One hour, one-to-one, with a former CIO. You bring a real problem from your own life, you're on the keyboard, and by the end you've built a working app and put it live on the internet. Not a demo you watched. A thing you made.
Most senior leaders know AI as a chatbot. You ask, it answers, you move on. After a few months it feels like you've seen what the technology is.
You haven't. The other way to use it is to describe a small tool you want, watch it get built, and put it live. That's the sandbox. Most senior leaders never try it, because building looks like something for developers. It isn't, and finding that out first-hand changes how you see the technology.
A one-to-one, hands-on AI session for senior leaders. No code, no jargon, no slides.
Something small and real from your own life. Not a work case study, not a strategy question. The pettier the annoyance, the better it works.
You drive, I coach the prompts. No code, no jargon, nobody watching over your shoulder from IT.
It goes on the internet, on a real URL, before the hour's out. You leave with the thing, not the idea of the thing.
Everyone assumes the way in is a work problem — a real business case, something that matters. It's the opposite. Work problems come with stakes, compliance, politics, and the quiet fear of looking out of touch in front of people who report to you.
A personal problem has none of that. No one's watching, nothing's riding on it, and the penny drops in a way no work example manages. You feel what the tool can do with your own hands, on something you actually care about. Then you walk out and see your whole business differently. That's the trick, and it works every time.
The app you build in the hour is deliberately small. The shift isn't. What changes is how you get things done, and what you think is possible in the first place. And because you've built the simplest version yourself, you can judge the bigger ones from something you've made, not something you've been told.
Tried it once. Hasn't been back.
Questions in, answers out.
Thinks with it. Argues with it.
Makes tools that keep working.
Wires it into team and systems.
Sets how the whole business uses it.
The same thing happens in session after session with senior leaders: give someone an hour, their own problem, and a guiding hand, and it lands in a way no amount of reading or webinars gets near. People don't want another briefing — they want a room where no question is too basic and they can put their hands on the thing.
Senior leaders across every function, not just technology — CEOs, CFOs, MDs, founders. Anyone who wants to be genuinely fluent with AI, not merely briefed.
I'm Jawaz Illavia, a former CIO and CDO (Carlsberg, Reckitt, Walgreens Boots Alliance) who got fluent with AI by building things, badly at first. This is the hour I wish someone had handed me: you bring a real problem, you're on the keyboard, and you leave having built something that works — alongside a peer who's been in your chair.
Absolutely loved the hour with Jawaz to create what essentially helps me plan my daily commute on the train. His approach encouraged curiosity, encouraged strong prompting, and taught me the tools that have been right at my fingertips!
My hour with Jawaz was nothing short of brilliant. In just 30 minutes, he helped me transform my ideas on paper into a functional website.
Recently did this with Jawaz and it was fantastic. Given me loads of ideas.
We're inviting a small founding group to the sessions, a few at a time. No fee — what you give back instead is your feedback, a testimonial, and helping spread the word.
Sessions run one at a time, so places open in small waves. Tell us a little about you and the everyday annoyance you'd love to fix — we'll be in touch when a slot opens.
Over time, people who've built something join occasional group sessions — sharing what they've made, asking anything, learning from each other. A small, candid room of peers, not an audience.