Thanks for being here!
This is the Alternative Data Weekly for Friday March 29, 2024.
Announcement(s):
QuantVision 2024: Fordham’s Quantitative Conference. April 4, 2024.
Theme that emerged in this week’s email is … telling the story of data is key to effective monetization.
QUOTES
“Be like Aerosmith and get to the chorus as fast as possible. Deliver value to the reader right away so they decide to keep engaging with the content. Use engaging introductions.” – Jason Derise
News Articles
Podcasts
Cool Charts
Final Thoughts (focus and do impactful things)
#1 – Jason Derise’s Don’t Bore Us—Get to the Chorus!. March 2024.
My Take: Jason’s Data Score is a must-follow SubStack for the data community. This article admirably describes the problem of too much noise in the marketplace for data. Yes, I know what you are selling is really great … no seriously, really great! … but it doesn’t matter if the message doesn’t get through to the right people. When selling to institutional investors, my experience is that you have ~30 seconds of their attention. If, after ~30 seconds, the prospect does not know what you are doing and why it matters, you’ve lost an opportunity. A picture says 1,000 words … and don’t screw it up because once you’ve lost trust, it is difficult to win back.
#2 – Databento published Working with high-frequency market data: Data integrity and cleaning. March 2024.
My Take: Part 1 of a coming series. This is a hard problem and I am not an expert, but this post does a good job of laying out the terms and basic issues of data quality.
#3 – FT’s Invesco wants to use generative AI to cut costs but not yet pick stocks. March 2024.
My Take: Bottom line is AI can do some cool things, but the low-hanging fruit is going to be the boring things. AI may someday build a model that beats the market with less risk, but AI is going to start by filling out the DDQ & anticipating/delivering the files you’ll need for your 3pm meeting. You’ll be able to focus on the important stuff (see Final Thoughts).
What else I am reading:
Matt Ober’s Everything in Life is Sales. March 2024.
Eagle Alpha’s What Is Alternative Data?. March 2024.
Seattle Data Guy’s How to build a career you enjoy as an engineer. What I wish someone told me when I started (substack.com). March 2024.
Gable.ai’s How Data Contracts Ensure Your Data Quality Rules. March 2024.
Source: Corrie Birkeness from the Let’s Talk Data Podcast published Trends in Master Data Management. December 2023.
Participants:
Andy Hayler, Practice Lead – Data as an Asset at Bloor Research
Markus Kuppe, VP & Chief Product Owner for SAP Master Data Governance
My Take: This is the 100th episode of the Let’s Talk Data Podcast.
Andy Hayler kicks off the podcast discussing Bloor Research’s MDM (Master Data Management) market update focused on merging MDM into broader data management platform focused on Governance, Quality, Data Integration.
MDM is essential. This stuff can be so complicated, but if done well, can be a game changer.
Of most interest to me was (minute 8:00) discussion of some of the initial opportunities the interviewees are seeing with AI (real world use cases!). High quality data required for high quality AI use cases.
Highlights (22-minute run time):
Minute 01:30 – intro from Andy Hayler, Bloor’s MDM market update
Minute 03:30 – intro from Markus Kuppe sharing SAP’s perspective
Minute 06:30 – opportunities around automation; application of AI
Minute 13:00 – centralized vs de-centralized data strategies (“federated”)
Minute 18:30 – data mesh, data fabric, data as a product in the framework of MDM
BONUS: The Data Engineering Podcast When And How To Conduct An AI Program. March 2024.
Source: Very long story here that I am happy to share … but I don’t know to whom credit goes for the below chart. My apologies.
BONUS: Auren Hoffman
As a guy who spends a good portion of my day working through 2-factor authentications… I can’t wait!
Source: The Seattle Data Guy’s article highlighted above included some great charts. These are wonderful frameworks to use as you considered your career.
Focus. Do things that are impactful. Be proactive about it.