Episode 90: Operational Analytics, Reverse ETL, and Finding Product-Market Fit with Kashish Gupta

Show Notes(00:43) Kashish shared briefly about his upbringing in Atlanta and his early interest in STEM subjects.(02:38) Kashish described his overall academic experience studying Economics, Management, and Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania.(05:53) Kashish walked over the Machine Learning classes and projects throughout his MSE degree in Robotics.(09:02) Kashish shared valuable lessons learned from multiple internships throughout his undergraduate: data science at Implantable Provider Group, investment analysis at Tree Line, and product management at LYNK.(13:14) Kashish told the anecdotes that enabled him to realize his passion for building startups.(17:14) Kashish recapped his learning about venture capital from spending a summer as an analyst in early-stage deep-tech companies at Bessemer Venture Partners in New York.(22:09) Kashish shared learnings from his entrepreneurial stints at an early age.(26:12) Kashish talked through his decision to move to San Francisco after college (Read his blog post explaining how he moved here without a job and a home).(29:04) Kashish recalled his experience working on a project called Carry (an executive assistant for travel on Slack) with his friend Tejas Manohar and going through Y Combinator.(36:40) Kashish shared the founding story of Hightouch, a data platform that syncs customer data from the data warehouse to CRM, marketing, and support tools.(44:15) Kashish emphasized the importance of speed and execution around different pivots that led to Hightouch.(46:35) Kashish unpacked the notion of Operational Analytics, an approach to analytics that shifts the focus from simply understanding data to putting that data to work in the tools that run your business.(49:46) Kashish dissected Hightouch’s market-leading Reverse ETL, which is the process of copying data from a data warehouse to operational systems of record.(54:51) Kashish discussed Hightouch Audiences, used primarily by larger B2C customers, that allows marketing teams to build audiences and filters on top of existing data models.(58:09) Kashish explained how the “Reverse ETL” concept fits into the quickly evolving modern data stack.(01:00:26) Kashish shared how the Hightouch team prioritizes their product roadmap, given the high number of customer requests.(01:02:47) Kashish shared valuable hiring lessons to attract the right people who are excited about Hightouch’s mission.(01:05:13) Kashish shared the hurdles to find the early design partners and lighthouse customers of Hightouch.(01:08:06) Kashish explained how Hightouch prices by destinations, reflecting the value customers get from using the product and helping them predict costs over time.(01:10:32) Kashish shared upcoming go-to-market initiatives that he is most excited about for Hightouch.(01:14:36) Kashish shared fundraising advice for founders currently seeking the right investors for their startups.(01:17:47) Kashish emphasized the industry recognition of the Reverse ETL market.(01:19:47) Closing segment.Kashish’s Contact InfoLinkedInTwitterGitHubWebsiteMediumHightouch’s ResourcesWebsite | Twitter | LinkedInData Features | Hightouch Audiences | Hightouch NotifyDocs | BlogCustomers | Careers | PricingMentioned ContentArticles“On Moving to SF Jobless and Homeless” (Aug 2018)“Hightouch Ushers In The Era of Operational Analytics” (March 2021)“The State of Reverse ETL” (May 2021)“What is Operational Analytics?” (July 2021)“Hightouch Has Raised a Series A!” (July 2021)“Hightouch Raises $12M to Empower Business Teams With Operational Analytics” (July 2021)“The Cloud 100 Rising Stars 2021” (Aug 2021)“What is Reverse ETL?” (Nov 2021)Companiesdbt LabsShipyardBig Time DataBook“The Hard Things About Hard Things” (by Ben Horowitz)Notes

My conversation with Kashish was recorded back in August 2021. Since then, many things have happened at Hightouch. I’d recommend looking at:

Kashish’s piece about Hightouch’s transition from Reverse ETL to becoming a Data Activation companyKashish’s recent talk at Data Council Austin about the current state of Data Apps built on top of the warehouse and the future as warehouses become even faster.The release of Hightouch Notify that sends notifications on top of the data warehouseHightouch’s Series B funding of $40M back in November 2021

Finally, Kashish lets me know that back in August, Hightouch were only 25 people. Now, the company is 70-person strong!

About the show

Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. Get in touch with feedback or guest suggestions by emailing [email protected].

Subscribe by searching for Datacast wherever you get podcasts or click one of the links below:

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If you’re new, see the podcast homepage for the most recent episodes to listen to, or browse the full guest list.

About the show

Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Subscribe by searching for Datacast wherever you get podcasts, or click one of the links below:

Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on Google Podcasts

If you’re new, see the podcast homepage for the most recent episodes to listen to, or browse the full guest list.