Women in Tech: Harnessing the Data

How was your journey started and how have you got to where you are now?

Well I definitely didn’t have it all planned out!

I did Economics at Cambridge and was very data orientated.

After that I became a Chartered Accountant whilst working as an auditor at EY. My clients were predominantly in the real estate, hospitality and construction sectors. When I was working with these clients, I saw that they were making really big decisions based on out-of-date data, and this stuck with me.

Moving to Cornwall

I then moved down to Cornwall and joined the Launchpad incubator. That’s where my entrepreneurial spirit was ignited. I had a chance to try and create something.

Working with the Eden project was a fantastic pilot case.

It tested whether our concept would work and at that point it wasn’t very tech oriented. We had a minimum viable product, and what we were trying to do was to see if we could send a notification to move people away from a busy area and at the same time understand footfall in a venue.

We have all seen people standing in venues with a clicker trying to manually count how many people come through a certain area. I thought there surely must be a better way. That’s where we started to develop and explore.

The App

The idea was that people would download an App which would help them navigate around the site, but at the same time would be tracking their journey to give that data back to the venue.

The App would also be able to send personalised notifications: for example, ‘the canteen is really busy, why don’t you explore the exhibit?’

It’s not going out to everyone, but to a few users.

This idea really came from my background of studying behavioural economics to try and get people to nudge their behaviours without forcing them to do anything.

That’s where we started our journey as Data Duopoly.

From that, we really evolved.

We had the COVID pandemic; we had Brexit. So many world events happened that are outside an entrepreneur’s control. So what we managed to do at that point was to work with the National Trust – one of our first paying clients, which was absolutely fantastic.   

We were using the data to understand visitor movements, but also using the location-based notifications to connect people with businesses and potentially drive up spend, but also communicate sustainability messages – i.e. whether you need to put your dog on a leash or seal pups might be resting on the beach.

This got quite a lot of traction with local businesses keen to get on board as well. They wanted to communicate with people visiting the community - like letting them know there is a fantastic pub quite empty that evening.

High streets have also been asking us to do the same to help rejuvenate the High Street, connect businesses and visitors, as well as entice residents back in – and that’s what we are working on now.

The crux of it all is, yes, we gather data.

Obviously to comply with GDPR, as well as being something we are quite passionate about, is that we don’t need personal data. All our data is anonymous.

We give people the insight they need to make valuable decisions. The Councils then have the data they need to make investment decisions rather than simply guess and spend.

That’s in a nutshell how it happened and it’s been pulled by market forces and constant responses to what’s been changing.

The underpinning belief that we all need a little bit more data to make better decisions and that’s the crux of Data Duopoly.
 

How do you see it going forward? What are the next steps?

We want to work with as many business improvement districts and high streets as possible. I really believe in the UN Sustainability Development Goal 11 in sustainable cities. You can’t invest in sustainable cities unless you know how people are utilising them.  

We are providing that data layer to help people make those investment-based decisions.

Something that we built in the product at the very beginning was to provide custom routing. So, you are not limited to what Google does for visualisation, we can draw on a satellite image and for example highlight routes for those with disabilities, i.e. suggest a flat route or one with lifts. It just makes a town easier to explore for as many people as possible.

While people might immediately think that’s great for people with wheelchairs, it’s also great for people with luggage and people with pushchairs.

This makes it a lot more inclusive and better for everyone, by enabling what we call ourselves ‘the microscale Google maps’ for individual cities, but that are managed by the cities themselves. They keep the data.

Right now the tech giants like Google and Apple who make our smartphones own all that location data. It’s proprietary to them. They are not sharing it because it drives their ad revenue. But if we can release that data to the social changemakers, a lot of good can be done with that.

Another strategy to expand is that we offer our mobile App plugin. We would love to work with places like FirstBus, GoBus and integrate our API and SDK. People already have these Apps on their phones - we could provide the technology to help them monitor footfall and also let people know where the busy areas are.
 

