Executive Technology & AI Advisor
Clear on AI. Trusted with everything else.
I help founders and leadership teams make confident AI decisions, and hold the sensitive conversations that come with them. When it matters, and when it needs to stay private, I'm the person you bring it to.
John Dang · Manchester, UK
I work by introduction.
The work I do only works when there's real trust, and trust takes time to build. So I keep things small, and take on a handful of people at a time, almost always through someone we both know.
Time is the one thing none of us get back. Mine and yours. So I'm honest early about whether we're a good fit. If we're not, I'll say so, and point you to someone better. If we are, you get someone genuinely in your corner, not one account among forty.
That's how most of my clients find me, and how I find them.
I currently work with the team at RenderSafe, a UK defence company that trains EOD and special forces operators for high-consequence environments.
I name one client here, because they've said I can. Everyone else stays private. That's rather the point.
Philosophy
Models aren't the hard part anymore.
Everyone has access to powerful AI now. The technology is no longer the advantage.
The advantage is knowing what's worth building, what isn't, and how it strengthens what you already do well.
Good AI doesn't replace your thinking. It helps you make better use of your judgement, your knowledge and your time.
Most organisations don't have an AI problem. They have a clarity problem.
And clarity usually starts with a conversation you can be completely honest in.
How I work
A simple three-step way of working
Think Clearly
Before anyone builds anything, we work out what already makes you successful, what's holding you back, and where AI could make the biggest difference. Most of the value is decided here.
Design the Right Solution
The right solution for your organisation, your information and your constraints. Not the most impressive one. The most useful one.
Build What Matters
Working systems that earn their place. Systems that save time, sharpen decisions, and leave your team more capable than before.
Selected work
I advise. I also build.
LivePrivate AI · Defence Technology · Knowledge Systems
RenderSafe trains EOD and special forces operators for high-consequence environments. Its core team carries a great deal of commercially sensitive knowledge across capability development, research, finance and client work, none of which could go anywhere near public AI tools.
I designed and deployed a private AI knowledge system inside their own environment. One secure place to store, search and work with everything they know, used for research, reporting, presentations, document retrieval and client communications.
Within the first month, more than fifty key documents were indexed and the whole core team was using it daily. It's built to save hundreds of hours as they grow, with their intellectual property staying entirely under their own control.
Services
Three ways I work with organisations
Most engagements begin with a focused review of where AI could create real value, what needs to stay private, and what's worth building first.
AI Strategy & Advisory
I help leadership teams decide where AI fits and where it doesn't. Together we find the real opportunities, challenge the assumptions, and turn ideas into a practical plan.
Private AI & Solution Architecture
I design secure AI systems around your information, your workflows and your constraints. Private and local AI, knowledge systems, secure document search, and AI built around the way you already work.
AI Delivery
I build working AI systems, document them clearly, and help your team make them part of everyday work. The goal isn't dependency. It's to leave you with a useful system and the confidence to run it yourselves.
Some conversations can't happen anywhere else.
The most useful ones rarely can.
Whatever we discuss stays between us. I'm used to holding sensitive situations, difficult decisions and things you're not ready to say out loud yet. That's not a policy. It's how I work.
About
Different chapters. The same purpose.
I've spent my career doing work I love: building and advising businesses, music, and martial arts. Those worlds look unrelated. To me they share one foundation: earning people's trust, and leaving them more capable than before.
Executive Technology & AI Advisor
Today I advise founders and leadership teams on AI and the high-stakes decisions around it. I help people see what actually matters, make confident calls, and build private AI systems they genuinely trust and use. My work with RenderSafe is one example. Most of it stays private.
Founder Advisor
I've advised founders and leadership teams across AI, Web3 and emerging technology. My role is usually to be a calm sounding board, simplify the hard decisions, and turn ambitious ideas into practical action. Often I become the person they call first, whatever the question.
Songwriter
My songs have accumulated over two billion streams worldwide. Music taught me that clarity creates connection. The strongest ideas are the ones people understand and feel immediately.
Founder & Martial Arts Coach
I grew up in martial arts, taught my first class at eighteen, and founded Union Academy. Martial arts taught me that leverage beats force. A small shift in understanding can change what someone believes they're capable of.
Based in Manchester. Working closely with a small number of people, locally and beyond.
If the stakes are high and the answer isn't obvious, let's talk.
No pitch, no deck. Tell me what you're working on, what makes it special, and where you think technology could help. I'll tell you honestly whether I think I can add value.