Data science skills are necessary for entrepreneurs today, irrespective of their job title. Know why data science skills are important for entrepreneurs.

1. Data Science: The New Skill for Today’s
Entrepreneurs
Emerging data sources and technologies throw light on the industrial path with
a new depth and dynamism. DASCA discusses about data science, the most
competitive skill of the fourth industrial revolution for entrepreneurs.
Industry 4.0 is led by advancements in technologies such as data science and
artificial intelligence. The two present-day concepts – data and industry 4.0 –
interact symbiotically in a way that the industrial revolution requires data
science, and the business ventures followed through the new technologies
provide new data.
At this juncture, for an entrepreneur, it’s essential to be data-savvy, stay
current, and track the new developments in the industry. Data-savvy
companies attract more talent, stay more competitive, and report greater
resilience to crises including the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding data
helps business leaders, entrepreneurs, and business strategists to understand
their business and customer requirements. It also aids in predictive analytics
and maintenance.

2. Let’s elaborate on the use of data in Industry 4.0 here.
Use of data in Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is inseparably tied to humongous data. The amount of data
collected by social media, websites, marketing tools, IoT devices, and mobiles
is humongous and varied in nature. Data is needed to derive insights for
business, make business decisions, and train modern technologies such as
Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. With data, organizations can:
 Improve their operational efficiency by detecting manual errors,
performing quality controls, and optimizing productivity
 Eliminate bottlenecks as big data identifies variables affecting
performance and guides production teams at no or a lesser cost
 Modify/optimize their product portfolios through accurate and
meaningful predictions using data visualization
 Identify possible failures in operations before the machinery
breakdown by identifying the breakdown patterns

3.  Understand the current demand in the market, identify the gap in
the products, and research new products/services
 Improve sales by knowing the customers’ pattern of purchase,
search history, and geographical inclination for a particular
product/service
 Understand business directions, conduct financial analysis, and
make strategic decisions such as development or expansion plans
 Analyze data from the past, present, and future perspectives and
gain a holistic view of enterprise resource planning, product life
cycle management, environmentally responsible systems, and
business ecosystem
To summarize, this part of learning in one’s entrepreneurship journey gives
the necessary shift toward a mobile-centric landscape and get access to real-
time information and make an informed decision. Entrepreneurs can
comprehend the business data, adapt to the changing trends, meet customer
demands faster, and gain a massive advantage over their competitors.
Here is a list of a entrepreneurs whose products leverage their data science
background.
Data science and entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs Company names/logos
Focus
areas
Uses
Jim Goodnight
& John Sall
Product Data analysis
Christian
chatbot
Product
Data
visualization

4. Entrepreneurs Company names/logos
Focus
areas
Uses
Michael F
Koehler
Product
Data and
analytics
solutions
Lars Bjork Product
Data
visualization
Arun C Murthy Product
Big data
management
Gurjeet Singh Services
Solves complex
data challenges
Carlos Guestrin Services
Machine
learning
analytics
Dhiraj C
Rajaram
Mu Sigma Services
Streamline
companies’
processes

5. Entrepreneurs Company names/logos
Focus
areas
Uses
Arnab Gupta Services
Create
algorithms for
fraud detection,
marketing, stock
picking, risk
management,
and procurement
Anil Kaul Services
Quantitative
modeling for the
right use of data
Andrew NG Training
Open source
courses platform
Sebastian Thrun Training
Open source
courses platform
Vik Paruchuri Training
Open source
courses platform

6. Entrepreneurs Company names/logos
Focus
areas
Uses
Lovleen Bhatia Training
Open source
courses platform
Gaurav Vohra
& Sarita
Digumarti
Training
Open source
courses platform
Anthony
Goldbloom
Community
Solve data
science problems
for companies
Gregory
Piatetsky
Community
Solve data
science problems
for companies
Rohit
Shivaprasad
Community
Solve data
science problems
for companies
Why entrepreneurs should invest in sharpening their
data science skills

7. Data science is relevant and necessary for all industries and all levels. Though
the companies may not be involved in creating data products, the use of data
tools helps them to drive marketing and sales efforts.
Starting a company with a data science background is extremely workable
with reference to the company’s progress. Becoming data literate helps to:
 Manage and communicate with the technical team
 Save investment cost, time and customers
 Ask the right questions
 Make better decisions
 Communicate value to Venture Capitalists and investors
Entrepreneurs can groom their data science skills by interacting with their
team of certified data science professionals. It also helps to expand their
network, which is a critical aspect for an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur,
you can use data to solve problems than relying on intuition.
There are data science certifications that help professionals to understand the
science of data analysis and foster innovation. You can include those certified
data science professionals as your team. You can check the most popular
data science certifications offered by DASCA here.
 Big data analytics certifications
 Big data engineering certifications
Having the best data science team around you improves entrepreneurial
talent, understand data science tools, processes, models, and its relation to
business decisions. It hones your decision-making skills as you can assess
applicable methodologies through real-world examples across industries.
There are certain books too that entrepreneurs must-read. Take a look.
5 must-read data science books for entrepreneurs
 AI and Analytics, Accelerating Business Decisions by
Sameer Dhanrajani
Essential for CXOs and entrepreneurs to develop AI and Analytics
strategies in their enterprises

8.  Big data MBA: Driving Business Strategies with Data Science
by Bill Schmarzo
Helps entrepreneurs transform their business with big data
 Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click,
Buy, Lie, or Die by Eric Siegal
Helps to understand predictive analytics works and its effect on
everyday business
 Applied Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook for Business
Leaders by Mariya Rao, Adelyn Zhou, and Marlene Jia
Acts as a practical guide for business leaders to leverage machine
learning for their business
 Data Science for Business by Foster Provost and Tom
Fawcett
Introduces the basic principles of data science for business
Conclusion
The current pace of labor market requires skill-based talent than just a
degree-based talent. Job titles and degrees need to go beyond the basic
skills, and one must expand their knowledge areas with the needs of the time.
Understanding data science skills is a must for entrepreneurs in today’s world
where all business cases are being informed, shaped, and reshaped by data.