Aaron Vidas

Safe AI for more customers, profits + time

I’m an AI + ML entrepreneur who’s spent 15+ years founding and scaling 4 big data, strategy, and AI companies; including a VC-backed global data platform. In 2024 my Life split in two: one week I was marathon training; the next I was told “Prepare not to see the end of the month” because of a brain tumour.

What followed was a chain of miracles, a full recovery and level of clarity that changed how I lead.

Today, I helm DASS Services, the world’s fastest-growing AI consultancy. And DASS Group an AI-enabled holding company acquiring extraordinary businesses across the world.

I build companies that create outsized impact, and a lot of joy, along the way.

HOW I HELP

I work with luxury travel groups, building-supply companies, wellness brands, and professional service firms generating $5M–$2B+ in annual revenue to:

• Unlock their first “AI Win” in 90 days so they build belief in AI's actual capabilities 
• Help Founders, Boards, and CxO’s deploy capital, hire, lead, and succeed in the AI Age
• Build enduring companies whose value grows exponentially as ai-enabled systems take over
• Acquire exceptional businesses and elevate them through AI, process intelligence and elevated consciousness

If you want clarity, speed, and ROI in this new era, happy to talk.

WHAT I SHARE HERE

• The AI playbooks behind our average 787% ROI in 1–8 months on AI projects
• What’s real vs. hype in the AI Age
• How-to lead confidently while the world shifts beneath our feet
• How-to build extraordinary companies while staying vibrantly, fiercely alive through the highs and lows of Life

YOUR NEXT STEPS

Want your first AI Win in the next 90 days?

Grab the 90-Day AI Win Playbooks for your industry below and see how companies are unlocking profit, time, and joy through AI-enabled systems.

Then take a visit to dass-services.com 

Want an AI Workshop for your Board or C-suite?
Want me to speak at your event?
Want to explore a partnership or acquisition?

Visit aaronvidas.com

Founder

I'm a non-technical CEO. I just accidentally shipped a whole SaaS app in six hours.

I don't code, but my frustrated friend needed help tracking job openings at companies he cared about so he can apply. "I just want an email of the job description when they post something." 

The team at DASS Services NA told me to revisit Loveable as it's come along way (six months ago I had tried building with and hit rate limits and got frustrated). 

I booted up Loveable to see what I could do and built a working job monitoring app in six hours.

It tracks company job boards. Has roles based controls and a dynamic parser. Emails you when they post roles matching your criteria.

The obstacles were real: tight security requirements, my enterprise expectations for UX/UI, pushing to see what Loveable actually can't do.

What surprised me: just me talking to AI and watching it build in real time. It was super fun. 

Ideas to working product in real time with enterprise-grade security and controls (if you prompt it well). 

If you're hunting for a job at a company you love sign up at: 

https://lnkd.in/gagsYD3W

(Limited to 75 users to keep costs low)

The lesson? Six months ago, $10K's of people's time and overhead to build a simple app. Today, six hours for a non-technical CEO.

The tools evolved past the frustrating phase.

If you've been waiting to experiment, stop waiting and build what you want.

#ai #startup #saas #jobsearch #yvrjobs #singaporejobs

Thank you Mark Carney for saying the quiet part loud at World Economic Forum today.

The ways things have “always” been – from how countries talk to each other to our relationship to work – for the past ~80 years is going away.

That’s not a bad thing, because acknowledgement is the first step in any real growth.

As Prime Minister Carney points out any system's power comes “not from truth, but continues from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source: when even one person stops performing…the illusion begins to crack.”

For example, in the Communist countries shopkeepers were required to put a “Workers of the World Unite” sign in their window. Even though neither the customer, nor shopkeeper, believed in the sign. The system stopped, and something better came along, when people stopped performing and putting up their signs.

The same goes for the time we find ourselves in. We choose to cling to performances and permitting institutions (and their leaders) to act in ways we know aren’t right. Thinking it will allow us to ‘keep on, keeping on.’

What we forget is at no other time in history have individuals had so much power. There’s more ways to learn, make money, communicate and travel than ever before. Since 1980 the world’s population has roughly doubled and poverty has gone down 80%.

