About Jason

The person behind Data Has Value

I’m Jason Varner.

I build financial models and help people make sense of how businesses work.

I’m the founder of SmartHelping. Data Has Value is where I explore the knowledge behind the numbers: business data, practical experience, and the workflows that connect them to AI.

B.S. Accounting Independent since 2015 Founder of SmartHelping

My background is in the business details.

I earned my B.S. in Accounting from Lake Erie College in 2011 and have worked independently since 2015. Through SmartHelping, I build financial models, create Excel and Google Sheets templates, and help people evaluate business plans and acquisition opportunities.

That work involves connecting revenue, costs, staffing, capacity, financing, and cash flow. The questions I keep coming back to are simple: What drives the numbers? Which assumptions matter? What would change the decision?

You can find more about my modeling work on SmartHelping’s About page.

Why I started Data Has Value.

A business develops more than financial results. It develops ways to solve problems, train people, handle exceptions, and make decisions. Some of that knowledge lives in spreadsheets and documentation. Some lives in the experience of the people doing the work.

I want to explore how that knowledge connects to AI, what makes business data useful, and when a new opportunity is worth a closer look. I approach these topics from the perspective of a financial modeler and business owner.

What I’ll cover here.

  • Business data and operational knowledge

    How processes, records, and everyday decisions capture what a company knows, and what makes that information useful.

  • The business case for AI

    Questions about costs, productivity, revenue, and the assumptions behind an AI opportunity, explained through practical examples.

  • Data licensing and new opportunities

    How to think about potential partnerships, what questions to ask, and how to weigh the terms and effort involved.

A whiteboard and a useful question

Let’s work through an example.

I’m building this site around straightforward explanations, whiteboard videos, and written examples. I want to take an idea, break it into understandable pieces, and show how it might apply to a real business.

The aim is to leave you with a clearer understanding and better questions to ask.

Explore Data Has Value.

Visit the homepage for new posts as I publish them, or explore the Data Licensing page to learn about the micro1 opportunity I’m sharing.

Explore Data Licensing → Visit the homepage

Referral disclosure: I may receive a referral payment if your company joins micro1 through my referral link and meets the program’s requirements. The Data Licensing page explains the opportunity and includes the relevant disclosure.

Popular posts from this blog

How AI Data Licensing Works: From Company Data to AI Training

Image
Watch Jason explain the data licensing opportunity for your company, then explore the details below. Data licensing, explained How company data becomes useful AI training. By Jason Varner · Data Has Value Every completed project, resolved support ticket, and reviewed spreadsheet leaves a record of how a business works. Those records can contain something valuable: examples of people using information, handling exceptions, and making decisions. AI data licensing gives businesses a way to earn revenue from approved uses of that knowledge. A specialist data lab can turn it into material that AI developers use to train and evaluate models and agents. micro1 describes building realistic training environments from de-identified company data. The value chain: three roles, one connection. The company data licensing value chain Company data is ...
Read more

What Is a Data Manifest? Examples for AI Data Licensing

Image
DataHasValue / A guide for business owners What is a data manifest? A data manifest is an inventory that describes your company's data: what it contains, how much exists, what period it covers, and how the records fit together. The actual collection of material can be called a corpus . When you apply to work with an AI lab or data partner, you may be asked to provide a company profile and data manifest. This information helps the prospective partner evaluate the data licensing opportunity. By Jason Varner / DataHasValue Watch the video Manifest vs. corpus What to include Three examples Build your checklist Watch the whiteboard explanation Data manifests and corpora, explained visually Watch Jason explain the difference between your actual collection of data and the inventory that describes it. Then use the examples below to start outlining your own manifest. The idea to remember: the corpus is the collection; the manifest describes ...
Read more

What Business Data Is Valuable for AI Training?

Image
Watch Jason walk through the three examples, then explore the records and decisions below. DataHasValue · A practical guide Your everyday work can contain useful AI training data. An accounting correction. A resolved support ticket. An order delivered despite a stock shortage. Each can leave a record of how people use information, make decisions, and verify their work. The opportunity starts with recognizing that knowledge in the records your business already keeps. 01 · Accounting 02 · IT support 03 · Distribution Four questions reveal the useful history. Use these questions to examine a completed piece of work. They help you locate the original task, the evidence someone used, and the record of what happened. 01 / TASK What n...
Read more