Domino Co-founder Discusses Why Models Run the World

By Mac Steele, Director of Product, Domino Data Lab on August 21, 2018 in

If software ate the world, models will run it.

Domino co-founder Matthew Granade recently co-wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “Models Will Run the World.” The article echoes Domino’s vision that every company will soon run on models or face an existential threat.

Many of today’s industry leaders already run on models. They understand that success with data science comes from building a new organizational capability, not just from a silver-bullet algorithm or unicorn hire. This same dynamic has also fueled intense interest in the data science platform space that Domino helped create five years ago. We’re excited this idea is entering the mainstream!

Below is a short excerpt of the article:

Marc Andreessen’s essay “Why Software is Eating the World” appeared in this newspaper Aug. 20, 2011. Mr. Andreessen’s analysis was prescient. The companies he identified—Netflix, Amazon, Spotify—did eat their industries. Newer software companies—Didi, Airbnb, Stripe—are also at the table, digging in. Today most industry-leading companies are software companies, and not all started out as such. Aptiv and Domino’s Pizza, for instance, are longstanding leaders in their sectors that have adopted software to maintain or extend their competitive dominance. Investors in innovative companies are now asking what comes next. We believe a new, more powerful, business model has evolved from its software predecessor. These companies structure their business processes to put continuously learning models, built on “closed loop” data, at the center of what they do. When built right, they create a reinforcing cycle: Their products get better, allowing them to collect more data, which allows them to build better models, making their products better, and onward. These are model-driven businesses. They are being created inside incumbents and startups across a range of industries. If software ate the world, models will run it. Read the full article (note: subscription required).

At Domino, we are building a platform to power model-driven businesses. If you’re interested in learning more, read our recent whitepaper for details on how organizations across industries are putting models at the core of their businesses.