That’s only upleveled now with generative AI were people who can’t code now have the ability to create products , companies and communities just by talking to their computers. Last week I made software that cost me ~$160K previously in 6 hours for $120 (and I don’t code).

That changes the calculus that leaders – in finance to government raised before the internet, smartphone existed – haven’t cottoned onto.

We can address situations of complexity, with speed and accuracy, for pennies in resources we couldn’t even 3 years ago. 

In business imagine products customizing to what an individual customer finds valuable so there's sustainable pricing power. Highly compensated people only doing what they’re naturally gifted at because AI is taking care of the 'boring and tedious.' Not sitting pretending to work on some spreadsheet because the boss is still there. Government Leaders able to ask ‘what-if’ questions about resource allocation of B’s and receive grounded answers in seconds so institutions can serve their communities incredibly well.  

That’s not just efficiency gains, that’s an entirely more vibrant way of living for all of us. However, it does mean we’ll have to act differently. Growing and holding entirely different behaviours and values as important.

And that all starts with acknowledging the performances, the antics, we're watching today don’t actually resonate anymore.

#leadership #ai #WEF

I take sales calls from creek beds so I can maximize flow, not valuation or profit, for DASS Services NA. 

In building 1K’s of ai-enabled workflows over the past year one thing has become clear to me: the best results come from completely re-doing how “the work” is done. Time, speed to reach desired outcomes relative to investment have collapsed with ai-enabled workflows. 

But ‘seeing’ how that can happen only occurs when your body, and brain, are in the right state of flow. When your ‘fight or flight’ response has shut off and you’re open to playing with new ideas. You don’t get there hunched over a screen. 

You get there being in nature, resting and exposing yourself to
new music, art and information. Literally moving differently, trying new dance moves, foods and neighbourhoods. 

Then the solutions come ‘out of the blue’ because the body and brain are relaxed, putting things together in the background. 

So we’ve built systems, and processes, to ensure the whole team can get outside, get exploring and get exposed to new stimuli. While still capturing the ideas and solutions that come to them (@wisprflow is a great place to start).  

If you’re running an AI Team, or are a CEO, get your AI people out the door and into the quiet. Challenge them to seek out new movies, music and places. I can guarantee they’ll come back with solutions of using AI in your business that’ll be really original, really resonate and really work. 

#ai #leadership #privateequity

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Forward deployed engineers: are you watching your projects get shelved by fear-based boards?

Better AI roles exist. You're just not seeing them.

My frustrated friend is stuck at a company where the CxO's, and Board, don't get AI. He said: "I just want an email when a role I'm a fit for at a company I love is posted."

So I accidentally built him a job monitoring app, now I'm giving it to you.

Here's the pain he was facing (maybe you are too):

You're building cutting-edge AI implementations. Then watching them get stalled by C-suites that don't understand you're on the edge of something entirely new.

Meanwhile, there's a company down the street that actually experiments. That's willing to try things that might fail but also might work really well. Where your skills would matter.

You just don't know they posted till it's too late.

Demand for your skills grows by the day. There's no reason to stay where you are.

The app tracks companies you care about. Emails you when they post matching roles.

No more manual checking. No more missed opportunities.

Stop missing opportunities at companies that get it. It's free.

Sign up today: https://lnkd.in/gagsYD3W

#aijobs #forwarddeployedengineer #ai #machinelearning #yvrjobs #singaporejobs

AI project managers: are you plateauing at your current company? Better AI roles exist. You're just not seeing them.

My frustrated friend is stuck at a company that doesn't get it. He said: "I just want an email of a role I'm a fit for at a company I love is posted."

So I accidentally built him a job monitoring app, now I'm giving it to you.

Here's the pain he was facing (maybe you are too):

Your wasting your governance frameworks, and translation skills, teaching basics on repeat while your growth plateaus where you are.

Meanwhile, there's a company down the street that you know 'gets' AI. Where you could advance to Director in 12-24 months. Where your talent would actually matter.

You just don't know they posted a job till it's too late.

The app tracks companies you care about. Emails you when they post matching roles.

No more manual checking. No more missed opportunities.

Stop missing opportunities at companies that get it. It's free. 

