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Episode 178:

How to Build a Data Stack to Win PLG, Featuring Peter Chapman

February 21, 2024

This week on The Data Stack Show, Eric and Kostas chat with Peter Chapman, Peter is a consultant who specializes in helping PLG companies drive more revenue with data. With a background in data and revenue operations, Peter shares his experiences in building data stacks at startups like Heroku, emphasizing the early consideration of data architecture to avoid future issues. He highlights the significance of a cohesive data stack for product-led growth companies and the unique challenges faced by open-source companies in commercializing their projects. The conversation also explores the operationalization of data, the importance of aligning sales with a company’s technical ethos, debating the balance between inference and training costs, the strategic approach to margins by focusing on enterprise features over infrastructure reselling, and more. If you’d like to contact Peter about his advisory services, his email is peter@chapman-coaching.com.

Notes:

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

  • Peter’s background and journey in data (0:26)
  • Introduction to PLG (4:18)
  • Starting in data at Heroku (6:05)
  • Building the data stack at Heroku (8:13)
  • Data stack requirements for early-stage companies (12:00)
  • Differentiating PLG companies from open source companies (19:26)
  • Venture capital and open source as a lever for growth (22:56)
  • Initial data modeling and analysis (25:38)
  • Operationalizing Data (29:16)
  • Sales and Marketing Operationalization (31:52)
  • Identifying Signals (34:16)
  • Challenges in Developing Signals (37:07)
  • Account Management for Developer Tools (42:30)
  • Challenges in Achieving Margins (45:02)
  • Leveraging Infrastructure for Margins (47:35)
  • Inference vs Training (54:55)
  • Final thoughts and takeaways (57:02)

 

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

About the Podcast

Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

To keep up to date with our future episodes, subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or the player of your choice.

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