Fractional Data & Analytics Lead for startups

Analytics you can trust and scale, built at startup speed.

AI lets a small team ship dashboards, metrics and in-product analytics in hours. Combine Analytics helps make sure the analytics is both right and actionable.

The problem

You already have analytics, but is it right? Is it useful?

AI tools can produce a dashboard in an afternoon. Whether the numbers are right, safe and actionable is a different question.

Metrics that quietly disagree

Revenue on the dashboard does not match Stripe. "Active user" means three different things in three different queries.

Analytics without value

You build analytics for your users, but is it actually making your product better?

Built for a hundred rows

Queries running live against production, pipelines nobody can re-run, and data costs that grow faster than revenue.

Decisions on numbers nobody checked

Founders, boards and investors steer by metrics that were generated quickly and never verified.

Services

From first metric to fully grown.

Four services that follow the way a startup's analytics grows. Start wherever you are today.

  1. 01 Start right.

    Data & Analytics Seed

    The first design and build of your analytics: internal numbers for founders and investors, analytics inside your product for your customers, or both.

    What you get

    • Agreed metric definitions and a tracking plan
    • A data model and pipeline sized for your stage and budget
    • First dashboards and/or embedded customer-facing analytics
    • Documentation your team and your AI tools can build on

    A good fit when

    • You are about to add analytics and want it done right the first time
    • Data is piling up and there is no single source of truth
  2. 02 Check what you have built.

    Data & Analytics Review

    A fixed-scope review of your existing setup for correctness, security and scalability, with clear, prioritised findings.

    What you get

    • A walkthrough of how data flows from source to screen
    • Key metrics checked against your source systems
    • Actionability assessment of analytics
    • Scalability and cost assessment
    • A written report and a debrief call

    A good fit when

    • Your analytics was built fast, much of it by AI
    • You are heading into fundraising or due diligence
    • You are about to put analytics in front of customers
  3. 03 Build the skills in-house.

    Data & Analytics Coach

    Hands-on coaching that makes your own team confident with data.

    What you get

    • Working sessions on your own data and tools, not generic slides
    • Best practices for metric definitions, data modelling and dashboards
    • How to use AI tools for analytics safely, and how to check their output
    • Simple standards and checklists your team keeps using

    A good fit when

    • A few people cover many roles, and analytics experience is limited
    • Student workers or juniors are building your dashboards
    • You would rather build the skill in-house than buy it
  4. 04 Keep it right as you grow.

    Data & Analytics Care

    A monthly arrangement that gives you a data lead on call: regular health checks of your setup and quick help when something breaks or you need something new.

    What you get

    • A monthly check-in and health check
    • Priority response when numbers look off
    • Review of changes made by your team or your AI tools
    • New requests handled at an agreed hourly rate

    A good fit when

    • Analytics is live and matters to your business
    • A full-time data hire is not justified yet

How it works

Analytics built for your needs.

  1. 1

    Intro call

    A free 30-minute call about your business, your stage and your data.

  2. 2

    Scoped proposal

    A clear scope and a fixed price for Seed or Review, usually within a few days.

  3. 3

    Delivery

    Remote and async-friendly, working directly in your tools and repositories.

Who it is for

Startups that move fast and want to stay right.

Solo founders building with AI

You move fast with AI tools and need someone who knows where data goes wrong.

Small SaaS teams

You want to offer analytics to your users without building a data team first.

Pre-seed to Series A

Investors are asking for numbers, and they need to hold up.

About

Senior data experience, without the full-time hire.

Combine Analytics is a consultancy for startups that need data and analytics leadership but not yet a full-time hire.

It is run by Thomas Jauho, a data and AI leader with more than 10 years of experience building and leading analytics teams at global companies, in startups and at McKinsey. Based in Copenhagen, working remotely with startups across Europe and beyond.

As part of Digital McKinsey, I supported clients and startups on setting up analytics from scratch. At IKEA I owned data and analytics for ikea.com and the IKEA app (more than 3 billion visits a year), with a simple rule: data foundations before dashboards.

I start with the business problem, ensure that foundations are in place, and that analytics are actionable.

I deliver using state-of-the-art tools, so you get results fast.

Thomas Jauho, founder
  • 10+ years leading data & AI
  • Ex-IKEA
  • Ex-McKinsey
  • Start-up Analytics Lead
  • Visiting Researcher, Stanford
  • MSc Physics

FAQ

Questions founders ask.

What does “fractional” mean?

You get a senior data and analytics lead for the hours you actually need, on a project or monthly basis, instead of a full-time hire.

We already use AI to write our SQL and dashboards. Why do we need you?

AI is very good at writing queries. It is much less reliable at deciding what a metric should mean, how data should be modelled, or what breaks when ten customers become ten thousand. That judgment is what you get.

Which tools and stacks do you work with?

Mostly stack-agnostic: Postgres, BigQuery, Snowflake, DuckDB, dbt, product analytics tools and the usual BI and embedded-analytics options. The recommendation is always the smallest stack that does the job.

How is pricing set?

Seed and Review are scoped and priced as fixed projects after the intro call. Coach is scoped to your team, as a short programme or regular sessions. Care is a monthly fee, with additional work at an agreed hourly rate.

Do you need access to our data?

Usually read-only access to the relevant systems. Happy to sign an NDA and a data processing agreement before anything is shared.

Do you work remotely?

Yes. Based in Denmark (CET), working in English, with calls scheduled to suit your time zone.

Contact

Get in touch.

A few lines are enough. You will get a personal reply, usually within one working day, with a suggested time for a free 30-minute intro call.

Prefer email? hello@combine-analytics.com

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