The most likely outcome when launching a startup is failure. How do you know when to try anyway? For Dennis Mortensen, CEO and Founder of x.ai, it’s not the data. It’s not the idea. It’s the pain you’re solving for that will allow you to propel forward,  even when the statistics are stacked against you.

As the How to Use Data series continues, Dennis provides the Better Product community with a word of caution to anyone building a data-driven startup. 

Takeaways: 

• How to win with a better dataset 
• Why time spent defining data before development pays off 
• Start low-tech before ramping up 
• The MVP isn’t the only way 

Things to Listen For:

• [08:35] How do you get to value quickly while taking your time? 
• [09:37] Accepting a thumbs up instead of an MVP 
• [11:00] Why Dennis built their own dataset instead of leveraging existing tech
• [13:10] What’s the right approach for starting a product based on data science?
• [15:14] Lessons learned from mistakes made 
• [17:00] The challenges of AI for a human-centric solution 
• [18:16] Bringing the data science into reality to create a natural feeling experience
• [23:33] How much is too much when using AI to personify people? 
• [24:00] What would Dennis do differently?
• [27:30] A word of caution for anyone building a data-driven startup 
• [29:56] Designs role coupling with data science