Building a Data Culture: How Startups Should Think About Data from Day 1 (Episode 2)

In this episode, Matt Ainsworth (Sales Manager at Tekkon ) is joined by Kale Miller, founder of Prometheus AI and host of The Small Business CTO podcast.

Alternatively, check out the episode on Spotify too!

Together, they dive deep into what building a strong data culture looks like from the earliest days of a startup’s journey. From deciding when to start collecting data, to choosing the right tools and who to hire first (hint: you probably don’t need a data scientist on day one), Kale draws from his extensive experience across startups and scaleups to deliver practical, no-fluff advice. They explore:

The surprising trade-offs of early-stage data obsession.
How to scale your data approach alongside your business.
What “good enough” looks like for early analytics and governance.
Real-world examples and actionable tools that every founder should know.

Whether you’re just launching your MVP or scaling a fast-growing SaaS product, this episode will help you build smarter, leaner, and with data that’s actually useful.

Looking to connect with Kale – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalelewismiller/

Check out the Small Business CTO Podcast – https://www.buzzsprout.com/2333082/episodes

Looking for your next developer, AI/ML Engineer or Data Specialist – feel free to reach out and we can chat about finding you top-tier, yet cost-effective resources – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ainsworth-35a53522b/

Some of the books mentioned in the episode:

Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Fundamentals of Data Engineering
Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, & Tensorflow

Tune in to get grounded insights that balance technical know-how with startup practicality.