In January 2023, there were 420,987 business applications in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau (1). I am pleased to say that Altman Data Innovations, LLC is among that cohort. As the owner of a new business, I spend a lot of time thinking about everything from business strategy to marketing to how I’ll deliver services. As I think through these things, I often come back to answering the question: Why am I launching this business?
I knew early in my career that I wanted to start my own business one day. I am fortunate to have worked full-time at four successful companies. These companies are each unique and provide very different services from one another. One thing they have in common is that at the time I worked for them, each of them was led by their founder(s). I saw how the people I worked for had built businesses from the ground up and thought “maybe I can do that too.”
At some point, my career shifted from civil/transportation engineering to analytics, with a healthy dose of overlap in the middle. Professionally, one of my favorite things became using data to help facilitate business decision making. I’ve had some exciting opportunities to do this, whether it be helping airports understand the operational impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic or helping a company analyze the impact of a new product offering on customer retention. As I mulled business ideas, it was clear that this type of work was where I could offer the most benefit to others.
Most of my career has been working in small consulting firms, and partnering directly with the end-users of my work is something I enjoy, so it seemed natural to start a consulting business. Most of my career has also been within small businesses, so I understand the unique challenges that small businesses face.
A simple Google search of “small business analytics” reveals many articles talking about the importance of data to small businesses. This 2020 article from the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business has some interesting insights on the topic. One thing I noticed in my search is that many resources may talk about the importance of data, promote advanced topics (machine learning, for example), or provide lists of tools that can be used. However, there seem to be few resources on how to get started if you are a small business.
Small businesses may not have extensive experience in analytics. I would like Altman Data Innovations, LLC be a trusted resource in bringing that experience to the table. Each customer is unique, so our approach will be to partner directly with our customers to understand their unique challenges and craft custom plans to make data useful for them. Please visit our website to learn more about what we do.
Are you a small business owner or manager? I’d enjoy speaking with you to learn about how you use data in your business and some of the challenges you face. Please reach out to set up a time to speak!
(1) https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/pdf/historic/bfs_2023m01.pdf. A business application is a request for a federal tax identifier. This number is adjusted for seasonality.