The Data Score

The Data Score by Jason DeRise offers insights into leveraging data, technology, and business strategies for effective decision-making. It focuses on actionable data practices, alternative data's role in finance, data-driven product development, and evaluating data's ROI. The newsletter encourages interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex problems in finance, business, and technology.

Data and Technology Insights Alternative Data in Finance Business Strategies and Decision Making Data-Driven Product Development Investment and Market Analysis Data Monetization and ROI Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving

The hottest Substack posts of The Data Score

And their main takeaways

The Health of the US Consumer: A DataScore Interview with NielsenIQ

59 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
💼 Business Data-driven Decision Making Consumer behavior E-commerce Market Trends
  1. The health of the US consumer in 2024 is complex, influenced by both tailwinds and headwinds, with different consumer cohorts showing varied spending behaviors.
  2. Low-income consumers are spending a higher percentage of their income on e-commerce, indicating potential shifts in spending habits influenced by factors like age demographics and value-seeking behavior.
  3. Analysis of specific industries like travel, home improvement, pet products, and fast fashion reveals changing consumer behaviors, highlighting trends such as a shift to home-related spending and considerations for subscription services like online streaming and pet supply shopping.

Assessing the ROI of Data

98 implied HN points • 03 Jan 24
💼 Business Data Analysis Data products
  1. Raw data is a cost; insights have value. The process of transforming raw data into insight-ready data is crucial for generating value.
  2. Assess the return on investment in data by considering how many decisions can be influenced and understanding the limitations of the data. Data that positively impacts decisions increases its value.
  3. Understand the cost of data investment, including sourcing, loading, and transforming data. Consider the ease of integrating data and the importance of insights generated over time.

Top Questions ahead of Battlefin’s Discovery Day Miami

59 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
💰 Finance Investing AI Data Technology Economics
  1. The article highlights key questions for speakers at Battlefin's Discovery Day Miami, focusing on emerging technologies integration and data-driven insights in investment debates.
  2. The author tested ChatGPT for question generation, challenging its ability to create relevant and insightful questions for each panel session.
  3. The author compared their questions with ChatGPT's questions for each panel, reflecting on their differences and the strengths of human creativity against AI capabilities.

Top Questions ahead of Eagle Alpha’s Next Level Alternative Data Conference

39 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24
💼 Business Alternative Data Generative AI Asset management
  1. The future of the alternative data industry and how smart asset managers are preparing for it is a key theme in the upcoming conference.
  2. The use of generative AI in financial markets, its applications, constraints, and implications are important topics to be explored.
  3. Corporate data strategy including use cases, monetization challenges, and blockers will be a focal point of discussion at the conference.

Top Questions ahead of Neudata’s New York Winter Data Summit

59 implied HN points • 05 Dec 23
💼 Business Data Analysis Finance Investing Technology Conferences
  1. The questions asked at Neudata's New York Winter Data Summit cover themes like alternative data in investing, AI applications in financial analysis, and insights from recent data trends.
  2. Speakers will discuss the evolving role of alternative data and its impact on investment strategies, the use of AI in financial analysis, and the real-world implications of data trends on the economy and key sectors.
  3. Attendees will gain insights on the impact of alternative data on decision-making, the potential of AI in financial analysis, and the practical applications of recent data trends in the finance industry.
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Follow-up on Fashion Industry Pricing Trends: A Data Score Interview with Flywheel

19 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
💼 Business Fashion
  1. Flywheel Digital noted increased promotional activities in the US fashion industry in January 2024 compared to the previous year, with more products on discount and a higher sell-out rate.
  2. Certain retailers like Levi's and H&M increased their promotional aggressiveness, while others like Macy's and Nike opted for less discounting activity in January 2024.
  3. The data suggests that fashion retailers were cautious with new product launches in January 2024, possibly to avoid overstock situations experienced during the previous holiday season.

Questions First, Data Second

59 implied HN points • 15 Nov 23
💼 Business Decision-making
  1. Data-driven insights are most effective when the right questions are asked, emphasizing the need for thorough inquiry and curiosity in decision-making processes.
  2. Asking the right questions involves various methods like the '5 Whys' technique and 'Question Bursts' to delve deeper into understanding the root causes of problems and uncovering key insights.
  3. Understanding users' desired outcomes through techniques like 'Jobs To Be Done' interviews is crucial for creating products aligned with user needs and expectations, leading to greater satisfaction and product success.