Sign up today: https://lnkd.in/gagsYD3W

#yvrjobs #aijobs #singapore #ai #venturecapital #privateequity #singaporejobs

Between interviews for new hires at DASS Services NA I came upon this book. Unfortunately the author misunderstands how AI, as a technology, functionally works. Influencing his conclusions about how it relates to our experience of the world and what it can do for humanity. 

Really, it’s the greatest augmentor, or lever, we’ve ever had to amplify creativity, joy and economic sovereignty for everyone. The trick is first choosing to see the world as working for You, not against you. 

If you have questions on if AI can ‘think’ and have consciousness; or how ‘superintelligence’ sits beside us to help, versus hinder us shoot me a comment. 

#ai #vc #leadership #higherconsciousness

We’re already preparing for a time where scarcity is not the dominate ‘way of thinking’ people perceive the world. 

Check out this very, very cool job at Google exploring the economics, and structures, of a world where computers are handing the boring and tedious of so much of our current lives so we can focus on the higher value stuff. 

This one is for my #LSE, #Stanford and #Columbia econ baddies. 

Chicago supply-side people, stay out of this one. ;)

#aijobs #ai #leadership

Venture Partnerships at Google | Angel Investor

Google is hiring a Chief AGI Economist 💫

It's time to prepare for a world with abundant intelligence. 

Here's the job description:

--
As a Chief AGI Economist at Google DeepMind (GDM), you will be at the forefront of understanding the profound economic transformations that will accompany the arrival of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). 

You will lead a new area of research, exploring post-AGI economics, the future of scarcity, and the distribution of power and resources in a world fundamentally reshaped by advanced AI. 
--

Interested?

Here's the link to apply: https://lnkd.in/dSN8QZg4

Co-Founder & CEO @ Ruley, the E-Referee | Start Up Business Expert | Entrepreneur

After 25 years building successful companies I found myself at a crossroads. I had built companies that helped people and families. I was proud of that legacy, I knew it was time for a new chapter.

In my early 50s, I sold my third company just a year behind schedule from a personal goal I set at 34. 

During COVID, I had the space to explore ideas that truly energized me. I enrolled in a six-month coding bootcamp to learn Python and deepen my understanding of the technologies shaping our future.

Now I’m the Co-Founder of Ruley, an AI powered smart sports E-Referee API  designed to help federations, sports media and consumer brands gain fans, players and spectators by being the go to venues for sports rules and insights.

My personal mission is to fuse decades of my experience and strategic thinking with modern tech to bring people together through playing sports and watching sports.  By working with these existing sports entities we can grow sports and all the good that comes with them.

At the heart of my work is this belief: we all deserve unbiased, instant information, and we all deserve to enjoy life like we did as kids. 

These ideas aren’t mutually exclusive. With the right tools, we can help provide knowledge in unique ways and inject more joy into everyday life.

Explore Ruley and our API rollout (and more) for sports:
🌐 ruley.ai

📸 Instagram: @ruley_ereferee
🎥 YouTube: @ruleythee-referee
📘 Facebook: @ruleytheereferee

🎾 Just Ruley it!

Cassandra Toroian

First time at the #PGAShow, and yes—I'm sure Tracy Thomas and I will be in the small minority of women attendees as is standard practice at most conferences we attend.

As an introverted entrepreneur, I’m embracing the challenge and bringing my best extrovert game face.

I'm excited because it will be an opportunity to interact with many other #golftech entrepreneurs and golf consumer brands and network for #ruley.

For the Volleybird Athletic Lifestyle team it will be an opportunity to meet and network with racquet sports brands and #hospitality companies that focus on #tennis and #padel who care about being eco-friendly and more #sustainable. 

So...it would really help me out if some of these folks would hit me up before we get there - because I am eager to meet up in person! Assuming you will be attending Teemu Ruuska Kira Peterson Jolyn de Boer Evan Roosevelt Tyler Trout or any other folks that are part of the #profluence community involved in the golf industry!

Please reach out via DM so we can plan a couple of minutes! 😊

Most tennis clubs underestimate how expensive “cheap” tennis balls really are.


The cost isn’t just on the invoice. 

It’s in their reputational cost by not being a leader in the tennis business.

It’s in the the cost to the air their players breathe when out on the court.

It’s the cost of the chemical waste from all those balls going into the landfills.

I’ve spent years as part of sports
organizations, and one business element is
clear. Unfortunately.

