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Happy New Year!
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Theme that emerged in this week’s email is the data business can be hard.
QUOTES
“To build a data business, you need to deliver non-obvious insights and patterns that create value from the buyer’s perspective. The fuel for that is unique and proprietary data, typically not easy to obtain.”
Anandan Jayaraman (AJ), The Data Business of the Future (2016)
News Articles
Podcasts
Cool Charts
Final Thoughts (resolutions)
Appendix
#1 – Alex Izydorczyk published Creating Impossible Data. December 2022.
My Take: Combing multiple datasets to greatly improve insights is the next holy grail. This can be really tough. The idea is 1+1=3. This allows proximate measurement across broader domains & insights with a greater level of conviction.
#2 – Nageen Kommu, CEO at Digitap Says Significance of Data Analytics in Fintech Operations Is Rising. December 2022.
My Take: “The significance of data analytics in Fintech operations is rising rapidly, with alternative data emerging as a powerful tool to enhance credit outreach to underserved and unserved sections. In the year 2023, companies will continue to explore new methods to collect and use data to understand customer dynamic requirements accurately as well as design products.” The tools to engage with new data sources are improving. This will significantly help broaden adoption.
#3 – George Siemens published Not Everything We Call an AI Is Actually Artificial Intelligence. Here's What to Know. December 2022.
My Take: “it (AI) needs high-quality, unbiased data, and lots of it.” I am trying to follow the progress being made with Artificial Intelligence and continue to be amazed at the quantity of data needed to continue the improvement. Data owners are in a good spot.
BONUS: Holiday reading! A couple good “data business” articles that have held up nicely over time.
DAAS Bible (2019)
Data-sharing made easy (2021)
The Economics of Data Businesses (2022)
#1 – The Data Engineering Podcast interviews Juan Sequeda and Tim Gasper from data.world. December 2022.
My Take: really enjoyed this conversation. They discuss a lot fo the themes I’ve seen across the data world...the benefit of starting from scratch, the importance of domain knowledge, the difference between a product “feature” and a new “category”. Bottom line, get back to core principles, what are the inputs & outputs needed? At the end of the day, you are doing three things: 1- moving data, 2- storing data, 3- using data.
Highlights (65-minute run time):
Minute 01:20 – @juansequeda & @TimGasper intro
Minute 07:30 – new category vs new feature
Minute 10:00 – data observability discussion (data catalog, data lineage, now data observability)
Minute 14:45 – “modern data stack” principals (2 cohorts, starting from scratch, vs re-work old systems)
Minute 20:00 – elements of data modeling (importance of efficiency; how to scale?)
Minute 25:00 – technical vs social elements of the modern data stack
Minute 29:00 – discussion of PLG (product lead growth)
Minute 32:00 – importance of domain expertise
Minute 40:45 – what requires a team and skills required for various roles?
Minute 45:00 – bringing it back to first principals and evolution of data.world (their company)
Minute 51:00 – some ways people (customers) are thinking about working with data
Minute 59:00 – how with data.world product evolve over time?
Source: Eagle Alpha published their 2nd Annual Alternative Data Report. December 2022.
Tremendous content from the perspective of both the data buyer & the data vendor.
Check it out!
Chart from slide #14
Source: Resolutions
Resolutions
The benefits of making Resolutions.
Back in 2011 we started making New Year’s Resolutions as a family. We would write them down and share them with everyone. We would then review the next year when we all got together. Most were goofy and it was fun to look back.
Most resolutions were forgotten, and goals not reached. But, even if you don’t stick to them, resolutions are a good practice. It is a chance to take a big picture view of your life. Share goals with friends. In some cases, start over & re-establish priorities.
Why I find resolutions helpful:
The act of thinking about a resolution is an opportunity to take step back and take a broader look at what you are doing and why you are doing it.
What I find works for me:
Written record
Make goals specific & measurable
Share goals with others, perhaps even to the point of discomfort
Have a specific accountability partner
Review often
Achieve some early success
Understand the “why” behind the “what”
Of that entire list, I find the last one to be the most important. The “why” behind the “what”. Understand why you want to “eat better”. Is it to look better? Feel better? Because everyone else is doing it? If you have a good handle on why, you are much more likely to stick with it.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to have a positive resolution develop into a lifestyle that requires no thought & just becomes part of your routine.
You are & always will be a work in progress.