A 3-Part Series: Thriving Across the Worlds of Finance, Business, Data, and Technology

118 implied HN points • 09 Aug 23
💼 Business Finance Technology Data Decision-making Integration
  1. Problems in the fields of finance, business, data, and technology are becoming more interconnected and complex.
  2. There is a need to break down silos and create alignment among stakeholders to make more impactful decisions.
  3. Increasing overlap between business, data, and technology requires expertise from multiple domains to navigate high-risk environments.

A Different Approach to Revenue Estimates Leveraging Alternative Data

138 implied HN points • 24 May 23
💰 Finance Investment Data Analysis Market research Customer Behavior Forecasting
  1. Leveraging alternative data for revenue estimates goes beyond traditional transaction data, focusing on customer acquisition and retention insights.
  2. Applying the customer acquisition funnel framework to alternative data can help identify early trends and potential growth issues in a business.
  3. Monitoring the journey from awareness to loyalty using alternative data sets can offer valuable insights for predicting sustainable revenue growth beyond the short term.

The Jargonator T-800 Newsletter Entry

59 implied HN points • 02 Oct 23
💼 Business Finance Data Technology Market research Investing
  1. The newsletter offers insights into data-driven decision-making for a range of professionals.
  2. The newsletter includes a section where jargon related to finance, data, and technology is defined in simpler terms.
  3. Top 5 most viewed articles from the Data Score Newsletter offer valuable insights on revenue estimates, alternative data, evaluating data partners, and more.

It Only Takes One Data Point to Disprove an Investment Thesis

19 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24
💰 Finance Financial Markets Data Analysis Investment Strategies
  1. It only takes one data point to disprove an investment thesis by testing for the counterfactual, which allows identifying data points that go against the thesis.
  2. A question-driven approach to investing focuses on formulating the right questions to deeply understand the investment landscape, prioritizing curiosity and critical thinking.
  3. Designing an investment thesis involves setting measurable outcomes, defining timeframes, identifying dependencies, establishing checkpoints, and being aware of the current valuation. It's crucial to recognize what's in the valuation already and how your views differ.

Introducing The Data Score Newsletter

138 implied HN points • 05 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Data Technology Business Analytics Insights
  1. DataChorus LLC focuses on generating actionable insights for professionals and investors through data and technology.
  2. DataChorus aims to align data and technology with decision-making outcomes, explore different datasets and analytic frameworks for critical questions, and discuss scaling data practices and creating impactful data products.
  3. The Data Score Newsletter by Jason DeRise, CFA provides actionable ways to extract insights from data, explores breakthroughs in data and technology, and encourages open conversations to maximize success.

Why some data companies struggle to sell to the financial markets

138 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
💼 Business Data Finance Market Investment Sales
  1. In the financial market, selling data can be difficult if data companies don't align their products with the specific needs and capabilities of asset managers
  2. Understanding different types of asset managers and their unique requirements is crucial for data companies to succeed in selling to the financial markets
  3. Data companies must consider financial market outcomes and work backward from there to create data solutions that meet the demands of their clients

Data Score Interview: What’s the Health of the US Job Market?

79 implied HN points • 25 Jul 23
💼 Business Employment Market Trends Data insights Professional development
  1. Underemployment is a concerning trend among laid-off professionals, impacting both individuals and institutions.
  2. New job growth is rebounding, particularly in marketing roles, after recent hiring freezes and layoffs.
  3. Tech workers who were laid-off are showing resilience in securing new roles, with some exploring freelancing and higher education.

Part 3: How to drive alignment and thrive when business, technology, and data converge

59 implied HN points • 23 Aug 23
💼 Business Collaboration Leadership Innovation Culture Communication
  1. Original silos and problems need to be addressed collectively since problem complexity is increasing.
  2. To bridge the gap between business, finance, data, and tech, empathy, proactive rituals, and a top-down culture are essential.
  3. Cultural paradigms like psychological safety, treating everyone as a client, and fostering an agile approach help dissolve silos.

Avoid "Basket Case" Data Products Through Iteration

39 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Data products User Experience
  1. In both music and data product development, iterate continuously to refine and improve the final outcome
  2. Feedback is crucial in the iterative process - share, adapt, and repeat until achieving product/market fit
  3. The final product should not be the minimum viable product; be willing to discard prototypes and embrace scalability for long-term success

NVIDIA: How could alternative data be used to assess its long-term potential?

79 implied HN points • 15 Jun 23
💰 Finance Investment Data Analysis Market Analysis Alternative Data
  1. Assessing a company's long-term potential requires more than just traditional financial metrics, and alternative data sources can provide valuable insights.
  2. For NVIDIA, alternative data can illuminate aspects like market presence, evolving applications, competitive threats, and supply chain investments, aiding in making informed investment decisions.
  3. Key questions to answer include evaluating demand, diverse use cases for GPU chips, potential competitors, and investment needs, all essential for understanding NVIDIA's future prospects.

