Jon Brewton on Leading Data²: Harnessing AI for Real-World Impact in High-Stakes Industries
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jon Brewton, the founder and CEO of Data², a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) specializing in AI-powered solutions for data integration and reasoning. With over 20 years of experience spanning data science, AI development, and business strategy, Jon has carved out a niche in transforming how industries like Defense and Energy leverage data to make strategic decisions. His leadership has positioned Data² as a trailblazer in providing secure, explainable, and trusted AI solutions. Jon’s professional journey — from his time in the USAF to global roles in the oil and gas sector — has fueled his passion for innovation and problem-solving, culminating in the creation of a platform that is revolutionizing data-driven decision-making in high-reliability organizations.
What motivated you to launch your startup?
My motivation to launch Data² stemmed from years of observing how industries with vast amounts of critical data — such as government contracting and energy — struggled to operationalize that data in ways that meaningfully impacted their decision-making processes. While working in the oil and gas sector and later in defense, I saw firsthand how organizations were overwhelmed by the sheer volume and complexity of their data. Yet, they lacked the tools and methodologies to extract actionable insights from it.
Most organizations were relying on traditional data management systems that either couldn’t handle the scale of the data or couldn’t provide the kind of real-time, actionable insights needed in high-stakes environments. This disconnect between data collection and actionable insight was costing businesses — not just financially, but also in terms of missed opportunities, inefficiencies, and increased risk exposure.
The idea for Data² was born from a pressing need I witnessed firsthand across high-reliability industries — defense, energy, and finance. These sectors generate vast amounts of data, but often struggle to derive actionable insights from it in a way that is both transparent and secure. The decision-making processes in these industries are highly sensitive and must be grounded in reliable, verifiable data. Yet, most AI systems available on the market operate as black boxes, offering little in terms of explainability or traceability, which leads to significant risks, particularly when the insights they generate are used to make critical decisions.
I founded Data² to address this gap. Our mission is to build AI systems that don’t just analyze data but do so in a way that is fully transparent and auditable. This means that every decision, every recommendation made by our platform is explainable, and clients can trace it back to the data itself. Our flagship product, reView, was designed with these principles in mind. The platform doesn’t hallucinate or create insights that are detached from the underlying data. Instead, it provides a clear and verifiable chain of reasoning, which is crucial in sectors where mistakes can have catastrophic consequences. That need for explainability and accountability is what drove me to create Data², and it continues to fuel our innovation today.
What is it that excites you about what you’re building?
What excites me most is the transformative potential of our reView platform and how it’s poised to reshape decision-making in industries that operate in high-stakes environments. The fact that we’ve built a fully explainable and auditable AI system is a game-changer for sectors like defense, energy, and finance, where transparency in AI-driven insights is not just a nice-to-have but an absolute necessity.
Take the defense sector, for instance. When decisions are made based on AI insights, they can affect national security. The ability to trace each recommendation back to its data source gives decision-makers the confidence they need to trust the insights provided by the system. This is also true for the energy sector, where operational decisions can have massive environmental and financial implications. Our clients are using reView not only to streamline their operations but to ensure that every decision is grounded in accurate, auditable data. The level of security our platform provides, particularly with our Zero Trust framework and partnerships with industry leaders like XQMsg, ensures that data is protected even in the most sensitive environments.
Moreover, as we continue to expand the capabilities of reView, especially its cloud-agnostic deployment and compatibility with any large language model (LLM), we are positioning ourselves as the go-to platform for organizations that need secure, explainable AI solutions. This intersection of cutting-edge AI technology and real-world impact is what makes building Data² so exciting.
It’s incredibly fulfilling to know that what we’re building is making a tangible difference in industries that are vital to the economy and national security.
What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?
