How one Data & Analytics expert created value at Uber
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
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Rose Punkunus describes herself as a "curious generalist". Having begun her career in software development, Punkunus quickly found herself gravitating toward data science. This move catalyzed the next phase of her working life, which has seen her work in Data & Analytics and Finance positions for a number of category-defining companies.
It's also this move that makes Punkunus the ideal expert to call on for this series, in which we're focusing on the relationship between Data & Analytics and the Finance Function. If you're just joining us, make sure you catch up on previous articles at the bottom of this article.
Punkunus's career so far is emblematic of the way in which Finance and D&A are beginning to work together. Upon completing her MBA she found herself working at iTunes, where she was exposed to extremely large proprietary datasets. As she explains:
"Think about every app you download on your iPhone, iPad, or any iOS device, and then any content you purchase or view. I was just fascinated by the behavioral aspects of that data, and how you could translate that to inform product decisions."
More human
Punkunus's interest was piqued by what she describes as the "human element" of those datasets. She had spent time in education ingesting, cleaning, and manipulating data, but it was the opportunity to translate abstract information into concrete outcomes and insight that set the course for the rest of her career - one that places her at the intersection of data, behavioral science, finance, and business development.
Punkunus joined Uber in 2013 and describes the situation by saying,
"there was a data team with a data scientist on it, [but] it was much more focused on the engineering side."
The company's controversial 'surge pricing' was already in operation, but the internal understanding of this part of the product was limited. "It was very macro," she says, "like whether a whole city was surging or not." Punkunus understood that to be an accurate and helpful lever, the company needed to make surge pricing far more granular. Rather than the level of a city, Uber needed to work at the level of the neighborhood or individual block.
More granular
Initially at Uber, Punkunus says,
"there were two sets of data teams. One was for product and analytics. What I started was the finance data science team. The objectives for these teams were also quite different. On the finance side, we were trying to forecast literally billions of trips and billions of movements across the whole globe. And we were trying to capture that in our financial model, alongside variable pricing."
"That granularity is very difficult to do in Excel with the resources available. So I had the opportunity to hire a data science team to help essentially forecast the metrics that investors would care about - like how fast you were growing, and how much [cash] you would need to burn to get to that level."
This extreme granularity, combined with a deep understanding of the business needs, enabled Punkunus and her team to encourage better decision-making at every level. "That macro forecast drove a lot of the budget and decisions in different parts of the company, whether it's hiring, engineering, or spending on marketing and promotions," she says.
Thinking strategically
Punkunus highlights that the question is one of value. Data science is an extremely important skill set, but it only becomes truly useful when it is put in the service of broader strategic goals. At every stage, Punkunus says, it's crucial for Data and Finance professionals to ask how (and whether) they are creating value. On the most fundamental level, this means understanding the role that data is playing for individual teams and within the organization as a whole, and how it can be better leveraged.
She explains:
"I think it's important for anyone in data analytics, whether you're formally in that role or not, to understand the objective. We know there's so much data out there, it's like searching for a needle in the haystack. But first, you have to know what the needle even looks like. So whether you're answering a question for a product, whether you're answering a question for the CEO, or whether you're answering a question for the CFO, it's important to really understand the objective of the question. What decision is being made?"
I was delighted to speak to Rose about her pioneering career, and her own position as a thought leader championing Data & Analytics. You can listen to the full interview on my podcast in some weeks, where you'll get half an hour of in-depth conversation about the present and future of data science, the modern Finance Function, and much more.
And if you want to know what Rose is up to now check out her latest venture, Sudozi, which aims to provide finance professionals with better performance management tools.
Rose Zhong Punkunus is the Founder and CEO of Sudozi for FP&A teams. Before starting Sudozi, Rose was CFO at ScaleFactor and Fundbox.?Earlier in her career at Uber, Rose ran Global Pricing, founded the Finance Data Science team, and was the first Regional CFO for US & Canada.?Prior to Uber, Rose oversaw Global data science and analytics for TV, Movies, Podcast and Education content at Apple/iTunes.?Rose has an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a B.Sc. in Economics from MIT.
This was the ninth article in my latest series Finance vs. Data & Analytics. You can read the previous articles below.
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Anders Liu-Lindberg?is the co-founder and a partner at the?Business Partnering Institute?and the owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering?on LinkedIn with more than 10,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company?Maersk. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a?long-time Finance Blogger?on LinkedIn with 105,000+ followers and 190,000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at?Born Capital?where I help identify and grow the next big thing in?#CFOTech. Finally, I'm a member of the board of directors at?PACE - Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence?where I support the development of new analytics frameworks that can improve profitability in companies around the world.
Finance Business Partner| Professional Accountant| Data Analyst| | Financial Modelling & Valuation Analyst
2 年This is very insightful ???????? Thank you once again Anders Liu-Lindberg for this.