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Things to check out:
Check out a trial of 90 West’s consumer data via Exabel.
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Theme that emerged in this week’s email is … companies are just starting to figure out how to use data & the thought is investment will accelerate as benefits become more clear.
QUOTES
“Intelligent big data use in daily business processes enables making data-driven choices and reacting quickly to market events directly impacting the bottom line.”
News Articles
Podcasts
Cool Charts
Final Thoughts (The Power of Simplicity)
#1 – Gediminas Rickevicius of Oxylabs published Big Data: The Fuel Behind Successful Businesses. March 2023.
My Take: This ties together with the next article about how “big data” can inform how you run your business. Everything from a better understanding of your customers, to competitive intelligence, to supply chain excellence. Data drives it all.
#2 – Jon Keegan published in The Markup Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You. February 2023.
My Take: All companies are data companies. This is a great article that highlights the amazing amount of granular data collected & processed into usable output.
I don’t think people really care about data privacy. The “creep factor” of big data is losing the shock appeal, particularly for those under the age of ~35. Obviously, people don’t want criminals to get their personal data (or get doxxed), but I don’t think people care that stores they visit gather, use, & sell, data about you to make your consumer experience better.
I like getting the right advertisements at the right time. I dislike getting the wrong advertisements at any time. If my local grocery store knows that I like to buy a certain brand and notices it has been a while since I’ve visited, they may send me a fire sale offer that draws me back into the store. That is good use of my data. That data driven action improves my consumer experience, increases loyalty, and ultimately drives the long-term value I bring to the retailer. Win-Win situation. Data drives it all.
#3 – Trent McConaghy published Ocean Protocol Update || 2023. March 2023.
My Take: For regular readers, you’ll know I’ve followed the progress at Ocean Protocol for some time. Phase One was building the core infrastructure for the open data economy. They are now onto Phase Two, drive data-value creation loops. I am most intrigued to watch the progress of “Team Thresher” (Team 2)… with a focus on helping data scientist make & sell great data products. The open-source search for the elusive product-market fit for data products.
For those curious, this post marked the launch of Ocean Protocol on 2017. “Here’s the issue. Many enterprises have plenty of data but don’t know how to make it available to the world. Latent value lurks everywhere. Conversely, many startups know how to turn data in to value using AI, but they’re starving for data.”
#4 - Derek Zanutto published in Venture Beat The good, the bad and the ugly: The world of data is changing. March 2023.
My Take: For a well run company, data “lies at the heart of an organization’s competitive advantage”. Most data people enter an organization with high expectations & excitement (the good), but the reality is slow progress and the need to drive bigger changes than perhaps was expected (the bad). This leads to quick exits for many data executives (the ugly).
The growing focus on data will continue. New “data executives” need to set (& manage) realistic expectations and understand the business well enough that you can get some early wins that demonstrate real impact on the business.
BONUS: How the Lending Industry Is Using AI Technology in Credit Scoring. March 2023. “The use of alternative data sources can assist in rectifying the problem of financial exclusion by affording financial institutions the ability to evaluate the creditworthiness of individuals who are not adequately served by conventional credit scoring procedures.”
BONUS 2: Tristan Handy published Two ways of measuring data team value. March 2023. “If your data team is purely focused on democratizing access to information, its spend needs to be a very modest % of revenue.”
BONUS 3: I wish I was going to be in Austin on March 28.
#1 – A new podcast on the scene is Hedgineer, hosted by Michael Watson. Episode #1 is an interview with Brian Mahlsted Aerospace to Hedge Funds. February 2023.
My Take: Excited to see Michael Watson start this podcast and am looking forward to more episodes from Hedgineer. Most interesting was the comparison of SpaceX and Citadel, the firms, and their famous leaders. Both leaders are ambitious visionaries that can get into the weeds … and know (intuitively?) which weeds are the important ones on which to focus. Next would be the discussion around a recurring theme we often see, the importance of domain expertise. Last I’d highlight the discussion around goal setting. 1-something that will benefit to the world; 2-passion … is this something you are good enough at you will enjoy this; 3-chase the carrot outside of your current comfort zone.
Highlights (49-minute run time):
Minute 00:00 – intro to Hedgineer
Minute 03:00 – interview starts & Brian’s background
Minute 09:30 – this shift from SpaceX to the world of finance
Minute 10:45 – comparing Citadel & SpaceX
Minute 15:30 – maintaining stability while working in intense environments
Minute 18:00 – failing gracefully and falling forward
Minute 19:00 – comparing leaders Elon Muck and Ken Griffen
Minute 25:30 – goal setting: the importance of simplifying toward what goal is worth all of your time & energy
Minute 29:00 – next problem for Brian: solve liquidity problems for early employees
Minute 31:00 – Brian’s journey in the DeFi space
Minute 37:45 – SpaceX launch story (coffee story)
Minute 44:00 – technologies that will disrupt the status quo (ability to analyze/synthesize huge amounts of unstructured data) … deterministic vs probabilistic
Minute 47:00 – people that have had a positive impact on Brian’s career
Source: Dan Entrup’s Its Pronounced Data Substack. March 2023.
Alt Data Market Map.
Source: The Power of Simplicity
The increased complexity in today’s world has made more valuable the power of simplicity. True genius is being able to describe complex topics simply.
“If you can explain something to a first year student, then you haven’t really understood.” – Richard Feynman
I get frustrated with the long sales cycles in the data space. There are a lot of reasons for this extended buying arrangement, but I am optimistic that as new tools make it easier to work with & see value in data, the process will shorten.
I am so deeply invested in my own offering that I forget my prospective customers are seeing this with fresh eyes. I can get frustrated when prospects aren’t “getting it” … which is really a direct reflection of my (in)ability to describe “it” simply. Often times, the gatekeeper, hopefully this is my internal “champion”, has to turn around and describe (aka sell on my behalf) my offering to their internal team. See the below linked Raconteur article for some idea about just how many people get involved in the purchasing decision.
Source: Raconteur’s Why making business decisions is harder than ever. January 2023.
At any step of the way, anyone can simply say, “this is too complex, let’s just focus on some other offering”.
A test of describing 90 West’s offering to someone completely unrelated to my industry can poke holes in your strategy. If my non-data-oriented, non-investor, friend can understand what I am selling, then I am making progress. Often times the questions you get from an unrelated party can open eyes to new opportunities.
But, then again, there is nothing new under the sun … & perhaps it has always been this way:
“It has long been recognized that industrial buying is a complex process. The purchasing decisions are carried out and influenced by many individuals within an organization” Yoram Wind, 1978 Journal of Purchasing and Materials Managementz