
How to Build a Data-Driven Startup - dcancel
http://davidcancel.com/data-driven-startups/
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samratjp
"Does anyone give a shit about your dumb idea?" should be a bumper
sticker/everyday growl reminder/alarm sound/first question of the YC app.

The graphic from the homepage of www.ABtest.com is also pretty self-
explanatory about A/B.

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gruseom
_"Does anyone give a shit about your dumb idea?" should be a bumper sticker_

I dislike this style of communicating a point. There has been an epidemic of
it on the web over the last year or two (that and its close cousin, the "X
Reasons Why Your Y Sucks" post). Apart from being crude and overused, I think
it sends the wrong microsignals. Many good ideas seem dumb at first. To me it
indicates a deep misunderstanding of the creative process to blast anything in
the delicate, incipient stage with this kind of harsh language. The most
consistently creative people I know don't do it.

This may be a merely stylistic point, a matter of taste, but I suspect it's
more. The way one puts things has effects. In particular, it affects what
ideas and possibilities open up next.

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ericwaller
I actually think it gives exactly the right signals. The people you'll have to
sell to (customers, investors, future hires) will probably not be very
understanding of the creative process. They'll think your idea is dumb, and
they'll say "no thanks," or just hit the back button, without a second
thought. The presentation is about convincing them otherwise, so it makes
sense to put the problem statement front and center.

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richcollins
David does a great job of pointing out a mistake people make when interpreting
the Lean Startup philosophy. It isn't about optimization, its about validating
basic assumptions.

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matrix
This presentation can basically be summed up as a verbal kick up the ass -
"JFDI". For that, it's useful - beyond that, I feel it's much too shallow for
the HN audience (we know this stuff... we've read Steve Blank, we're looking
for more nitty gritty details).

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todayiamme
I have a question does the churn rate he talks about (less than .8% of users
stay more than a year) apply to startups aimed at business critical
applications like inventory control etc.?

I do know that most business "software" is horrendously underused, but does
anyone know the actual churn rates? Also does it vary for desktop
applications? If so what types and why?

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noelwelsh
Could anyone at the talk explain the three charts on slide 62? What are they
representing?

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dcancel
Hi,

Those 3 chart types are the only data visualizations I recommend using. I
should have left out the pie chart, since I don't use those.

I wasted many years of my life at Compete obsessed about "data visualizations"
only to learn that no one except me and my statistical team cared about them.
Please don't waste as much time as I did playing with exotic visualizations.

;dc

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Ardit20
He asked if you could explain them, specifically what they are about I think.

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dcancel
Sorry not sure what you mean.

Do you mean explain what a line, bar & pie chart are good for?

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Ardit20
Ohh I am sorry I thought you were emphasising the data the charts were
measuring rather than the actual types of chart themselves!

If you only mean that we should use only line, bar or pie charts, then I would
say that scatter graphs at time have a good use of showing outliers, such as
some guy who spends say ten minutes on the site, or visually able to show for
example how many people spend ten minutes and how many 3. Communicate in other
words much more information than a line, bar or pie chart can at times. I
mean, people did not invent these other charts for no reason :)

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kanwisher
Nice presentation, keeps it very simple. Oddly enough I signed up for his
other startup performable the other day, seems his whole startup is oriented
around helping you do this lol.

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dcancel
Thanks for the kind words and for giving Performable a try. Let me know if I
can be helpful.

;dc

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grigory
This is such a great presentation. Thank you, David!

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maxer
is there a video link to the presentation?

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dchs
This is a seriously awesome deck!

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Ardit20
I should have stopped reading the presentation when he said reading is
useless!

