Data Gurus

In this episode, Francesco Guglielmino, CEO of Cuebiq, joins host, Sima Vasa, to discuss the evolution of location data and prioritizing consumer privacy. Key Takeaways: (03:49) Implementing a privacy framework with consent tracking and a withdrawal option, despite challenges. (12:22) How younger generations show greater willingness to use digital tools. (13:25) Doing the right thing and why it means making tough decisions without reward. (15:21) When products are free, users’ data is the product. (20:01) Why weaknesses in the anonymity of location data require solutions. (24:32) Deploying a system to remove all data of users potentially underage. (27:06) Why Francesco’s platform allows clients to customize analytics while protecting privacy. (30:04) Handling location data remains challenging and expensive. Resources Mentioned: Spectus Thanks for listening to the Data Gurus podcast, brought to you by Infinity Squared. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star r

On this episode, host Sima Vasa welcomes Basel Fakhoury, CEO and Co-Founder of User Interviews, for an enlightening conversation about Basel’s work in improving data acquisition specificity. During their conversation, Basel and Sima discuss: - Using data to uncover needs in the market to better cater products and services to a particular niche. - The lessons Basel and his team learned from their first failed startup, and how that experience helped build User Interviews. - How finding the right survey respondents, rather than using a random sample, can provide more substantive and relevant data. - Why AI is an aid to finding human respondents rather than a threat to human-centric data. - The potential for growth in the data research industry. Basel and his team’s journey is an excellent case study of both the power of data in the present as well as the industry’s future trajectory. Resources Mentioned: - User Interviews - Infinity Squared - Infinity Squared - LinkedIn Th

On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Dr. Loubna Bouarfa, CEO and Founder of OKRA.ai and Member of the Board of Advisors of the Oxford Internet Institute, who shares her unique perspective on the ethical questions around the increasing capabilities of AI technology. Sima and Dr. Bouarfa discuss the following: - How different business models can leverage new technologies to either improve or harm society. - Why transparency in AI development and implementation is essential to maintaining consumer protections. - How aligning the incentives of regulatory bodies and technology developers can create natural safeguards against harmful business models.  - The neutral nature of technology and the potential it holds for both positive and negative implementation. Dr. Bouarfa’s work puts her on the frontier of technological development and gives her a unique insight into the future of data acquisition and consumer privacy as new AI tools are rolled out. - OKRA.ai - Oxford Internet Institut

On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy, Founder and CEO of Neurons, to hear how he and his team are using large data sets to build AI models that can predict human behavior. In their conversation, Thomas and Sima discuss: - How a public methodology can build consumer trust in the data acquisition industry. - The intersection of data science and neuroscience in building predictive AI models. - The differences between a predictive AI model and a generative AI model. - Divergences between data sets collected in a lab setting and data sets gathered in real-world situations. - Limits on what current AI technology is capable of, and the possible limits of future AI tools. - Ideal use cases for designers and marketers using different kinds of AI tools. Although the technology is still evolving, the methodology Thomas’ organization is using to push predictive AI forward holds a world of possibilities for data scientists and digital marketers. - Neurons  - Sima V

On this episode, host Sima Vasa talks to Rob Pace, Founder and CEO of HundredX, about using data in a mission-driven organization to drive positive outcomes for both the business and the community. Rob and Sima discuss the following: - A business has to be profitable to provide the resources needed to pursue goals aligned with its mission. - Outcomes-based systems are often more effective than product-based systems of organization. - Prioritizing short-term success will inevitably affect the ability to find long-term success. - Aligning the needs of the community with the incentives of the business provides common interests that drive organizational success. - In an environment of mistrust around data and privacy, community collaboration builds relationships between consumers and data organizations that benefit both parties. - Data collection businesses should work with their community partners, not against them. - HundredX - Sima Vasa - Infinity Squared - Infinity Squared - L

