If he can do it, so can I
Last summer I heard eBay CEO Jamie Iannone talk about building an app himself over a weekend, in a couple of hours, using AI.
My first reaction was the same as most people's: he has the resources of a public company behind him. My second reaction was more useful. If the CEO of eBay can sit down and build something with AI, the CEO of a company that builds tools for eBay sellers has no excuse not to try.
So I did. Using Claude, I took a new Auctiva app from first prototype to live on Google Play in eight days. The iOS version is in public beta now, with the App Store release coming soon.
What I built
Auctiva had a mobile app before. Over the years it aged, and it was eventually no longer available in the app stores. Updating that old code would have been slow, so I chose to rebuild the app from scratch. With Claude, starting fresh turned out to be the faster path, and it let me add photo editing tools the old app never had. They arrive in version 1.1.
The new Auctiva app runs on both Android and iOS from a single codebase, built with Expo and kept in Git like the rest of our software.
The app is built for the part of selling that happens away from the desk: product photos.
- Photos straight to Auctiva image hosting. Take or pick photos and they upload in the background, with progress, retry and a Wi-Fi only option.
- Edit on the phone. Crop, rotate, and adjust brightness and color, then replace the original or save a new copy. Version 1.1 adds one-tap background removal (your item on white, square and centered), auto enhance, a photo quality check and batch editing.
- Organize. Folders, search, sort, list or grid view, rename and move, plus a link to manage folders on Auctiva.com.
I am not a mobile developer. I described what I wanted in plain English, Claude wrote and explained the code, and I tested every change myself before it moved forward.
Eight days, start to finish
It took eight days to go from a prototype to an app live on Google Play.
| Stage |
Dates |
Time |
| Prototype and design, using demo data and Auctiva.com styling |
Oct 18 to 21 |
4 days |
| First real builds, internal testing on iPhone and Android, fixes, store listings |
Oct 22 |
1 day |
| Public beta review and launch (Android open testing live Oct 23, Apple beta approved soon after) |
Oct 22 to 23 |
1 to 2 days |
| Public beta testing and fixes, pushed as over-the-air updates |
Oct 23 to 26 |
3 days |
| Production: live on Google Play, submitted to the App Store |
Oct 26 |
Same day |
Version 1.1, with the new photo tools, was built in parallel, mostly on Oct 22, and went to public beta review on Oct 26.
The part that surprised me was not how fast the code got written. It was how little time I spent waiting. When something failed, I pasted the error, asked why, and usually had a working fix in minutes. Bugs our beta testers found in the morning were often fixed on their phones by the afternoon.
What I learned
- AI shortens the build. It does not skip the testing. The code came fast. Making sure it worked for real sellers on real phones still took half the time.
- Knowing the business matters more than knowing the syntax. I have spent years with Auctiva sellers. That knowledge decided what to build; Claude handled how.
- Good advice still matters. Our development team gave me guidance along the way, and our beta testers found problems I never would have. AI made me faster. It did not replace the people around me.
- App store review is its own project. Apple and Google each have their own requirements and timelines, and planning for them early saved time at the end.
What this means for Auctiva sellers
This project was about more than an app. It showed me how much faster we can now respond to what sellers ask for. Ideas that used to sit in a backlog for months can be built, tested and in your hands in days.
The Auctiva app is available now on Android:
What should we build next?
Now we want to hear from you. Take our 30-second survey and tell us which of these you want in the app next:
- Order management: view and manage orders from your phone
- Product management: edit listings, prices and quantities on the go
- Photo to product with AI: take a photo and let AI draft the product listing
- Shipping labels: print a label right from your phone
- Store dashboard: a quick view of how your store is doing today
- Something else: tell us what would save you the most time
If I can build an app in eight days, we can get your ideas into your hands quickly.
Richard Starr is CEO of Starr Holding Company, which manages a portfolio of ecommerce and SaaS platforms including Auctiva. He brings nearly two decades of marketplace and retail technology experience, having overseen more than $500 million in eBay sales and developed ecommerce strategies for brands including Toys“R”Us, Sony and Calvin Klein. His work focuses on multichannel commerce, marketplace operations and building tools that help online sellers grow.
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