Ari Block

About Ari Block

Ari BlockProduct, Engineering, and People leader | Techstars Alumni | InvestorSuccess StoriesMy attitude of taking on challenges has yielded success in multiple areas extending beyond my core expertise of engineering and product management.Algorithm InnovationI implemented new algorithms for manufacturing analytics clients, requiring between 20 to 100+ algorithms for each customer. One of these algorithms typically took 3-6 weeks to develop. I proposed a mathematical layer to overlay the API that would shorten development time to hours. This idea was initially rejected as impossible by managers and the engineering team. I requested and was approved to develop the mathematical abstraction in my free time without additional resources. The resulting product accelerated revenue recognition 100-fold, and I was recognized for this innovation.Complex Software Development TurnaroundA software project had been in development for two years, delaying $1.2 million in monthly revenue. There was no expected completion date, with new complexities and blame games ongoing. The project was transferred to my ownership, and within three months, we had built the system from scratch and created a million dollar revenue stream.Product StrategyI advocated for and implemented an analytics system for our hardware units, which surprisingly reported only 5% of the expected product usage. This revelation, combined with my market trend research, drove a decision to divert company resources to a new product line due to market risk. This pivot was accepted and ultimately led to a company exit, with over 60% of the company\'s revenue coming from this product innovation.Customer Churn PreventionWhile the American business units\' SaaS implementations were failing across the board, my European implementations were successful. I successfully recovered these customers, who became long-term clients, including Apple, Qualcomm, Honeywell, and Fiat. Additionally, I defined the process and created collateral for successful implementations, which the team continued to use years after my departure.

Experience

1. Chief Information Officer

   Obsidia Semiconductor

   Oct 2025 — Present

   As Chief Information Officer at OBSIDIA Semiconductor, Ari leads the architecture and execution of the company’s secure information backbone, spanning RF data acquisition systems, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise platforms. He oversees the end to end pipeline that transforms high density spectral measurements into structured, governed datasets, and integrates advanced AI and machine learning frameworks for feature extraction, residual modeling, and counterfeit classification. By aligning hardware signal capture, scalable AWS infrastructure, and AI driven analytics, he ensures the platform delivers secure, defensible, and mission critical semiconductor authentication capabilities.

Education

• The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

  Master of Business Administration (MBA), Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies

• The College of Management Academic Studies

  Bachelor of Applied Science - BASc, Computer Science

Skills

• Product
• Microsoft Sql Server
• Solution Architecture
• Value Based Selling
• Android
• Eclipse
• Marketing
• Sales
• Enterprise Resource Planning (Erp)
• Agile Methodologies
• Management
• Team Building
• Product Marketing
• Software
• Object Oriented Design
• Software Project Management
• Start-Ups
• Forecasting
• Project Management
• Mysql
• Product Management
• C
• Programming
• Pre-Sales
• Software Architectural Design
• Innovation
• Software Design
• Software Development
• Scrum
• Enterprise Software
• Team Leadership
• Erp
• Embedded Systems
• System Architecture
• Entrepreneurship
• .net Framework
• C#
• .net
• Embedded Software
• Contract Manufacturing