Sustainability conversations
stall the moment the cost shows up.

Everyone assumes the environmentally
responsible option must be more expensive.

After all, if all else is equal, we are trained to think sustainable products are always more expensive.

Renewaball | B Corp certified  saw this.

And the decided to make the BEST #tennis and #padel balls available.

That meant the ball had to meet a list of criteria - including wears better, lasts longer, and approved by international federations like International Tennis Federation and International Padel Federation. 

And, by the way,  that also meant making the ball a circular 100% recycled ball.

Now we’re their exclusive U.S. partner!
 
The organizations that win long-term
are the ones willing to question
what “cost” really means.

What “best” really means.

The rest keep throwing balls
away and calling it normal.

If your #tennis or #padel club
or academy, or #luxuryresort wants to be one of the first in the U.S. to be part of the next phase of tennis and padel sustainability, you need to get in touch with Volleybird Athletic Lifestyle the exclusive U.S. distributors for Renewaball.

Supplies are limited.

You’ll need to show your organization is truly concerned with sustainability.

I’ll point you to the right people.


#sports #sustainability #countryclubs #racquetsports #environment #tennis #padel #recycling

Continuing my outbound networking for the #pgashow next week.

I’m excited to be there with Todd Grasley helping us with outreach and networking- not just for #golf and #golftech but with #tennis #padel and #pickleball

We hear this is the biggest B2B event for those sports too! 

I’m excited to hopefully finally meet some folks from racquet clubs and facilities who may be there? Like Marcos Del Pilar - 𝗣𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟 𝗨𝗦𝗔  Padel Haus PadelBizNetwork Val Goncalves Jr, MBA, RSPA, CDORS, DCA Philippe Azar Carlos Beltran Carlos R. Gonzalez just to name a few.

If any of you are going to be there please DM me I’d love to meet you in person.

And if you’re going for #racquetclub sports and looking to meet new people please DM me as well!

Want to get a different perspective on life in the 21st century and how much technology has changed society?

Inadvertently Tracy Thomas  and I stumbled upon a way to do this and it was easy and truly eye opening.

As GenX we lived before cell phones, apps, wifi, internet, and heck, even before the microwave.

But we forgot what life was like.

So now it’s easy to go back in time.

We chose to travel back through re-watching all 8 years of the series called Melrose Place. A drama/soap opera type show in the mid 1990s.

Here’s what watching it made me realize:
▶️ Life was less complicated without all the technology 
▶️ People interacted in more human ways face to face much more often as a result 
▶️ Clothing styles really have not changed much 
▶️ People used answer machines and called people back when convenient 
▶️ Nights and weekends were actually enjoyed and considered downtime 

Bottom line - life was simpler with less technology.  

Life was lived with more life.

We can’t go back to that, it will never happen.

Particularly now with AI.

But, watching these sorts of tv programs is a good reminder the sacrifices in society we have made by embracing technology.

My hope, and what I strive for, is to harness the good part of AI and technology into a true instrument to bring back more humanity.

More human to human interaction. 

More human joy and happiness.

Not use technology as a means to create a more sterile world. 

There are ways to do this. 

We are doing it with Ruley. That’s our small part.  

Harness sports and technology to create more meaningful human interactions again.

What are you working on that tries to do that? I’m curious.

Share below if you’re willing 💥💥

This is a good little list of “red flags” that can help make the decision to pull the trigger.

My hiring litmus test is easy. 

I ask myself one question.

▶️Does this person clearly know more than I do on the subject matter of the core function of why they are being hired.

So on the backend of that, little things may start to show that are on this list.

But the thing is before pulling the trigger on a disengagement with an employee there’s a second question to answer AFTER observing what’s on this list.

That question is also a simple one:

▶️Is it a fixable behavior? 

After all, shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to step up?

I think really then it becomes a much clearer ending conversation if there’s no improvement.

These functions of being a manager are never easy.

Never pleasant.

But extremely vital to maintain a culture of excellence, respect for the company, and of course, each other.

#SaaS #startups #management #decisionmaking

Open article: Dear SaaStr: What Are Signs It's Finally Time to Move on From An Employee? by SaaStr.ai • 2 min read

Dear SaaStr: What Are Signs It's Finally Time to Move on From An Employee?

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