Was Spotify's first analytics lead. Here is what VCs get wrong about data | Fortune

A Fortune op-ed draws on early analytics work at Spotify and argues that many venture capital decisions still rely more on culture and narrative than disciplined data use. The author recalls leading Spotify’s data strategy under Daniel Ek, moving teams away from static Excel spreadsheets toward scalable tracking, including click and dwell-time analytics enabled by Hadoop. The piece then criticizes how VCs evaluate companies: it says investors often chase FOMO around “once-in-a-generation” opportunities rather than scrutinizing figures, and that convictions are reinforced when bets work while misses are stored away and rarely reviewed. It also notes that nearly two-thirds of venture deals never return the original investment, framing the need for better reflection.