Quant Hacks: The Easy Way to Mine the Web for Data & Insights
(New Workshop Announcement)
??What you will learn in this class: ??
(click the link above for the details!)
===
Are you a strategist, planner, or cultural analyst who needs to show "the numbers" (aka data or stats) to prove your research or sell an idea?
Does quantifying culture or unearthing stats feel like an impossible task?
(This used to be me)
Finding useful data?can be confusing, time-consuming, expensive, and hard.
... but it doesn't have to be.
I will show you deceptively simple techniques that will?transform you into a data wizard overnight.
Shock your boss. Blow away the clients. Win the business.
It will feel like cheating.
?? Warning: I'm?NOT?a data scientist
But I do understand the stress from first-hand experience. I've felt the pain of working all night and banging my head against the wall looking for hard numbers to prove a point. I tried learning SQL and other complicated tools for about a day before throwing my hands up in defeat. My brain just does not work that way.
Don't even get me started on Excel...
Like many of you, I came into the profession with a very "right-brained" approach. I was great at pattern recognition and discovering trends, clues, and signals of change. I was also really good at telling the stories behind cultural shifts and painting a vivid picture of the "why" and the opportunities inherent within.
It was never enough.
?? The?AHA! moment: Transforming misfortune into opportunity
When I started working in the tech world, we had one data analyst who was spread thin amongst a growing and demanding team. They never had time to work on our projects, so we had to get scrappy.
Backed against a wall, I was?forced to discover methods and techniques to quickly and accurately quantify trends and amorphous ideas.
It was?using big data but in a?different?way.
No complicated tools, no coding.
Over the next few years, I continued to fill my arsenal with tips and tricks learned from anthropologists, entrepreneurs, SEO professionals, and other resourceful, curious people who needed to quantify trends, business opportunities, and cultural movements. All using free or reasonably priced online platforms.
??What you will learn in this class: ??
1)?Foundational Frameworks:
Before getting into the details of using these tools, it's important to understand the?why?and?how?behind this system. I will set the stage for understanding and unlocking the value hidden everywhere online.
2)?How to Source Data from 3 Top Global Platforms (Google, Reddit & Amazon):
领英推荐
?? Google (Search Data)
(This section alone is worth more than the cost of the whole class!)
Google dominates the search market, with?+91% of all search activity?happening on the platform. Every day Google handles?99,000 searches a second?- that adds up to over?8.5 BILLION searches per day. It is quite literally a gold mine when it comes to?understanding trends, consumer intention, and desire. Almost anything can be sourced and quantified using a suite of platforms around Google search.
??Reddit (Community Data)
Reddit is one of the world's largest community platforms, consistently ranking in the top 10 most visited sites in the world and a trove of honest, detailed, and diverse conversations about literally everything. From games to parenting, health, sports - you name it. Reddit contains a multitude of valuable information and things to quantify.
???Amazon (Shopping Data)
Amazon is one of the world's biggest online shopping platforms. The data and insights you can extract from it will help define and quantify cultural movements, emerging trends, and other commerce-related areas.
3) How to Quantify Almost?Anything?(Social platforms, App stores, Websites, and Beyond)
The 3 platforms above can provide an infinite source of data for almost all your research projects. Sometimes you need different types of proof points, and that's where you can use a site like SimilarWeb or dive into other social or shopping sites like:
?? Free Bonus Material:
Everyone who signs up for this class will receive a bundle of?6 free bonuses as a special thank you (worth over $900):
? The first 20 people will?also?get:
?? My Guarantee to you:
I know that you will come away from this class with valuable tools and frameworks that can be applied immediately to projects and client work and used again and again. If for any reason you feel differently, I will personally work with you for up to 3 additional hours to make sure you have these skills perfected.
??"I learned more in this one hour than I have at expensive, weekend-long events!"
- a participant from the inaugural version of this class last year
?? The Details:
This class will be held on Friday, May 20th from 12:30-3:30 EST over a video call. It will be recorded and available for unlimited review as well.
If anyone has questions, please drop me an email (dangould@findthefuturefirst) or DM on?Linkedin.
?? About Me:
If we don't already know each other, hi!
My name is Dan Gould and I've been in the trends, insights, and innovation field for over a decade. In that time I’ve scanned hundreds of thousands of cultural signals, given hundreds of culture briefings, written 3,000+ blog posts about innovation at PSFK, helped build an agency (sparks & honey) from the ground up based on the marriage of culture and data analytics, worked at Google to bring “human truths” to top advertising clients and most recently started an insights and trends team at Reddit before becoming an independent consultant and coach.
My clients have included:
I’ve also had the pleasure to speak at events like The Cannes Lions and at universities including The School of Visual Arts and The Wharton School. I’ve written for or have been interviewed by The New York Times, NPR, The Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine, and Forbes.
I love this work and want to share everything I've learned to date with you! Hope to see you there!