On this episode, host Sima Vasa is joined by Chris Barry, CEO of HumanListening™ at The Evolved Group, who discusses the role of AI tools, specifically large language learning models, in data research. Chris and Sima discussed the following in relation to AI and data acquisition: - The ability of AI to elicit better responses from consumers than human surveyors. - Why feedback of extremes is easier to come by than more measured feedback. - How conversational AI can be used to explore the drivers behind customer responses. - Adaptive AI personas that can be rolled out to better engage with specific demographics. - The non-judgemental nature of AI chatbots that provokes better feedback on sensitive topics. - The relationship between AI research tools and the expertise and skill of human researchers. In the evolving digital landscape, the best researchers marry human expertise with digital efficiency. - The Evolved Group - HumanListening™ - Sima Vasa - Infinity Squared - In

This episode features a conversation between Sima Vasa, CEO and Founder of Infinity Squared Ventures, and John Bremer, President of Phantom 4 Solutions, at a virtual event hosted by Numerator and moderated by Bob Fawson. John and Sima provide insights into the evolution of data collection and analytics in a rapidly-changing consumer landscape. They discuss: - How the real applications of new technologies often outpace their intended use cases, overextending these tech assets. - Human expertise can’t effectively be replaced by digital tools. - Shifting consumer preferences and behaviors continuously alter which data collection methods are most effective, and which ones are losing their usefulness. In an environment where technologies and standard practices are in constant flux, leaders in the data acquisitions space have to stay adaptable to find continued success. - Bob Fawson - Infinity Squared - Numerator - Numerator - LinkedIn Thanks for listening to the Data Gurus podcast

In this episode, host Sima Vasa is pleased to welcome Michalis Michael, CEO at DMR Group, who shares the work his organization is doing with AI to be more efficient in both gathering and analyzing market data. Michalis shared some important insights on the evolution of AI: - AI can be categorized into different types: Narrow AI and Strong AI. - Narrow AI includes machine learning models and is a useful data analytics tool. - Machine learning models are most effective when they’re trained from human inputs, which still leaves some room for subjectivity in the final results. - AI is not a silver bullet but a time-saving tool that more efficiently aggregates and categorizes massive amounts of data. As Michalis tells it, the best AI tools still require a human touch to implement them in a meaningful use case. - DMR - Sima Vasa - Infinity Squared - Infinity Squared - LinkedIn Thanks for listening to the Data Gurus podcast, brought to you by Infinity Squared. If you enjoyed this

On this episode, Sima is joined by Anouar El Haji, Founder and CEO at Veylinx, a behavioral insights platform for answering critical business questions during all stages of product innovation. Topics discussed include: - Anouar’s background and career path. - The evolution of economics from being strictly theoretical to being scientifically tested. - The inherent bias in conducting hypothetical surveys as market research. - Measuring demand by studying subjects with a financial stake tied to their answers. - Why the good nature of humans is detrimental to conducting scientific research studies. - The ways AI could completely change the market research space without the industry proactively adding safeguards. Resources:  https://veylinx.com/ Thanks for listening to the Data Gurus podcast, brought to you by Infinity Squared. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review to help get the word out about the show, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss another insig

Sima is delighted to talk with Gordon Allott today! Gordon is the President and CEO of BroadPeak Partners LLC, the company that developed the K3 software. Today's discussion takes a slightly different turn as we introduce Gordon, who is working on various aspects of data. The work done at BroadPeak brings a fresh perspective on the use of data in today's digital age. So, join us as we delve into Gordon's journey and learn about BroadPeak's unique approach to data integration and analysis! Gordon's bio Gordon Allott is the president and CEO of BroadPeak Partners, developer of the K3. K3 is software that takes data from anywhere, allows users to transform, filter, and unify through an intuitive UI, and send it anywhere. Before founding BroadPeak, Gordon was a consultant and attorney in the financial sector. That included advising a wide variety of bulge-bracket banks and hedge funds on derivatives trading. Gordon led the energy trading and risk groups for Sapient, delivering trading projects for Duke,

