Building a data team at a mid-stage startup: a short story

Erik Bernhardsson's narrative offers a vivid, parable-like journey of transforming a fragmented data team into a strategic organizational powerhouse, revealing how data leadership can systematically overcome cultural and technical challenges. Through a year-long story, the article demonstrates how centralizing data management while decentralizing work can help startups move from siloed, ineffective data practices to a truly data-driven culture that generates measurable business value. Leaders will gain practical insights into embedding data scientists across teams, creating cross-functional collaboration, and building a data infrastructure that supports iterative, metric-driven decision-making.