Data Society, a District-based education technology startup run by a small team comprised of several data scientists, a former hedge fund analyst and lifelong educator, is preparing to launch a Kickstarter to help ready their web-based curriculum for primetime.
Data Society, as the name implies, is a company deeply interested in the understanding of data and more specifically, the study of data science—which has, in recent years, become a growing field that is in great demand from private businesses that seek to better understand the hoards of data they store tied to everything from customers to product development.
Data Society was originally founded last year with a simple mission: making data science easier to learn for the average person, even for those with no previous coding experience whatsoever.
The D.C. startup has been bootstrapped to date and only plans to raise capital once the platform is fully deployed and a Kickstarter campaign has been completed. For every contribution made via Kickstarter, founder Dmitri Adler said, a scholarship to his training courses will be offered to someone who could otherwise not afford it.
Understanding the theories and methods at the heart of data science, in broad strokes, offers ways for people to engage with and pull insight from complex models and data sets—in other words, it enables people to translate excel spreadsheets into actual, functional business intelligence. In such a scenario, a company with data scientists may be able to see the underlying reasons for why customer orders, for example, are lagging due to testable factors.
Structure
Access to Data Society is sold on a monthly subscription model that brings a $50 price tag, currently, but the plan is to increase it to $100 once the full platform is made available.
With a membership, users gain access to all of Data Society's web-based content, classes and training. Once a course is completed, the "achievement" can be posted via LinkedIn to show that a user is now "certified" in data science via the company's regiment.
Adler said that within 30 hours a Data Society student/user can complete a course that teaches real, valuable data science skills. And perhaps more importantly, the curriculum realistically provides useable skills that can be advantageous for individuals in various industries.
In the future, the Data Society team will explore working directly with corporate partners to potentially onboard and train employees in data science, following a B2B offering.
Identity
Whereas some traditional edtech companies—mirroring the likes of University of Phoenix—structure their offerings to prepare students for a new career path, Data Society doesn't necessarily intend for its training resources to do the same, said co-founders Adler and Merav Yuravlivker. Instead, they hope that Data Society can provide tools for anyone to improve the current business of their employer.
Nevertheless, the startup is experimenting with a job listing board on its website at the moment that is geared towards temporary and part-time job opportunities which request skills taught by Data Society.
Data Society's classes bring video segments that are developed in house and are led by partnering data science professors, who also act as consultants in designing the company's courses. Class resources, like books and specific homework activities, are shared through downloadable PDFs so that students do not need to purchase auxiliary materials.
