Building SaaS Faster in 2026 with Vinay Rao
January 27, 2026
Building zero-to-one looks very different from what it did even a year ago. In this episode of SaaS That App - Building Tech-Enabled Businesses, Vinay Rao, Co-Founder and CTO of Elvin, joins Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards to share insights on how to leverage AI tools to accelerate zero-to-one product development.
This podcast is brought to you by Delta Systems, your one-stop shop for front-end, back-end, and full-stack software development. At Delta, Justin and Aaron share the same philosophy when it comes to clients: they treat people like colleagues, not just customers.
Building zero-to-one looks very different from what it did even a year ago. In this episode of SaaS That App - Building Tech-Enabled Businesses, Vinay Rao, Co-Founder and CTO of Elvin, joins Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards to share insights on how to leverage AI tools to accelerate zero-to-one product development.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to compress your development cycle from weeks to hours using AI pair programming
- Why rich context in prompts matters more than perfect prompt engineering
- The hidden cost of saving pennies on API calls when you have funding
- How to build AI agents that don't require users to become prompt engineers
- Why privacy and security must be baked into AI product design from day one
Vinay Rao is the Co-Founder and CTO of Elvin, an AI-powered super app designed to reduce mental noise by creating calmer, more intuitive user experiences. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vinay has built his career around tackling complex infrastructure problems and turning them into products that feel simple on the surface but are powerful underneath.
This podcast is brought to you by Delta Systems, your one-stop shop for front-end, back-end, and full-stack software development. At Delta, Justin and Aaron share the same philosophy when it comes to clients: they treat people like colleagues, not just customers. Maybe that’s why Delta typically spends years working with the same companies: how many software engineering firms can you say that about? So, if you’ve got a big SaaS project in mind but have no idea where to start, come and get a free scope and estimate from Delta Systems on their website.
Got a burning idea for an episode, or a SaaS question you absolutely must know the answer to? Leave us a voice memo at SaasThatApp
Highlights:
- [00:00] Introduction
- [02:20] Vinay’s Technical Background
- [04:50] AI Tools Used in Early-Stage Development
- [06:48] Comparing Claude, Gemini, and Other Models
- [10:02] Using AI as a Development Assistant
- [12:21] Practical Approaches to Prompting
- [15:34] Elvin’s Product Philosophy
- [19:10] Integrations and Task Prioritization
- [25:50] Privacy and Security Considerations
- [29:12] Risks of Automation and Prompt Injection
- [32:49] Elvin Launch Strategy
- [37:17] Experimental Features and Side Projects
Episode Resources:
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