# Rok Benko **AI engineer & solopreneur** · Murska Sobota, Slovenia Startups: 7 failed, #8 in progress... ## About I’m a self-taught software developer and AI engineer from Slovenia. I wrote my first line of HTML in 2017 in a high school class. I loved building for the web right away. I got a master’s degree in economics, but I kept coding every day. In December 2022, I made my first API call to OpenAI’s GPT-3. That one API call changed my whole career. From 2022 to 2024, I spent my days on Stack Overflow, helping developers use the OpenAI API. I became the #1 OpenAI API contributor on Stack Overflow. Hundreds of answers. Thousands of reputation points. Millions of developers reached. In 2025, after applying for ~500 jobs over 12 months, I started working for myself as a solopreneur. Now I build AI-powered products in public, sharing the wins and the losses on my social media. **Milestones:** - **2017**: First line of HTML written - **Dec 2022**: First OpenAI API call made - **Nov 2023**: First YouTube video uploaded - **Apr 2025**: First $1 earned online - **Jul 2025**: First $3,000 custom app sold ## Experience ### AI engineer — Andiron AI *Virginia, USA · Nov 2025 - Feb 2026* Built CrewAI automation pipelines that improved Amazon product listings at an e-commerce AI startup. - Designed multi-agent CrewAI pipelines for product copy generation and optimization - Built FastAPI backend with Redis and MongoDB - Generated HTML/DOCX reports from CrewAI aggregated content ### AI engineer — Stealth Startup *Delaware, USA · Jan 2025 - Mar 2025* Built an MVP with CrewAI that replaced weeks of manual work with a 3-hour automated process costing $20. - Designed and built the full MVP using CrewAI multi-agent framework - Reduced manual workflow from weeks to 3 hours - Brought cost down to $20 per run, replacing an expensive manual process ### Frontend developer — Positiva d.o.o. *Ljubljana, Slovenia · Mar 2022 - Dec 2023* Co-developed the Sava Hotels & Resorts booking platform and the award-winning Medex online store. - Worked on the Medex online store built on Magento 2 as part of a team - Collaborated on the Sava Hotels & Resorts booking platform - Team won multiple Slovenian digital awards **Awards:** - Netko 2024, 2nd place (Best online store) - WEBSI 2023, 3rd place (E-commerce) ### Software developer — Ilirika d.d. *Ljubljana, Slovenia · Nov 2021 - Mar 2022* Connected Bloomberg API for financial data, wrote Python automation scripts, and built a Node.js + PostgreSQL backend. - Connected Bloomberg API for real-time financial data - Built Python automation scripts for data processing - Developed Node.js backend with PostgreSQL database ## Projects ### Open Source #### [ai-playground](https://github.com/rokbenko/ai-playground) (★ 322 · ⑂ 84) Code for 26 YouTube tutorials covering OpenAI, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, and more. 681 commits of hands-on AI coding. *Tech: Python, Streamlit, JavaScript, Node.js, Next.js* #### [crew-news](https://github.com/rokbenko/crew-news) (★ 39 · ⑂ 7) AI news generator that gives balanced news by mixing sources from across the US political spectrum. Built for the LabLab hackathon. *Tech: CrewAI, Streamlit, Llama 3.1, Exa, Firecrawl* #### [arctic-meet](https://github.com/rokbenko/arctic-meet) (★ 3 · ⑂ 0) Streamlit app that uses Snowflake Arctic LLM to analyze meetings. It writes transcripts, makes summaries, pulls out agendas, finds who spoke, and translates. Built in 8 days for the Snowflake June 2024 hackathon. *Tech: Streamlit, Snowflake Cortex* #### [weaviate-lexplorer](https://github.com/rokbenko/weaviate-lexplorer) (★ 6 · ⑂ 1) Open-source search tool that finds insights in Lex Fridman's podcasts. Uses both keyword and vector search on transcripts, powered by Weaviate, Ollama, and Next.js. *Tech: Next.js, Weaviate, Ollama* ### Startups #### [RockAI](https://www.rokbenko.com/ai) · Active (April 2026) Increase business productivity by 3x with AI. #### [CROtomate](https://www.github.com/rokbenko/CROtomate) · Active (March 2026) Turn websites into self-improving conversion machines. #### SweatyOutreach · Dead (March 2026) Get 25x more deals than cold outreach. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### remotion.directory · Dead (February 2026) See the Internet's best Remotion examples with prompts. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### AniMiles · Dead (February 2026) Turn travel vlogging into animated visuals with templates. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### InfringeGuard · Dead (January 2026) Monitor the web 24/7 for IP infringements and get daily alerts. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### RevVer · Dead (December 2025) Verify startup revenue for VCs with <1-minute setup. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### r/KaChing · Dead (August 2025) Turn Reddit rants into startup ideas. *Revenue: $0 TLR* #### AutoLaunched · Dead (August 2025) Launch startup 1,000x faster. *Revenue: $300 TLR (100% refunded)* #### PodcastPrepper · Dead (March 2025) Cut podcast preparation effort by 95%+. *Revenue: $6 TLR* ## Community ### [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/users/10347145/rok-benko?tab=topactivity) *#1 OpenAI API contributor* - **People reached**: 2.5M+ - **Reputation points gained**: 23.8K+ - **Answers written**: 500+ ### [CrewAI](https://community.crewai.com/u/rokbenko) *Top 1% contributor* - **Answers written**: 281 - **Likes received**: 108 - **Solutions accepted**: 22 ### [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@rokbenko) - **Subscribers gained**: 2.8K+ - **Views received**: 128.4K+ - **Tutorials published**: 26 ## Tech Stack **Languages:** JavaScript, TypeScript, Python **Frontend:** Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Material UI, shadcn, Framer Motion **Backend:** Next.js, Node.js, FastAPI **Databases:** Supabase, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Milvus **AI / ML:** CrewAI, LangGraph, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Snowflake, Exa, Tavily **Vibecoding:** Claude Code **Infrastructure:** Windows, Visual Studio Code, Git, Vercel, Cloudflare ## Contact Got a project in mind? Reach out and let’s talk. - Email: [hi@rokbenko.com](mailto:hi@rokbenko.com) - GitHub: [github.com/rokbenko](https://github.com/rokbenko) - LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/rokbenko](https://linkedin.com/in/rokbenko) - X: [x.com/rokbenko](https://x.com/rokbenko) - YouTube: [youtube.com/@rokbenko](https://youtube.com/@rokbenko)