Sima is happy to have Venkat Venkataramani joining her for today's episode of Data Gurus! Venkat is the CEO and Co-founder of Rockset.  Venkat shares his background, dives into the benefits of real-time data analytics and cloud-based infrastructure, and discusses the interesting work they are doing at Rockset. Biography Venkat Venkataramani is CEO and Co-founder of Rockset. In his role, Venkat helps organizations build, grow, and compete with data by making real-time analytics accessible to developers and data teams everywhere. Before he founded Rockset, he was an Engineering Director for the Facebook infrastructure team managing online data services for 1.5 billion users. These systems scaled 1000x during his eight years at Facebook, serving five billion queries per second at single-digit millisecond latency and five 9s of reliability. Before joining Facebook, Venkat worked on tools to make the Oracle database easier to manage. Venkat’s background Before he founded Rockset, Venkat managed onli

Sima is delighted to have Henry Hays joining her on the podcast today! Henry is the energetic and inspiring Co-founder and Disruptor at Henry Hays Consulting. In this episode of Data Gurus, Henry dives into the concept of disruptive innovation. Biography Henry spent most of his adult life in sales and sales leadership- mainly in pharmaceuticals and biotech. He started in the late 1990s and had the good fortune to get promoted to several different roles where he gained a good sense of the business. His break came when he was recruited away from a comfortable job by his professional mentor, and he literally said “yes” before even learning what he was supposed to sell! Within five years, they had grown the company (Avanir Pharmaceuticals) to the point where it was acquired. That gave Henry resources and choice, so he chose that point to step away from the hamster wheel pace. It happened at the time when the first few Blockbuster Video stores began closing, which was crazy for Henry. So he dove head-firs

Alon Chen, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tastewise, joins Sima today to share his career journey and dive into what they are doing at Tastewise. Biography: Alon Chen is a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer at Tastewise. He is the developer of an artificial intelligence-based food intelligence platform designed to assist food and beverage businesses and brands. The company's platform works with food brands, manufacturers, ingredient companies, and flavor houses, including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Givaudan, Campbell's, and Kraft Heinz, to enhance new product development, build marketing strategies, and accelerate sales in retail and restaurants, enabling restaurants, hospitality groups, and food brands to make smarter decisions for a healthy, sustainable, and delicious future. Alon’s journey Alon was born and raised in Israel. He started his first business at fifteen, building and selling computers. His first real job was at Google, looking after the search quality for Hebrew a

Today, Pedro Almeida, the CEO and Co-founder of MindProber, joins Sima on the podcast to share his background and discuss the innovative work they are doing at MindProber.  Pedro’s background Pedro studied social psychology with a strong emphasis on market research. As an undergrad, he worked as a research assistant at a small cognitive neuroscience lab and he later did an internship in social psychology. After graduating, he became a market research consultant while also pursuing his research on electrophysiology. His field of interest was effective processes, emotion, and populations with emotional impairment. Pedro did his Master’s in experimental social psychology. He has always combined his two passions of applied psychology on the one hand and the business side of things on the other. Social psychology Social psychology is an experimental field. It looks at social cognition and processes, and how people make social inferences and process social information. That sometimes has to do with soci

Reed Cundiff, the newly-appointed CEO of Sago (formerly the Schlesinger Group), joins Sima to talk about how he got to where he is in his career and the exciting journey ahead of him. Reed’s story Reed cut his teeth as a marketing analyst. He spent about ten years tracking the enterprise resource planning industry and then moved to Microsoft, where he ran global insights for almost twelve years. After that, he had the opportunity at Kantar to head an integrated team that initially ran the North American business and later all of the Americas.  Becoming the CEO of Sago After managing the insights team at Kantar for a long time, learning a lot, and going through multiple business cycles, Reed jumped at the opportunity of becoming CEO of the Schlesinger Group, now known as Sago.  What attracted Reed to Schlesinger? Three things attracted Reed to the idea of running Schlesinger. The first was that he felt there was a lot he could learn from his role as a stand-alone CEO and from looking at the i

