The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · Saturday, August 1, 2026
Semily's data collection strategy centers on sourcing 'everyday people' to represent the general population, rather than expert programmers or scientists. The company asks individuals to share life stories, origins, and problem-solving experiences to gather nuanced behavioral data. This approach aims to ensure representativeness and capture the core nature of human decision-making.
“We don't go after these expert programmers or expert scientists. We go after people like us, everyday people, a living their everyday life.”
“But what we care about is are they representative? Do we actually have the same representation of people as we do in the world that we live in?”
“Some of the questions we actually ask at the start of our data collection is actually saying something like, tell us a story of your life. Where did you grow up? What did you experience?”