Take a Leap of Faith | Alistair Croll

On this episode of The Artists of Data Science, we get a chance to hear from Alistair Croll, a well-established entrepreneur, analyst, and author.

He's the author of Lean Analytics, when we co-wrote with Benjamin Yoskovitz. He's also one of the founders of Coradiant, Year One Labs, and the Strata confersence.

He shares some excellent tips one how to ask the right questions when working with data, essentials of business communication, and the need to be obsessed as an entrepreneur.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

[28:28] How to be an intrepreneur

[13:39] Incorporate philosophy with data

[19:11] Why you need to be obsessed as an entrepreneur

QUOTES

[14:22] …”as an early stage company, your focus is your biggest currency.”
[22:10] …”crises have a way of accelerating the inevitable.”
[46:04] “...you got to first seek to engage and entertain and then you have the ability to inform people.”
[51:38] …”find a way to capture attention that you can turn into profitable demand better than the competition.”

WHERE TO FIND ALISTAIR ONLINE:

Twitter:https://twitter.com/acroll
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistaircroll/
Website: http://solveforinteresting.com/

SHOW NOTES
[00:01:37] Introduction for our guest today

[00:03:20] Alistair talks about his early work with Coradiant

[00:05:47] What do you think the next two to five years is going to look like for businesses leveraging data and analytics?

[00:07:55] Why A.I. will need a therapist

[00:08:26] In this new vision of the future then what's really going to separate, like the great data scientists from just the merely good ones?

[00:11:03] The importance of privacy and GDPR for data scientists

[00:13:56] The concept of "one metric that matters" and how that's going to manifest in terms ofmeasuring privacy

[00:15:00] Why Zoom DOES NOT deserve to be the videoconferencing platform in the world

[00:17:30] Do you have any advice or tips for anyone who's been toying with the idea of entrepreneurship?

[00:19:22] Why we need to instill leaps of faith in people who want to be founders

[00:21:06] In terms of data science, entrepreneurship in this COVID/post-COVID area. What do you see as some problems with tackling that in enterprising data? Scientists can can identify and then get into an opportunity?

[00:22:29]So you've been writing a lot about innovation at Tilt to the Windmill. How should be incumbents think about innovation?

[00:23:02]A deep dive into various models of innovation

[00:26:38] An excellent and thorough discussion on intrapreneur

[00:30:37] Some great advice for one man data science teams who are on an intrapreneurial journey

[00:33:50] The stages of growth intrapreneur developing data products within their organization will face and how to overcome challenges in those stages

[00:36:50] We get into music science and its intersection with data science

[00:43:13] What's your go to music?

[00:43:54] The important soft-skills that a data scientist needs for success

[00:47:11] What are some key takeaways from your book - Propose, Prepare, Present - that you think a data scientist should apply when communicating with non-technical audiences?

[00:49:27] Let's talk a bit about being evil. You say start-ups should be more evil, that sounds terrible. What are you thinking? What are you trying to communicate with that?

[00:53:23] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story?

[00:54:24] What's it mean to solve for interesting?

[00:56:00] Jumping into a quick lightning round: What would be the number one book, other fiction or non-fiction or both that you'd recommend our audience read and your most impactful takeaway from it?

[00:57:19] If we could somehow get a magical telephone that allowed you to contact 18 year old Allistair. What would you tell him?

[00:58:45] What it means to cultivate a personality

[01:00:07] What's something you've done at one of your ventures that's been just evil enough?

[01:02:57] What's the best advice you've ever received?

[01:04:58] What motivates you?

[01:06:10]So what song do you currently have on repeat?

[01:06:34] How could people connect with you? Where can they find you?