Decoding Holiday Promos: A Data Score Interview with Flywheel on Fashion Industry Pricing Trends

19 implied HN points • 11 Dec 23
💼 Business Retail Data Analysis Fashion Industry Marketing
  1. The fashion industry in the US is promoting more aggressively this holiday season, with an increase in the percentage of products discounted and a decrease in average percentage markdown compared to last year.
  2. 48% of fashion retailers are promoting more aggressively this year, while 48% are promoting less aggressively, showing variations in promotional strategies among different brands.
  3. Flywheel's web-mined pricing data indicates a response to the holiday season through increased discounting activity, leading to a greater percentage of products being sold out.

Is ChatGPT Getting worse? A Case Study on Confirmation Bias

59 implied HN points • 20 Jul 23
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data Analysis
  1. Testing and improving AI models, like ChatGPT, is crucial as our reliance on AI grows. Ensuring model performance and explainability is key for professionals in the field.
  2. Machine learning and AI models face challenges with explainability, especially in the context of large language models like ChatGPT. Specific wording and temperature settings can greatly impact model outputs.
  3. Confirmation bias is a common human tendency to search for and interpret information that aligns with existing beliefs. It's important to recognize and manage biases when assessing AI model performance.

Hot Take on Alternative Data

59 implied HN points • 07 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Data insights Financial Markets AI Impact
  1. Generating actionable insights from data is challenging and requires effort.
  2. Financial market professionals often start with questions and work backward to find answers using data.
  3. Data companies need to focus on aligning their products with clients' desired outcomes and ensuring data is easy to work with.

Using Alternative Data for long-term investment debates: Tesla thought exercise

79 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
💰 Finance Investment Financial Analysis Alternative Data
  1. Alternative Data is not only valuable for short-term predictions but can also enhance long-term forecasts.
  2. Investors should approach long-term investment decisions with a Bayesian mindset, considering various data points and recalibrating views as new information emerges.
  3. Breaking down unanswerable big questions into smaller, measurable components, selecting relevant data metrics, and continuously monitoring and adjusting long-term forecasts can lead to better decision-making in investing.

Data Deep Dive: Predicting China's Exports Using AIS Vessel Tracking Data (+ Other Uses)

59 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Data Analysis Risk management Supply Chain
  1. AIS vessel tracking data can predict China's exports, monitor global trade, and understand real-time economic activity.
  2. Data cleansing is crucial for turning raw AIS data into actionable insights. Cleaning the data involves filtering out anomalies and ensuring accuracy.
  3. It's important to consider limitations like the exclusive focus on large commercial ships, uncertainties in cargo data, and vessel behavior anomalies when analyzing AIS data.

The Paradox of Finding Surprising Insights in Alternative Data

59 implied HN points • 22 Jun 23
💼 Business Data Analysis Investment Financial Markets Market research Risk management
  1. Institutional investors need to find surprising insights in data but also be skeptical of them to ensure accuracy and avoid errors.
  2. When using alternative data to make predictions, it's crucial to verify if the insights answer the right questions and differ from the market consensus.
  3. Digging into the data through various methods like independent validation, error margin assessment, and data integrity checks is essential for investors to ensure the reliability of surprising insights.

Top Questions ahead of BattleFin Corporate Discovery Day

19 implied HN points • 31 Oct 23
💼 Business Data-driven Decision Making Alternative Data Data Monetization
  1. The key questions for the BattleFin Corporate Discovery Day focus on understanding industry landscape changes from data insights, corporate use of alternative data, and managing data monetization ethically.
  2. The event panels will address how corporations incorporate alternative data in decision-making, showcase data value for ROI, and explore competitive intelligence and supply chain optimization through data analysis.
  3. Experts will discuss harnessing human capital data, utilizing weather data for profits, unlocking first-party data value, and leveraging alternative data for competitive edges in various industries.

When to Scale or Keep Iterating

59 implied HN points • 10 May 23
💼 Business Product-Market Fit Scaling Feedback Automation User Behavior
  1. Achieving product/market fit is crucial for the success of a startup or new product as it means the product meets the needs and preferences of the target market, leading to customer satisfaction and retention.
  2. Iterating on a handcrafted approach at the start can help find product/market fit before scaling to avoid unwanted tech debt and ensure the product evolves to meet client outcomes.
  3. To determine product/market fit, look for signs like user retention, surveys showing strong customer preference, and organic growth, then iterate quickly based on critical feedback to ensure the product is indispensable to users.

