How To Create A Data-Driven Startup

As usual, the Defrag Conference has brought together a disparate group of amazing people to discuss innovation, technology, community - and data. I was flattered to ask to deliver a keynote this year, and the topic I chose was near and dear to my heart: using data to create competitive advantage. As I lay out in my slides, building a successful - and sustainable - data-driven enterprise is so much more than simply having better algorithms or a more performant box: It takes great people with data DNA and a model that creates competitive moats around the business. It is so seductive to focus on "the algorithms" as being the "there there" in creating competitive advantage. In my experience, they are a necessary but insufficient criterion for success.

In any event, take a read and share your thoughts. This is merely the beginning of a conversation that we'll be having for a long, long time.

This post originally appeared on InformationArbitrage.com.