Fintech South 2022: Peter Cresse with RightData

Intro: [00:00:08] Broadcasting live from the Georgia World Congress Center for Fintech South 2022. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by Atlanta Blockchain Center. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:28] Lee Kantor here back at Fintech South 2022. So, excited to be talking to Peter Cresse with RightData. Welcome, Peter.

Peter Cresse: [00:00:36] Hey, thanks, Lee. Nice to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:37] Well, before we get too far into things, tell us a little bit about RightData. How are you serving folks?

Peter Cresse: [00:00:42] Well, we’re in the exciting area of data infrastructure, and I say that lightly. But data infrastructure people are behind the scenes, making data available for applications and machine learning. So, it’s exciting area.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:54] So, what’s the genesis of the idea? How did it come about?

Peter Cresse: [00:00:58] Well, the senior vice president of Bank of America had an idea and a vision when he was managing a massive organization, and that was to make data more accessible and trustable. And then, he evolve that into a deeper workflow for the modern data stack. A lot of buzzwords to say, can my data be better and faster so I can learn from it? And he quit his job, started this. And now, we’re on our way with a bigger startup, with our funding.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:23] So, now, you got funding? That’s what you’re at right now, you got some funding?

Peter Cresse: [00:01:27] Yeah. So, we just received our Series A from a top company in the United States called Level Equity. And with the Series A Money, we’re going to be investing in huge development as well as, of course, sales and marketing to bring our message to market.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:40] So, now, what’s — the who hires you? Who uses your service?

Peter Cresse: [00:01:46] Well, the – any person that wants to improve and trust their data or get better data workflow. So, any — it’s really not vertical specific, but it’s very applicable to banks, retail, marketing, anybody that really wants to learn on their data and get an edge. By the way, you can organize your data.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:04] So, what are they using now if they’re not using RightData? Are they just kind of winging it?

Peter Cresse: [00:02:08] No, there’s like a history. So, traditionally, we would use a data warehouse, which would bring structured data into a data warehouse. And then, we move to a data lake idea, which would basically put all types of data into a repository. But today, the hottest thing in modern data stack is the data lakehouse. And data lakehouse means is that you can actually bring any data anywhere, process it and manage it and learn at the same place. That’s the new concept.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:37] And that’s the kind of the structure behind RightData? That’s what you’re trying to accomplish?

Peter Cresse: [00:02:41] Yes, we really want to conquer the space in the area of data lakehouse and something called data mesh. It means putting together operational data, transactional data, together with learning data at the same place. And then, you can send it on to a data outcome.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:57] So, now, if I’m a company and I’m using RightData, what kind of new information am I getting? What kind of new insights am I getting?

Peter Cresse: [00:03:04] Exactly. You move your data down the line from just raw data ingestion on a layer. And once it’s ingested, you actually create greater value as you improve it and clean it and then, make it more quality data. And then, you send it on, actually, to the learning or the outcome. That’s why it gets better and better as it moves down the workflow line.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:25] And then, so, I’m able to get these insights faster? I’m able to get more insights than I was previously?

Peter Cresse: [00:03:31] Yes. Because where we’re doing is we’re conquering an area called — it’s kind of esoteric, but it’s called domain-specific learning. So, instead of putting data in a big bucket and learning from it, you actually put it in domains of activity, say customer inventory, customer names, operational names, vendor names. And the domains themself represent the data teams that are trying to learn in those areas. So instead of trying to reach in a big bucket and for the data which is slower, you can actually have the domains do their work, which is faster.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:04] So, it’s the right information and the right place at the right time?

Peter Cresse: [00:04:07] RightData. Yes, exactly. And what’s really cool, Lee, is that you’re able to now collaborate with stakeholders in each domain. So, one team may say, hey, we saw this learning with customer inventory of a product. And another one said, oh, we saw the customer behaviors. Now, they can dialog using the same data set. The biggest problem today is that there’s data duplication. The average duplication is seven times of the same data set is created seven different versions. Today, if we can have one version and people participating, it makes it faster and better collaboration.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:44] And then, is this out in the wild anywhere or is this kind of where — or what stage are you in the evolution of the product?

Peter Cresse: [00:04:50] Oh, we’re ready to go with our dextrose product. And we’re building off the data lakehouse idea, which has been introduced as a framework on the project. So, we aim to conquer that space and the data mesh where we’re learning and processing and managing at the same time. That’s really the inflection point.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:08] So, what do you need more of right now? How can we help?

Peter Cresse: [00:05:11] Well, I think people that should obviously reach out and talk to RightData and just shameless mention of our website, which is getrightdata.com. But we like to dialog with our customers to be, say, what is it that you’re trying to do? And most customers are saying, faster data as we scale and learn better against the data that I have.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:35] So, if they’re having a problem in that area, they can have a conversation with you and kind of explore ways that you can work together?

Peter Cresse: [00:05:42] Yes, specific for them. So, it’s not a custom software, but it’s customizable for their needs. And we’re not a consulting company, we’re a software-based company that were automating this whole process. So, if you want to be faster and learn better and quicker with your data, get RightData is the way to go.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:58] So, now, you’re here at Fintech South. Are you on a panel? Are you exhibiting? What are you trying to get out of Fintech South, networking?

Peter Cresse: [00:06:07] Well, really talking to real-life users and customers and consulting customers here that says, OK, what problems are you trying to solve? And what we’ve learned here is one big thing is that there’s a huge growth in APIs. We work with APIs, Application Programming Interface, in the Fintech area. There’s a lot of overlays on that, but we can do better with the APIs by organizing the data as it feeds back and forth, the APIs. Fintech, to me, is all about the API revolution that’s happening is, we want to participate at that data layer. Again, not super interesting to some, but for data infrastructure people, we’re the people doing the potatoes in the kitchen behind the scenes.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:48] So, now, one more time, the website?

Peter Cresse: [00:06:50] The website is RightData, but it’s called getrightdata.com. And it basically gives tons of information and insight into where we’re going for the future.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:59] Now, if somebody wants to connect with you, is there a LinkedIn? What’s the best way to get a hold of you?

Peter Cresse: [00:07:04] Probably LinkedIn’s OK. Peter Cresse, C-R-E-S-S-E. But there’s plenty of contacts on the website.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:05] On the website?

Peter Cresse: [00:07:05] And quite honestly, we’re a pretty high-tech company that makes it easier for the business user or the data scientists or any stakeholder. So, anybody that really wants to know more, this is kind of the place to go because we’re at the forefront. That’s why Level Equity provided the money because they see a great future in this area for growth.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:29] Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Peter Cresse: [00:07:31] OK. Thanks, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:33] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll be back in a few at Fintech South 2022.

Outro: [00:07:45] This episode has been brought to you by Atlanta Blockchain Center. The catalyst for Atlanta’s emergence as the Premier Blockchain Innovation Hub globally, through cultivating entrepreneurship, inclusivity, and education. To learn more, go to atlblockchaincenter.com.