# 100th Newsletter - Let’s look back just for 3 minutes
I’m not much for looking back, usually I try to focus on going forward. But since this is the 100th newsletter I’m sending out, I do think it’s okay to look back once.
The history of this newsletter
Some time in the end of 2020 a colleague of mine gave a presentation about dbt (back when it was still 3k github stars and fishtown analytics time) & meltano (still at GitLab). The weird thing? I didn’t know about these tools at that time!
So I decided to make sure I stay on the cutting edge of data from now on, by researching & writing about the cutting edge of data.
Jan 7th 2021, first Three Data Point Thursday goes out. Weekly, on getRevue & medium.
I quickly realized, a lot of data startups are using interesting business strategies, a lot are leveraging open source, and a lot are struggling. So I started to integrate advice for data companies into the newsletter.
Oct 15 2021, I send out the first Thoughtful Friday (only to mail subscribers), pieces of longer writing that basically are me pouring out my current thought process on some (hopefully) provocative and innovative topic.
May 06 2022, I decided to migrate to a private newsletter, because I didn’t have a good reason to keep it open.
Nov 18th 2022: I’ve sent out 79 editions of the ThDPTh so far and this is the 21st edition of the Thoughtful Friday, making it a cool 100 newsletters.
What I converged on to write about and the future of the newsletter
You can see some stats below, but I like the nuggets first approach. I converged on writing about four things:
How to build exceptional data companies.
How to build exceptional data-heavy products.
How to build exceptional data teams.
How to build with open-source.
I think all of these serve my goal of moving the world a step closer to being infused with data. And I do think open-source will play a key part in this, although not exclusively - I’m seeing a lot of data companies do very well with a closed-source, but open in other ways approach. And I will continue to study these.
Who reads this newsletter
Interestingly, the readership I think aligns well with the content I will be writing about in the future. The for me identifiable part of the memberlist consists of:
1. People inside data companies (product people, founding team members, all across the board)
2. Investment-focused people (VCs, researchers, …)
3. Open-Source heavy founders not directly in the data space (although I like to argue, everyone will be in the data space)
4. Data Leaders leading teams or initiatives inside companies.
5. Data Engineers & Scientists across the board.
Whom to thank:
As time has passed, I’ve been talking to a lot of data founders, especially founders reading the newsletter. Thank you for all of these fun conversations!
I love to get into the heads of data companies and advance my thinking on all things data through these conversations. And it does make the newsletter much better and more cutting edge.
FWIW: I am always open for a chat, I do try to make space for roughly one data company/ founder each week.
Some stats
Since I switched to private mode, it seems obvious that you’re all loving Thoughtful Friday. The top five posts in terms of reads are all Thoughtful Friday pieces, across very different topics. They got twice as much reads as this newsletter has subscribers.
That can only mean, my writing is terrible and you need to reread it, or each of you shared these posts at least once.
The fun part is that the topics are all across the board, Data Tools, Data Mesh, DevRel, Open Source and Platforms. I’ll take that to just continue as is.
We can also take a quick peek into the Three Data Point Thursday (pre-May 2022). The top performing ones are again all across the board and I have no idea why these particular ones performed so well. Maybe you can tell me!
So, thank you for reading & providing feedback on all of my weird thoughts!
And you can expect me to continue as I have the last couple of months, with a good mix of all of the above four core themes.
Sven Balnojan