01 · Automation
AI Systems & Automation →
Hand the repetitive work — answering, sorting, following up — to AI assistants your team can trust. People stay on what actually needs them.
Spend less time running your business by hand.
I'm John Soriano, a technical founder. I help SME owners replace manual work and disconnected tools with AI and software systems their teams actually use.
~10yrs
Designing and shipping software for startups and growing businesses.
4 regions
Worked with teams across the US, Europe, Australia, and the Philippines.
Founder
Of XataTech, a technology and AI enablement company.
Full stack
Engineering, product, AI, automation, and growth — under one roof.
What I work on
Connected capabilities, not a menu of disconnected services.
02 · Engineering
Product & Software Engineering →
The software you can't buy off the shelf — designed, built, and launched. From first idea to running in production.
03 · Growth
CRM & Growth Infrastructure →
Stop losing leads in the cracks. One pipeline that captures every inquiry, sorts the good ones, and follows up on its own.
04 · Strategy
Technical & Product Strategy →
A senior technical partner in your corner — to pressure-test big decisions, set direction, and keep the build on track.
Selected work
A few systems, explained by the problem they solved.
01
Ops assistant
AI & Automation · B2B services
An assistant that reads incoming requests, drafts replies, and routes each one to the right person.
−63%
response time
02
CRM & lead engine
Growth Infrastructure · SME
Website, ads, and inbound calls funneled into one pipeline that qualifies leads automatically.
2.4×
qualified leads
03
Vertical SaaS platform
Product & Engineering · Startup
A founder's spreadsheet workflow rebuilt as a real product — built and launched.
0→1
to production
04
Internal knowledge system
AI & Automation · Enterprise
Scattered docs and tools turned into one place the whole team can search.
1 source
of truth
Some work is confidential. Anonymized case studies are available on request.
How I think
Before I build anything, I find out if it's even worth it.
Most AI and automation projects fail because no one checked whether the business was ready. So that's where I start — an honest look at where AI would actually pay off for you, and where it wouldn't.
01
Find the repetitive work
The hours quietly going to manual, repeatable tasks.
02
Check the foundations
Whether your data and tools are ready to build on.
03
Pressure-test the payoff
Whether the time saved is worth the cost to build.
04
Build only what earns it
Start with the one thing with the clearest return.
Founder & company
Founder-led, supported by a multidisciplinary team.
The person
John Soriano
Strategy · Architecture · Product direction
I lead the thinking — technical direction, product, and how the pieces fit together. You work directly with the person who designs and builds your system, not an account manager.
- technical strategy
- architecture
- product
- implementation
The company
XataTech
Delivery across disciplines
For bigger builds, XataTech brings the wider team — engineering, design, marketing, accounting, and operations under one roof.
- engineering
- design
- marketing
- accounting
- operations
Blog
Field notes on making AI and software actually work.
Courses
Learn the systems, not the hype.
Paid Workshop
Building Agentic Workflows
Design and ship AI agents that do real operational work — with the right tools, guardrails, and a human in the loop.
$149 View course ↗
Free 6 lessons
Practical AI for Operators
Where AI actually helps in a business — and where it doesn't.
Self-paced Start free ↗
Free 5 lessons
Wiring CRM & Growth
Turn scattered acquisition into one workflow your team can run.
Self-paced Start free ↗
Free 4 lessons
AI-Assisted Engineering Basics
Build faster with AI without shipping code you can't maintain.
Self-paced Start free ↗
Ventures & products
Companies and products I'm actively building.
XataTech
ActiveTechnology and AI enablement for businesses that need a real implementation partner.
DoctrineCRM
BuildingTurns a team's scattered documents and decisions into a system they can query.
Dentrace
BuildingVertical software for clinics — patient operations, scheduling, and follow-up.
About
An engineer who kept following the problem.
I started by writing software. Over ten years and a lot of projects, I kept noticing the same thing: the hardest problems were rarely just technical — they were about connecting the pieces.
So I followed that problem into product, AI, and the growth side of the businesses I built for. I started XataTech to do that work at scale — and I care about AI being adopted well in the Philippines: practically, not as hype.
Let's talk
What's slowing your business down?
Tell me what you're trying to fix, automate, or launch. I'll help you figure out the right system — or whether you even need one — before anyone talks about building.