Presentation to The Research Board - Global CIO Conference

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The Hypothesis-Driven BusinessThe Research Board 02.25.15

Confidential and Proprietary - Not for Distribution

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Confidential and Proprietary - Not for Distribution 2

Background

• Managing Partner of IA Ventures, a $155M venture firm focused on creating competitive advantage through datao Lead-managed companies include Datasift, Digital

Ocean, MemSQL, Simple and Transferwise• 5 years as a professional angel investor

o Early investor in Buddy Media (SalesForce), Invite Media (Google), Magnetic, TubeMogul (IPO) and TweetDeck (Twitter)

• 18 years on Wall Street (Citi, Deutsche) in Capital Structuring, Derivatives and Quantitative Trading

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• The key to unlocking data’s value is through rigorous hypothesis development and testing• But before you can ask questions, the data needs to be

in the right form• Data Strategy = Business Strategy• These principles apply not only to startups but multi-

nationals as well


Beyond Buzzwords

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Data is:● Easier to access (proliferation of APIs)● Cheap(er) to process and store (cloud)● The beneficiary of better tools for

business analysis (DSaaS)● More easily actionable in (near) real-

time (feedback loops, machine learning)


Evolution of the Data-Driven Business

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● The best founders think deeply about what they are trying to prove, and tie these hypotheses to core business metrics

● This creates a data-driven culture that fuels critical insights and permeates everything they do

● This extends into how they think about their natural data assets as well as the metadata that can be extracted for important business decisions

● This requires coordination among and commitment from many constituencies across the organization: Operations; Development; Product; Sales; and Senior leadership


Hypothesis Development

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● Virtually every startup (and every company) has data as a key strategic asset

● While not all businesses have streaming data-at-scale, even “small data” needs to be managed well for extracting maximum value

● Thoughtful architecting of the data environment upfront can save huge amounts of pain further down the road

● The proliferation of low-cost on-demand tools has brought institutional-grade infrastructure within reach of the small enterprise


Data Enablement

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● Almost all of the businesses we invest in are building “platforms”

● Founders almost always focus on a single high-value use case to prove the value of the platform: general platform sales are “out”, while specific product sales are “in”

● Refining the first product to ensure tight product/market which demonstrates the power of the platform is key

● Creating matrix organizations that support investment in both the platform and the products is essential for innovation - and survival


Platforms for Profit

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● What are some new opportunities for data-driven business models?

● How can data be used to drive competitive advantage?

● Can data be used to secure barriers to entry?


The Big Questions

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● 2-sided markets (CareGuardian, NewsCred)

● Contributory databases (BillGuard, Metamarkets)

● Turning 3rd party data into 1st party data (The Trade Desk, Transferwise)

EACH OPPORTUNITY LEVERAGES DATA FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND CREATES BARRIERS TO ENTRY


New Opportunities for Leveraging Data

Presentation to The Research Board - Global CIO Conference

Data & Analytics

Transcript of Presentation to The Research Board - Global CIO Conference