The Data Monetization Podcast

Matthew talks to Linda Reid, Head of Product at Alternata, about why product thinking is the difference between a data product earning zero and earning scalable, repeatable revenue. Most organisations start from the wrong end: "I have data, what can I build?" Linda's argument is that you have to do the opposite. Understand what you've got, then ignore it and step into the shoes of the person who'd actually use it. What problem does it solve? How do they solve it today? And is the gap between old and new big enough that they'll pay for it? Covering the easy sells versus the hard ones (creating a market for a problem nobody knows they have), why empathy is the core skill, and the trap of building lots from your data without asking whether you should.

Matthew sits down with Bruce from Ivy Asset Management to unpack IVYAI, the JSE-listed actively managed ETF giving South African investors rand denominated exposure to the global AI ecosystem. They get into what the fund actually holds and where the real opportunities sit beyond the obvious chip names: data, energy, infrastructure and cybersecurity. A look at how everyday SA investors can buy into the AI buildout without leaving the local platform.

Most enterprise data leaders can build a data product. Far fewer can sell one.
In this episode, we unpack the commercial reality of bringing data to market. Subscription is the default, but often the worst fit. and procurement was never designed to buy data products in the first place.
We cover:
Why cost plus pricing is very very wrong
The three pricing models that actually work: subscription, usage based, and outcome pricing
Packaging as three decisions: unit of consumption, unit of payment, unit of delivery
Why your first buyer is rarely your best buyer and how to avoid building a bespoke product 
If you're sitting on data assets and trying to work out how to turn them into revenue, this is the episode where strategy meets deal making reality.

The private credit world poured over $500 billion into SaaS lending over the past decade. Now AI is threatening to make traditional SaaS business models obsolete, and those loans look increasingly shaky. The companies that will create durable value in an AI native economy are selling proprietary data products. This episode makes the case for data as a product as the next defensible asset class.

Most organisations think data monetisation means selling datasets. It doesn't. Buyers want decisions, not raw data. In this episode, we break down how signals become indices, benchmarks, APIs and insight products, and why productisation is the difference between a once off data deal and scalable recurring revenue.