Building a world-class data org | Jessica Lachs (VP of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash)

So you've built one of the largest and most respected data teams in all of tech. For me, analytics is a business impact driving function and not purely a service function. Not just answering the why, but answering the what do we do now that we know this. One of your colleagues told me that you're incredibly good at defining metrics. Retention is a terrible thing to goal on. It's almost impossible to drive in a meaningful way in a short term. Ultimately you want to find a short term metric you can measure that drives a long term output. You mentioned the early team at build extreme ownership. Yes, you are a data scientist, but your goal is to figure out what's happening and if that means that you're gonna pick up the phone and call customers then that is what you're gonna do. So roll up your sleeves. Today my guest is Jessica Lax. Jessica is vice president of analytics and data science at DoorDash.

which has built one of the biggest and most impactful data teams in tech. She's been a DoorDash for over ten years. And it was the first Gama DoorDash responsible for launching new markets. Previously, Jessica founded Get Simple, a social gifting startup. and began her career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers.

In our conversation, we go deep on how to build and scale your data org. Including why a centralized org model is so effective. What to look for when hiring data people, how to pick the right metrics for teams to align incentives and drive the right sorts of outcomes. Examples of how the data team at DoorDash has helped the business make better decisions, a bunch of great stories about the early days of DoorDash, and a ton more. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It's the best way to avoid missing future episodes and helps the podcast tremendously.

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