Dear Startups,
I have a plea: Organize your data from day one. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a position where you’re paying someone like me big bucks down the road, not for breakthroughs, but just to untangle the massive amount of data you’ve amassed.
I don’t want that. I’d much rather work WITH the data, not ON the data.
The problem actually comes from a good place- we love early-stage startups who are eager to jump into data collection. But without a clear plan for what happens next, how will you analyze it? What decisions will it inform?
If you don’t have a strategy, you’re just collecting data for data’s sake, and it all ends up in a messy, overwhelming database that lacks direction and purpose.
(Then, when your startup is scaling, you’ll realize you need this data for strategic decisions and it will have become completely unmanageable.)
Here’s a better way: Start with a plan. Understand what data you need, how it aligns with your goals, and most importantly, how you’ll organize it from the get-go. This might involve setting up a robust data management system or establishing procedures that guarantee that data is processed and stored in an accessible, logical manner.
And if you’re thinking, ‘But I’m not a data scientist; I don’t know the first thing about organizing data,’ don’t panic. Bring in a science consultant early on and save yourself a lot of headaches (and money) down the line. They can help you set up a framework for your data that makes it easy to analyze and act upon when the time comes.
You don’t want to pay someone like me just to make sense of your data. You want to pay us to help you find the insights in it that will push your startup forward.
Organizing your data from day one is an investment in your company’s future, so that when it’s time to scale, you’re ready to hit the ground running with actionable, clear answers.
It also makes my job much easier (and more fun!)
Sincerely,
Jen