Motivation
One of the biggest problems that is facing the data science industry is the cost of utilizing data. The cost of utilization can be broken down into a few components:
- Data collection: physical sensors, human collectors, automatic collectors of data. Privacy and security are a huge concern
- Data analysis: crunching the numbers in the data, identifying trends and verifing that trends are statistically significant
- Data-driven actions: deriving and acting upon insight
There is a significant cost when it comes to labour and time. Unfortunately, this means that startups and non-profits, despite the data they have collected, are not in the optimal position to analyze the data.
Enter Phoenix Data Consulting. This is an idea that I have been toying around with since I my first internship at a data science startup. Using the resources and experience of University of Waterloo students, we could offer pro-bono data consulting services specifically for startups and non-profits.
What have we done so far?
Currently, we are developing visualization software for a non-profit client and scoping out requirements for another high-growth startup.
Website is live: www.phoenixdataconsulting.ca