How Data Science Transformed our business | Rentify founder George Spencer & Ollie Glass

The Balderton Podcast: Tech Investment | Venture Capital | Startup Funding

As PhD data scientist Ollie Glass puts it, data science is a lot like UX/UI was a few years ago: everyone wants a piece of it, but nobody really knows how to make it work for their business. Rentify have managed to overcome that challenge, and - as Founder & CEO George Spencer explains - data science is now integral to Rentify's business. 01:17 George explains how and why he realised that there was an opportunity for Rentify to be a lot smarter with data. 02:55 Was the first though that data could aid sales? Not necessarily! The first experiment was to create an extremely smart solution for landlords. 03:40 George explains what he did wrong with data science the first time around, and what they learned for the next attempt. 06:02 Ollie describes his first interactions with George, and about the process of discovering how a data scientist can best help an entrepreneur. As Ollie says, he also needs to demonstrate that he will help bring more money into the business than his day rate! 07:50 Experimenting with data can be extremely fun... but that shouldn't distract entrepreneurs from finding out a business-purpose for data science. 08:35 Ollie has a message to fellow data scientists: if a client is asking you to do work that doesn't necessarily require a data scientist to carry it out, tell them and help them make a smarter decision 08:53 What was the first project that you collaborated on? 10:40 A word to the wise: Make sure the output is clear, useable information - rather than data that needs another scientist to interpret it 13:01 Tips for entrepreneurs on how, when and why to engage a data scientist. 14:25 Is it a challenge for a data scientist to integrate with existing work-flows and jobs 16:55 A tip to other entrepreneurs from George: you need the rest of your team to understand the purpose of a data scientist, and that is a creative role. 19:40 If a data scientist is joining the team for the short or medium term, make sure someone sponsors them inside your business, otherwise they risk being accidentally shut out. 21:00 Olly explains the questions he really likes to hear when he first meets an entrepreneur 22:50 George explains how data science has transformed his business.