Hi, I’m Laura, the founder of DataFenix. I started DataFenix because I recognised a gap in many startups’ expertise and confidence when it comes to data science and AI, and I feel this is an opportunity missed.

My Journey

My career in data science led me to Google, where I was surrounded by machine learning experts, data privacy innovation, and best-in-class software engineering. It made it feel like the whole world was an ML expert. I left Google to work in startups to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself. Working in the startup world opened my eyes to the reality that ML, AI, and data skills are not a given for developers building startup products. In fact, startups find “doing data” and AI very difficult, often avoiding the topic when it feels too overwhelming or expensive. It doesn’t need to be this way. AI is incredibly powerful and ought to be helping startups build better features and grow faster and more efficiently. You just need the right people with the right skills.

On LLMs

It goes without saying that Large Language Models (LLMs) have changed the AI landscape dramatically in recent times. My social feed seems to include cutting-edge innovation in AI, intriguing applications of LLMs mixed in with scaremongering, overhype, and overblown company funding rounds. I take a balanced view of the technology - it’s another tool. Tools can be used and misused. They’re not perfect and should be approached with care. But I do believe that LLMs have enabled an incredible shift in capability way beyond chatbots and ChatGPT. They have made it so much easier to do “smart” things with data and personalisation within apps that all of a sudden, you don’t need an army of ML engineers to build some complex solution. And that’s where DataFenix comes in. Recognising this and combining this new capability with decades of expertise in building data-driven products, DataFenix can help startups achieve amazing things within startup budgets and timelines.

Approach

I like to think I can balance pragmatism with idea generation - something borne out of years in fast-paced startups. I’m pretty open-minded, personable, and flexible. I’m happy chatting, even just for the sake of chatting. Feel free to reach out to me at laura@datafenix.ai with any questions, ideas or funny cat videos.