
Show HN: My friends and I started a data science consulting firm after our PhDs - brockf
http://www.strong.io
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emrgx
Can you share some insights...what made you guys decide to go into
consulting?How did you land your first client? Any lessons learned? Best of
luck.

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brockf
We were all drawn to applying the statistical, experimental, and algorithmic
approaches we learned in graduate school (and in our spare time) to a range of
problems in industry. Every project has a big learning component that keeps
things exciting and fresh.

Our first handful of clients all came from our professional network. I've been
a developer and consultant for a long time (shockingly, over half my life!)
and so, despite selling my companies and heading to graduate school, I had a
bit of a network of other founders who knew me and were supportive of the new
venture.

A few lessons learned, in brief: (1) Try really, really hard to be specific
about what you offer (even when in reality you offer a lot of different
things), (2) Write great proposals -- they become the project bible and really
help streamline client conversations, and (3) Understanding a client's data
and business always takes longer than you'd think.

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logancg
Hey guys! Thanks for sharing this. I'm actually in the process of starting
something similar. What is your approach to ensuring data security for your
clients? That's one of the biggest open questions we're always improving.

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brockf
Data security is hugely important. Here are a couple things we do to deal with
it: (1) We cleanse the data of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) as
quickly as possible (i.e., before it touches our servers), and (2) We host our
databases behind secure networks and follow best practices with regards to
authentication, encryption, etc.

