use, and the professional judgment to test the output, challenge it and carry it through to a working product. We take responsibility from the first idea through delivery and support. We’re open to different ways of working together where the arrangement makes sense for both sides.

Talk to Cofounderie

MORE ABOUT ROLIO

Go a little deeper.

Short guides to what Rolio does, and how we built it.