Growing Data² has presented several challenges, but the most significant one has been navigating the highly regulated environments of the industries we serve. When you’re dealing with clients in defense, government, and energy, there are multiple layers of compliance requirements — from CMMC 2.0 to GDPR to various industry-specific regulations. Balancing the pace of technological innovation with the stringent regulatory demands of these sectors has been a tightrope walk.
On one hand, we want to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI — particularly around predictive analytics, automation, and operational efficiency. But on the other hand, we must ensure that every solution we deploy meets the highest standards of security, compliance, and traceability. In industries like defense and energy, there’s no room for error when it comes to data security, so we’ve had to build our platform with a Zero Trust framework that assures our clients of top-tier protection from the get-go.
Another challenge has been market education. While AI adoption is growing, many organizations still rely on legacy systems and are hesitant to transition to AI-driven solutions, particularly when the stakes are so high. Convincing decision-makers that AI, when done right, can be both secure and explainable has required a lot of dialogue and demonstration. We’ve had to show them that our platform doesn’t just automate processes but enhances them by providing transparent, traceable insights that they can act on with confidence.
What are your future plans for your startup?
As we move forward, our focus is on scaling and refining our reView platform to address even more complex and diverse data environments. One of the exciting developments on our horizon is expanding reView’s cloud-agnostic capabilities. By making the platform compatible with both AWS and Azure, and allowing for deployment in air-gapped environments, we ensure that our clients can use our solution in any operational setting — whether it’s on-premises, in the cloud, or in highly restricted environments.
Another key area of growth for us is entering new industries. While we’ve built a strong foundation in defense and energy, sectors like finance and healthcare are ripe for the kind of explainable, traceable AI that reView provides. In finance, for instance, where regulatory compliance and risk management are paramount, our platform could revolutionize how decisions are made by ensuring that every insight is fully auditable and secure. Similarly, in healthcare, where patient outcomes depend on data-driven decisions, having a system that provides transparent, verifiable insights could significantly enhance both clinical and administrative operations.
We’re also preparing for our deployment via AWS, GCP and Azure Marketplaces, which will make our platform even more accessible to a broader range of clients and ensure that it remains cloud-agnostic. Our goal is to make reView the go-to platform for any organization that needs secure, explainable AI to drive its decision-making processes.
If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?
My biggest advice to founders is to always start with a clear understanding of the problem you’re solving. Too often, entrepreneurs get caught up in the technology or the product without fully understanding whether there’s a real need for it in the market. Your solution should be directly addressing a pain point that your target customers are experiencing. In our case, we saw that industries like defense and energy were increasingly relying on AI but couldn’t afford the risks associated with opaque, black-box systems. That clear understanding of the problem shaped every decision we made about how to build reView.
I’d also emphasize the importance of building a solution that’s secure and compliant from day one. Particularly in regulated industries, compliance isn’t something you can add later. It must be baked into your product and your business model from the outset. This can be challenging because it might slow your initial growth, but in the long run, it’s what will build trust with your clients and protect your business from potential liabilities.
Don’t underestimate the value of strategic partnerships. We’ve been fortunate to work with companies like AWS, Microsoft, and Neo4j, which have provided us with the technical infrastructure and industry validation to grow quickly. Building a strong network of partners can help you scale faster and position your company for success.
Lastly, invest in building a strong team and culture. Surround yourself with people who are not only experts in their fields but who also share your vision and values. The early stages of a startup are tough, and having the right team in place can make all the difference when challenges arise. You want people who are adaptable, resilient, and deeply committed to solving the problem you’ve set out to address.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow me personally on LinkedIn at [@jonbrewton — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-brewton-datasquared/ ], where I share insights on AI, data strategy, and leadership. For updates on Data², follow our company LinkedIn page [@data2us — https://www.linkedin.com/company/data2us ] where we regularly post about our latest innovations, industry trends, and thought leadership around AI in high-reliability industries. We’re also found at our website [www.data2.ai ] where we’ll dive deeper into the specifics of how AI is transforming sectors like defense, energy, finance, and healthcare.
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
