[Thoughts on Data and Culture]
This week it was made very clear to me the importance of data driven decision making. After doing some more reading and research online, most of the conversation focused on the HOW rather than the WHY, and if I've learned anything at AppWorks, is to always start with the WHY. The digital transformation has given us great ability to extract data, but WHY is data so important?
- The Ability to Optimize: Peter Drucker, author of multiple management books famously wrote "what gets measured, gets managed". He didn't have access to Google analytics or Mixpanel back in his day, but I bet if he was alive today, he'll be an avid user of both. The reason WHY it is important to use data, is so that you can measure the performance of your decisions and optimize them. To be better, #founder or not, by measuring data against our performance, is the key to unlock progress. This is the more obvious reason to WHY we use data, but there is more....
- Data Helps You Understand Your Customers Better: This was the major revelation I had this week when I heard two different business units pitch their 2020 strategy. They both presented their roadmap and how they plan on getting there, but it was clear that one knew exactly what their customers wanted, and the other wouldn't be able to tell you what their customers wanted. Let's say they were both in the restaurant business and have been operating for 5 years, do you think the restaurant that planned to advertise and sell around their most popular dish is going to hit their target? or the restaurant that planned to advertise and sell random products that is going to hit their target? Data reduces uncertainty and guesswork, in return it offers us better decision making abilities to shape the future.
These two people that pitched were both in the same company, rather than two restaurant owners. So why is their approach to serve the same customer so different? and as a founder, how do you avoid your team making the same mistake?
- Implementing a Data and Customer Focused Culture: People have always said one of the best tools to manage your startup is through culture, this was also a revelation made clear this week. By focusing on data and customer in your company's culture, you are more likely to be able to transform a non founder minded employee to think and act like founders, through culture you can apply the importance of data and customer first into every employee's behaviour in your startup.
Although data is important but it doesn't replace going out and talking to your customers, data can only shed some light on your customer's behaviour, it won't be the end all be all to understanding them.
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by Jack An, Analyst
AppWorks
