In this episode, Anthony Ugoni, one of Australia’s more prominent leaders in analytics interviews Felipe. Felipe came to Australia as a backpacker and ended up falling in love with the place. With Spanish as his first language, the only English he could say was the jacket is black. Then, Felipe explains some of his odd jobs and working freelance IT. At university, Felipe wanted to specialize in data, but all of his friends told him it was dead. So, he ended up specializing in hardware, even though all of his work was in data. When Felipe went to do his thesis, he happened to stumble into a project involving brain wave activity. The electrical engineer did all the research and design, the signals would be passed to Felipe’s computer, where he made his first application of machine learning. 

Then, Felipe explains how he and a colleague of his made the decision to quit their jobs at a small consulting firm. They decided to start their own firm, despite knowing very little about business. The first year they almost went bankrupt about four times and made lots of mistakes. They wanted to be in analytics but were unsure how to sell their services. The two spent six months creating a piece of software. When they went to show prospects they found out people did not like the entire product. So they decided to focus on their consulting business. 

Enjoy the show!

We speak about:

• [02:40] Felipe’s background 
• [06:10] Education and specializations
• [14:30] Quick delivery of value  
• [17:20] A series of odd jobs and IT freelancing  
• [24:20] Setting up his own consulting company  
• [33:15] Highs and lows of Clear Blue Water
• [37:30] Executive Director & Head of Data Science at ANZ
• [47:55] Supportive and open culture at work 
• [52:40] Understanding the business at a new job
• [54:45] Inspiration behind Data Futurology
• [62:00] Explainable AI 

Resources:

Felipe’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felipefloresanalytics/?originalSubdomain=au

Episode #21 Antony Ugoni: https://www.datafuturology.com/podcast/21

Quotes:

• “If I’m an engineer, people will think I’m smart.”
• “A colleague of mine and I decided to set up our own consulting company. Professionally, it was the best and worst thing I’ve ever done.”
• “Sales is built on trust and a human connection.”
• “I had not done a good job of being a leader and creating a culture.”
• “How can we make data scientists today, the CEOs of tomorrow?” 

Now you can support Data Futurology on Patreon!  

https://www.patreon.com/datafuturology 

Thank you to our sponsors: 

UNSW Master of Data Science Online: studyonline.unsw.edu.au 

Datasource Services: datasourceservices.com.au or email Will Howard on will@datasourceservices.com.au 

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