HN Explorer

Data scientist consulting to startups?

9 points by princehonest ↗ HN
Has your startup hired a "big data"/data scientist/machine learning consultant before? If so, what was your experience? Why did you hire them? Where did you first meet them? How much did it cost? Would you hire them again?

5 comments

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chewxy
I am a data scientist/statistics consultant, and have consulted to a few startups and one soft drink company that is often confused with a drug.

Can't say for their experience, but I can say why they hired me: make sense of data. Fact is, most "big data" out there are mostly junk and useless. Being able to pick out the ones that work is actually most of my job description.

Where? One of which are on HN, two are from hackathons I attended. Another one actually came from a friend of a friend.

How much it cost? I charge per hour, and ranges from $80 - 300 per hour.

Hire me again? Everyone so far is a repeat customer.

What I'm thinking of doing? Hanging up the jacket. Consulting is a tough business.

kohanz
What I'm thinking of doing? Hanging up the jacket. Consulting is a tough business.

Would love to hear your reasons for this.

Alex_MJ
I'd also love to hear your thoughts on why you're hanging up the jacket - I'm considering starting consulting in the same area for side income. (and whether you'd considered charging per week, Patrick Mackenzie-ing a lot of the onerous parts, etc)
chewxy
Simple - finding customers is surprisingly more difficult than you'd expect. Waaaay more difficult. I've thought about continuing consulting with big companies, but with big companies, you have to sign this sign that, get that manager's approval... it can take up to 3-4 months before you even start work (hence start charging).
sbashyal
I have been thinking about asking similar question to HN community. I am a data scientist with experience in using data to improve products and help organizations grow. I would love to chat with start-ups interested in data science and will do data exploration for free to identify opportunities. E-mail is in my profile.