Podcast

Build a Data Consulting Business: Customer Validation, User Interviews & Pricing Strategy

S13E4

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Build a Data Consulting Business: Customer Validation, User Interviews & Pricing Strategy

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Episode Overview

How do you validate customers, run effective user interviews, and set pricing to build a sustainable data consulting business? In this episode, Aleksander Kruszelnicki — ex-Delivery Hero product manager turned co-founder of leukos, a boutique data analytics agency in Berlin — walks through the practical steps he took shifting from product ideas to a consulting model after early startup failures.

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Aleksander Kruszelnicki

Chapter Summary

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1:10 - Podcast Introduction
1:47 - Career Journey & Archaeology Origin Story
4:16 - Data Stack as a Service: Market and Technical Limits
7:16 - Transition to Consulting: Early Projects and First Customer
9:08 - Customer Validation Techniques for Pre-Product Ideas
12:53 - User Interview Strategy: Questions, Frequency, and Evidence
15:55 - Conducting Interviews: Pair Roles and Note-Taking
17:47 - Team Composition: PM + Engineer Partnership
18:01 - Lessons from a Failed Product: Premature Build and Market Size
21:39 - Value Realization: Data Modeling vs Infrastructure
22:42 - Pivot Decision: Choosing Consulting to Capture Value
25:45 - Consulting Approach: Hands-On Implementation and Accountability
27:59 - Client Acquisition: Network-First Outreach
30:17 - Positioning Services: Target Customers and Timing
31:59 - Geographic Strategy: Europe Focus and VC Introductions
37:03 - Messaging Example: Revenue and Marketing Optimization Offers
40:50 - Marketing Mix: Networking, Content, and LinkedIn
45:19 - Pricing Framework: Value-Based Benchmarking
49:18 - Rate Setting: Starting Rates, Maximums and Minimums
52:38 - Contract Models: Day Rates vs Project Pricing and Incentives
57:58 - Legal & Administrative: Registering a Consultancy in Germany
59:29 - Recommended Reading: Decision-Making and Interviewing Books