The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business The Power of Habit is the first book that I started taking notes on for my new quick hits blog section. I hope you enjoy some key takeaways and inspiration drawn from the books that I’m recommending! Premise: Habits are comprised…
Data driven decisions – 4 ways an analyst can help
As the data person at a small, data-driven company, you can get roped in to measuring things in fields that aren’t your speciality. Sales, marketing, content, UX / product, growth, finance, and more all have measurable aspects that you might be called upon to analyze. This is great for you and the company, since you…
5 Presentation Tips for Data Analysts – Data Storytelling
When you’re working in analytics, telling a story can be as important as the actual data behind it. Your analytical insights are only as good as the actions that you can take from them, and persuasive presentations are at the core of convincing business people to act. I realize that sounds cliche, but it’s true.…
What’s It Like Working at a Startup? It’s a Roller Coaster.
What’s it like working at a startup? My answer – it’s a roller coaster. Sometimes it’s amazing. Sometimes, it sucks. If you think that a startup is where you want to work (or even moreso, if you think you want to found one) I hope you’re ready. Things in the business change day to day…
When you fail to manage expectations on a freelance contract…
Not every contract you have is going to go perfectly – even if you deliver what you promised. In August, I had my first freelance contract that I consider a failure. The client ended work early, and wasn’t satisfied. I’ve spent a while reflecting to see what I can learn from the experience. Goal: Increase…
The Fastest Way to Setup your Data Pipeline – Advanced Startup Analytics – Part 2
I discussed my analytics philosophy in Part 1. In order to follow along, let’s work through connecting all of your data sources together. First, the two sources nearly everyone reading will have: user-tracking analytics, and a production database. Today I’m going to discuss how we’re handling this at OneMonth. The core of the heavy lifting…
Advanced Startup Analytics – Part 1 – Philosophy
In the startup analytics world, I’m sure you’re familiar with the following situation: you’ve got billing systems, product databases, event tracking, surveys, churn prevention software, sales, customer service interactions, and uncountably more systems. SOMETHING that you’re doing is getting these customers to pay, and to become loyal, but what is it? This is where you…
The most important lesson I learned in business school.
Stepping out of your comfort zone is a huge cliche, but it’s also an incredibly important part of being a successful entrepreneur. I occasionally reflect back on my time in UVA’s MS Comm program. I always think back fondly on the friendships I made and the work that I did, but as with all academia,…
The future is remote teams
The conventional wisdom when you’re building a tech startup is that you “have” to move to San Francisco. It’s absolutely the case that the investor pool is easier to meet, local talent is easier to come by, and it’s easy to network. However, I think some of the diversity problems that arise in early tech…
Experimental A/B Testing for Big Wins
The impact of A/B testing is created along 2 dimensions, potential impact of any experiment X number of experiments run. In the early days, you’re potentially a team of one, and there are limits on the amount of things that you can test. Once you move a little bit into the process side of the…