Barclays Female Founder Accelerator 2023 member
Data Understood

Data Understood specializes in empowering businesses to unlock the potential and value of their data to drive efficiencies, meet compliance needs, and improve communication and engagement to enable organisations to achieve their goals.
While we are experts in data science, we focus not just on the data itself but on the resources you need to support you, the capabilities needed now and in the future, and how we engage your employees all the way through so that your people come on the journey with us.
We help businesses maximize their potential by using data insights to drive innovation, improve decision-making, and enhance the customer experience. Whether you're looking to improve your strategy, optimize operations, or gain a competitive edge, we remove the blockers that stop you from using great data to run your business, freeing you up to succeed!
Why did you apply for the Female Founder Accelerator?
I applied to the Female Founder Accelerator as a stepping stone to scaling up Data Understood. The program will provide me with the resources to further solidify our value proposition and hone in on our strengths while improving our financial model and connecting with a valuable network of advisors and entrepreneurs.
Being part of a supportive community of female founders and mentors will enable me to gain a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities faced in this role and drive the sustainability of our growth journey.
Do you think there's a need for programmes like this for Female Founders?
Yes, there is a need for programs like the Female Founder Accelerator because of the underrepresentation of women in start-ups and the tech industry. Tech Nation analysed over 2,200 UK-based tech scale-ups and found the percentage of primary C-suite execs in tech scale-ups was skewed heavily towards men with 81% of all C-suite roles being filled by males where gender was known.
According to a report by Extend Ventures looking at activity between 2009 and 2019, female entrepreneurs faced barriers accessing venture capital (VC) investment. Only 3% of VC funding went to all female teams. On the other hand, all male teams received 68% of VC funding. This disparity can make it more difficult for female-led start-ups, like Data Understood, to grow and succeed.
Programs like the Female Founder Accelerator can help to address this imbalance and create a more inclusive and diverse UK start-up ecosystem.
Why did you want to start your business?
I founded Data Understood to address a gap I had observed in organisations, where valuable data insights were being lost due to a lack of alignment with strategic goals, and opportunities were being missed due to a shortage of data skills and resources within the organisation. Healthy data cultures cannot be built in silos. They require a collaborative effort from the entire company.
Drawing on my background in theoretical physics and applied statistics, as well as my experience working for a global organisational development company, I wanted to build a company founded on the importance of soft skills, data science, and teamwork in driving successful digital transformations. With this in mind, Data Understood has built a network of skilled partners to support our clients. Our team of service designers, software developers, database architects, ML experts, and dev ops professionals work together to deliver comprehensive and effective solutions.
What are you looking to get out of this programme?
I am hoping this programme will develop my leadership and management skills while providing access to mentorship and guidance on how to improve and scale Data Understood. I’m also keen to connect and learn from a community of like-minded female entrepreneurs.
Which entrepreneur inspires you the most and why?
My grandmother inspires me the most as she was an entrepreneur when opportunities for women were even more difficult. Just three weeks after giving birth to her first child, she was offered the opportunity to buy the hairdressing business she was working for at that time. She had never run a business and had a baby to look after but through the encouragement and support of other strong women in our family, she accepted the offer. She worked hard and paid off the shop within nine months.
Over the course of her life, she opened an additional two hairdressing shops, had two more children, and skilled other hairdressers within the community. The result was well-loved shops where customers and employees became life-long friends.
What has been your biggest win in your entrepreneurial journey?
The biggest win in my entrepreneurial journey has been establishing a brand that is appreciated for its values of transparency, empathy, empowerment, and curiosity. This has enabled us to create a profitable business that has had revenue growth year-on-year.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge to date has been determining our value proposition. We’ve worked in diverse areas which have made it difficult to determine what key aspects our customers want. This has also impacted our ability to scale as this relates to where our focus should be. I’m hoping this programme will help solve some of these issues.
Where did you go for business advice and how did it help you?
Data Understood has benefited from supportive friends and family, excellent mentors who have built their own businesses, and through parallel play with other companies. Working as part of collaborative teams, we’ve been able to share what we’ve found works and likewise, we’ve learned from other companies.
I have recently joined several business clubs and societies to grow my network and create opportunities to ask questions and share knowledge. These individuals have given me the confidence to apply to this programme and believe Data Understood can become a bigger and more successful company.
What drives you to make your business a success?
I’m driven by a vision to make Data Understood the supportive, go-to partner for getting sustainable value out of data. I’ve seen companies burnt by bad experiences working with data consultancies and not getting any return on investment. I know data can have a positive impact on business. I’m keen for Data Understood to illustrate this to our customers and improve the perception of data initiatives.
What advice would you give other founders thinking about starting their own business?
My advice would be to test your offering within the market as soon as possible. Find paying customers and apply your ideas. You won’t get it perfectly right the first time, but application is the best way to gather feedback and learn from mistakes.