Making the Leap

Making the transition from Google was challenging, even though it was the right time for a change. I had promised myself a minimum of two years at Google before contemplating a move, and I would have honored that commitment if the next opportunity hadn't been so enticing. Ari, a highly regarded senior from my FanDuel days, presented an irresistible pitch: a chance to play a pivotal role in a sports betting media startup that desperately needed analytics leadership, The Action Network. As his right-hand, I'd be leading a small team of analysts charged with developing reporting infrastructure across the media and affiliate branches of the business.

Although I didn't feel immediately productive (short tenure, new codebase, new domain), I initiated small projects quickly to demonstrate my capabilities and understand the data landscape.

Analytics Daily and Weekly Recaps

Drawing on my FanDuel experience, I started developing daily and weekly reports to build shared understanding of core metrics among business leaders. Capitalizing on groundwork laid by other analysts and relentlessly questioning metric definitions, I established an effective onboarding process for myself while creating visible, frequent reporting that illuminated inconsistencies and gaps across the business.

Built with: SQL, Redshift, Google Sheets, Google Apps Script, Google Analytics

Sale to Better Collective and Immediate Aftermath

Only a month into my tenure, things felt somewhat off. I was involved in high-level strategy meetings for our growing affiliate business, but leadership dynamics were unclear. Unbeknownst to me, negotiations were already underway to sell the company to Better Collective, a European sports betting affiliate platform. After the sale closed, Ari left for Fanatics, leaving me without a mentor and with genuine confusion about my reporting line and priorities.

Despite the difficult transition, I pushed through and learned invaluable lessons about self-advocacy and taking initiative without a clear organizational home.

Daily KPI Dashboard

I encountered a significant mismatch between our top-of-funnel KPI reporting (Google Analytics) and our product/revenue reporting (Redshift), the classic problem of two systems that tell different stories. I built a consolidated source of truth using the Redshift-to-Google Sheets connection, integrated Google Analytics data, and used Google Data Studio to create a user-friendly interface that made the unified view accessible to business stakeholders.

Built with: SQL, Redshift, Google Sheets, Google Apps Script, Google Analytics, Google Data Studio

Audience Tracking

With audience as the core KPI since the company's inception, demonstrating its growth ahead of the Better Collective acquisition was essential. Better Collective specialized in affiliate conversion, so we needed to improve our audience tracking methodology to speak their language. I introduced the DAU/MAU ratio and began monitoring platform performance differences, shifting the conversation from raw traffic volume toward high-value, high-intent sessions.

Built with: SQL, Redshift, SEM Rush, Google Analytics, Tableau