Sima is happy to have Tim Clover, the CEO and Founder of Glow, and Sherry Frey, the VP of Wellness at Nielsen IQ, joining her on the show to dive into how consumers think about the planet, sustainability, and societal responsibility. About Tim Tim left management consulting almost ten years ago to start Glow, his research technology business. He started Glow to make it easy to get the consumer mindset into the boardroom, remove the layers of complexity using some automation throughout the process, and tie everything together. Tim has had a wonderful journey over the last few years and is very happy to work with Nielsen! What Sherry is doing at Nielsen IQ At Nielsen IQ, they refer to total wellness because consumers think about wellness in terms of their personal health and wellness, the health of the environment, and social responsibility. So they built a team at Nielsen that focuses on helping clients better understand the opportunities in the sustainability and social responsibility space, how t

Cliff Courtney, the President and CEO of Courtney180, joins Sima on the show today.  Cliff’s journey Cliff comes from a marketing-driven background. He believes marketing is a good background for all companies. Specifically for him because he has worked predominantly in chief strategy officer roles in Omnicom agencies and then in chief marketing roles, also for Omnicom agencies. As a result, he had good scope for go-to-market plans and how to execute and sell them. Challenges The biggest challenges Cliff ever faced were how to de-commoditize the commoditized brands. (In other words, how to differentiate certain commonly-found items from other, similar items.) Another challenge he faces is that most brands are challenger brands that are competing with companies with bigger budgets and footprints and more impact. So to win these days, he has to be cagey and very smart when optimizing his media messaging.  The expanding sphere of influence of the CMO The sphere of influence of the CMO has expan

Today, Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, the Global Executive Vice President of Enterprise Growth for the RepTrak Company, joins Sima to discuss the history and measurement of reputation. They dive into what reputation is, what shapes it, how to measure it, and its consequences. Stephen’s background Stephen was born and raised in the UK, and he has been living in the US since the end of the 1990s. He trained in science for many years and geared himself toward becoming a doctor. But just before he was about to go to medical school, he changed his mind for personal reasons and moved into the realm of branding and reputation.  He spent his formative years in the agency world. He joined the RepTrak Company eight years ago. He applies many of the skills he used in the agency world to what he does now at RepTrak.  Stephen’s current focus Stephen currently focuses on the premise of reputation, what it is, what drives it, and how it can help elevate the success trajectory of companies. Reputation The conce

Today, Sima joins Gary Laben, the former CEO of Dynata, and Jason Sobel, Head of U.S. Advisory, Evercore Partners, for a panel discussion hosted by Dynata on reinventing and reinvesting.  Sima’s background Sima is a research practitioner. She worked on the supplier side early in her career and had some experience on the client side at IBM, understanding how people use information. Then she worked at the NPD Group before becoming an entrepreneur. She currently does advisory services and investment banking through Oberon Securities and has a podcast. Jason’s background  For the last 25 years, Jason has been doing investment banking, mergers, and acquisitions in information media and marketing. Before that, he was a singer and songwriter.  Common threads that exist amongst companies that thrive in the current environment and any rapidly-changing environment. Sima feels that leadership and employee experience are critical to activate, motivate, and inspire people to produce good quality work. Si

Today, Sima joins Mike Delaney, the Managing Partner of Court Square Capital Partners, and Gary Laben, the Former CEO of Dynata, on a panel discussion to discuss various issues related to the insights and marketing industry. What is the biggest obstacle and gaps you see for the insights and marketing industry moving forward? Sima thinks that the biggest challenges are getting used to all the change and managing all the available data. One of the biggest changes Gary has seen is how talent has been disrupted over the last few years. That has created an entirely different environment for acquisition, retention, growth, and development.  How are best practice companies dealing with how to work from home and culture? Gary believes that the values of a company define its culture. Mike believes that culture is singularly the most important thing that defines who will win in the marketplace. He has dealt with many leaders who feel that being in the office is essential for building a culture. Howeve