How have you felt being a woman in tech? Have you felt there’s been many challenges along the way because you are a woman?

I’ve actually been quite lucky. The Southwest and tech space in particular have been so welcoming and inclusive that I fortunately haven’t had a moment where I thought, ‘Oh yikes, this isn’t for me’ or ‘As a result of my gender, I’m not welcome here’. It has been a great experience.

What I will say, however, is that when I go on the national stage such as for bigger-pitching competitions or investor meetings, you do notice that sometimes you are the only female in the room. And again, that isn’t to say that anyone has made me feel unwelcome. It’s just something you notice that you are the only one there.
 

You recently did the Santander Global pitch, how did it go?

It was amazing as I got to the last 6 out of over 600 start-ups! It was a series of heats. It was incredible to meet all those people and have the opportunity to share what we are doing.

It was a 3-minute pitch with 7 minutes for questions. When you think about it, it’s not very long, but they can ask you anything. So, it’s in the moment where everyone’s looking at you and you are under pressure. But it was really exciting and fantastic to meet the other start-ups and the judges. A great inspirational event.

It’s great to be representing the Southwest on a national stage there because commonly you get everyone from London. It’s been fantastic to show that there are entrepreneurial activities all over the country and they’re not just concentrated in the typical city hubs that we are all accustomed to.
 

Do you feel proud to be a female role model and an entrepreneur, and who are your own role models?

I am really happy about that. It’s a testament to everyone in the sector and to the Southwest in particular. I keep going back to that because my experience might have been different if I had been elsewhere.

The Southwest has been so welcoming. There is a fantastic tech network here and everyone is so collaborative.

When I think of role models, there are two people I’d probably say. One of course I have to mention is my mum. Not an entrepreneur, she’s a dentist. She’s held her own in the industry and done incredibly well. She’s always taught me that women deserve a seat at the table, very much just like their male counterparts. That’s something I’ve definitely held true.

The other one is Sheryl Sandberg and her very famous book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. I gain motivation from the fact that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Unfortunately, from my previous experience it’s true that I think women sometimes have to be almost twice as good to get the recognition they deserve.
 

What advice would you give to somebody who is looking to advance in the tech sector?

I was a little nervous beforehand about coming in and setting up a business in tech. I don’t come from a technical background. I am not a software developer. Initially I thought I’m not welcome in the tech sector as I don’t have the necessary skills, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The tech sector in the Southwest was so welcoming and collaborative. They welcome people with other skills – people with finance skills, data skills, pitching skills and entrepreneurialism. This collaboration makes the sector exciting and innovative.

My advice would be to enter the sector with the skills you have and be willing to learn because something great will come out of it. Don’t be afraid of not having the traditional tech skills, as your skills will still be very relevant and they are actually needed in the sector.
 

Have you seen the tech industry change at all since you’ve been in it? What changes are you predicting?

I do admit I still feel I am quite a newbie to the tech world, but I have seen some changes. I think it’s becoming more accessible, and people are getting more excited.

We have seen the rise of big companies like Meta and Airbnb, but people are seeing how big and how corporate they’ve become and are trying to do things differently. There’s huge focus now on companies thinking about sustainability from the outset.

We also started thinking about inclusivity from the outset and the UN sustainable development goals. We made the decision to use AWS service in Ireland because they are a green service and their power is from renewable energy.

At the very beginning, it doesn’t cost too much to change what you do. If you set up those processes as you scale, then you have got sustainable processes in place.

I imagine it would be quite difficult to switch later on in the journey.

There is a growing trend for people being more aware of the processes they implement at the beginning, because that’s what is going to shape the future company.

The tech sector is really thinking about how it can be sustainable and how it can actually help people, whereas maybe the ‘older tech’ is a bit more extractive about what it can take and at what value.

Future tech is thinking how we can make a positive difference socially and economically. That’s a great transition.