David Cancel discusses how startups can become data-driven by focusing on an operating dashboard, conversion funnels, and cohort analysis. He emphasizes that the key is using data to test assumptions and optimize the business, rather than getting caught up in complex analytics or visualizations. Startups should prioritize validating whether customers care about their idea and solving problems over searching for patterns or secrets to success.
13. David Cancel- @dcancel
Buy this book
This is the best startup
book I’ve ever read.
I personally own two
copies.
Required reading for
startup engineers.
You can find it on Lulu.com
14. David Cancel- @dcancel
And this one too.
This is more of a “manual”
than a “book”.
Good for everyone on your
team to read.
If people care about your
product read this to learn
how to determine if you
can turn your hobby into a
business.
You can find this on
Amazon.
15. David Cancel- @dcancel
But remember that you will not find any
“secrets” in those books. Stop looking for
one.
Go solve a problem.
30. David Cancel- @dcancel
The Local Maxima Problem
Your Design
A Better Design
Optimized at Local Maxima
Current
I stole this slide from Joshua Porter -
@bokardo
62. David Cancel- @dcancel
Things clueless people ask
What type of algorithms do you use?
What metrics should I use?
Anything related to a regression analysis.
Anything related to data visualization.
Focused my career on building, advising & investing in data-powered startups. Data is their competitive advantage.
It’s ok to not have all the answers. Design your company around learning and rapid development. If your app doesn’t embarrass you, you wasted too much time refining it.
At the end of the day you have to DO. Be scrappy and just get shit done.
If you had found one would you be writing books or starting and selling companies?
It’s not about A/B testing & Analytics. It’s not about metrics. It’s about building your startup to be data-driven, because it’s all about optimizing for learning.
Testing web pages is stupid, validating assumptions is smart
multivariate testing is for suckers. stick with a/b tests
Sorry someone had to break it to you.
Optimize for agile learning. Fast learning iterations.
Focus on people. Customer experience is the key. This is usually when people start to ask me data related questions.