8 point approach to evaluating data partners

59 implied HN points • 03 May 23
💼 Business
  1. Utilize a Due Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ) to understand the compliance and risks associated with a dataset. Data companies should have pre-written answers ready.
  2. Assess the Return on Investment (ROI) of data partners by considering the influence on decisions, potential limitations of the data, and how well it aligns with the desired outcomes.
  3. Conduct common sense tests to ensure data behaves as expected, shows logical seasonality, and reflects known events. Backtesting against benchmarks is crucial, but beware of common mistakes like not adjusting for scale and seasonality.

The Bull Case for Alternative Data

59 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23
💰 Finance Investing Data Analysis Financial Markets ROI Network Effects
  1. The Alternative Data industry is currently facing challenges but has the potential for long-term success by emphasizing clear client outcomes and building network effects.
  2. Understanding the value clients gain from data insights is crucial, as insights drive decisions and financial outcomes.
  3. Creating network effects and aligning data teams with critical client outcomes are key factors for the Alternative Data industry to move towards sustained growth and productivity.

Top questions ahead of Eagle Alpha's Unbound New York Conference

39 implied HN points • 05 Jun 23
💼 Business Data-driven Decision Making Data Monetization Compliance Investment Strategies
  1. Data monetization involves creating revenue streams by refining and selling accumulated data.
  2. Large Language Models (LLMs) are advanced AI models trained on vast amounts of text data for generating human-like responses in various applications.
  3. Alpha generation in finance refers to outperforming the market or generating excess returns in an investment strategy.

Blending AI and Human Creativity: Generative AI and Content Strategy

39 implied HN points • 28 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Data Content Strategy Machine Learning
  1. A great content strategy in the alternative data ecosystem should focus on providing validation and memorability of the data story for the audience.
  2. When utilizing generative AI in content creation, it is essential to recognize the valuable use cases and limitations associated with this technology.
  3. Human-in-the-loop collaboration, where AI is fine-tuned and guided by human expertise, can lead to the creation of more impactful and meaningful content.

Part 2: What goes wrong when business, finance, data, and technology worlds collide?

19 implied HN points • 16 Aug 23
💼 Business Finance Data Technology Communication Decision-making
  1. Silos and problems in business, finance, data, and technology worlds are mostly self-contained and are becoming more complex over time
  2. Challenges arise when experts talk past each other, fall into the 'smartest person in the room' syndrome, and fear failure in collaborative projects
  3. Successful collaboration requires effective communication, empathy, and psychological safety to navigate jargon, unstated motivations, and pressure of high stakes

What Alt Data Should Learn from Alt Rock

19 implied HN points • 14 Jul 23
💼 Business Data insights Financial Markets Product Development Data products
  1. The success of alternative rock band Nirvana in the 1990s can be seen as a tale of achieving product-market fit, blending novelty with familiarity, and capturing lightning in a bottle
  2. Just like how Nirvana and alternative rock made their way into the mainstream, alternative data companies need to craft unique, valuable products that merge novelty with familiarity to cater to a wider audience
  3. Challenges in adopting alternative data include aligning products with client needs, making data accessible, and building a narrative around data products to drive adoption and ensure impact

Meta v. Bright Data Perspectives: A Data Score Interview with Glacier Networks

1 HN point • 20 Feb 24
💼 Business Data insights Legal Compliance Web scraping Data Governance Risk management
  1. The court ruling in the Meta v. Bright Data case may lead to more defenses against web scraping and offers clarity on accessing public data while underscoring the importance of adhering to individual website terms.
  2. Before starting a web mining project, individuals should carefully review each website's terms, assess intended usage of scraped data, and consider the legal implications of accessing specific content.
  3. Upcoming court cases, like those involving Meta and other companies, may set standards for web mining governance while Glacier Network emphasizes a standardized risk policy to simplify data exchange and compliance in a rapidly evolving data industry.

Data Deep Dive: Web Mining Shows Inflections in Apparel Sector Results

0 implied HN points • 27 Jul 23
💼 Business E-commerce Data Analytics Retail Marketing Risk management
  1. Monitoring price trends is crucial for understanding and analyzing competitive value and market strategies of businesses.
  2. Web-mined pricing data can provide early insights into companies' pricing strategies and their ability to execute them.
  3. Analyzing web-mined pricing data requires proper cleansing, enrichment, and interpretation, considering limitations such as data gaps and differences between online and offline prices.

Coming soon

0 implied HN points • 04 Apr 23
🕹 Technology News
  1. There is a new newsletter called The Data Score coming soon.
  2. The newsletter is run by Jason DeRise.
  3. Readers can subscribe to The Data Score for updates.