Fall 2022 Offsite: From virtual to venue in Barcelona, Spain

Littledata’s team is 100% remote, with hubs across London, New York, and Romania. We have plenty of video calls to keep our global team connected on a regular basis, but at our core we love to spend time working, planning, and learning together in person. And that is exactly what we did in Barcelona, Spain in early October.  At these regular company offsites, we bring everybody together to share ideas and get to know each other. Meetings take a variety of forms. Sometimes they look organized, planned, and presented, and sometimes – personal favorite – they look like a cold pint by the pool soaking up the sun and getting “to the point” of things. Our teammates are based in different parts of the world with various backgrounds and skill sets that drive healthy debate and problem-solving. So, what was the aim of this offsite, you ask? Setting the stage for growth Setting the stage for what is next for Littledata and planning for the future success of the 2000+ brands that use Littledata with other top Shopify and BigCommerce connections like Google Analytics, Recharge, Segment, and Klayvio. Littledata has continued to develop its offerings, products, and resources to help DTC brands be inspired by data and grow their brands. This takes detailed ambition for how and what we will do—much of which comes from our in-person conversations.  Making work fun In our downtime, you can find team members playing games around the hotel, grabbing a company-sponsored massage, exploring the local scenery, doing lite yoga, and more. The venue for each offsite is totally different, but the common thread is togetherness and enjoying the culture the teams have built.  When asked Natalie Upton, Head People and Operations at Littledata, why we make this investment each year she said, "When we invest in in-person offsites, it pays off. We genuinely see our offsites being an excellent learning opportunity as well as bonding as a team and having fun. We have a very curious team, and in-person offsites help us to build confidence in our company's journey. Offsites at Littledata build the DNA of our culture and, in turn, help us to grow faster." Learn and share In the first half of the week, we held several 45-minute learning sessions conducted by team members from different departments. We call this the “Unconference,” inspired by the great times our team has had at MeasureCamp meetups around the world. The learning and discussion sessions covered specifics about our product and roadmap, new challenges on the horizon, sales and marketing, and insights to better understand the current industry happenings.  Littledata has been fortunate to have team members who have both grown with the company and uprise of ecommerce analytics, as well as new joiners who bring fresh ideas to the table. Embracing an always-learning mentality has helped Littledata separate in the quality of the product and customer experience. This has not happened by accident but through the constant pursuit of excellence and education about the ecommerce industry.  You might be visiting us for the first time so in a nutshell, Littledata is a top-rated Shopify app that provides accurate data for modern DTC brands—once you log in to your Shopify account it literally takes ten minutes to set up we start tracking and sending data to top destinations, like Google Analytics or Segment. This removes a huge barrier for brands to have proper attribution for data analysis and building their audiences—saving time and money.  We geek out on the data. However, we are a creative bunch full of new ideas and willing to take on new challenges and long term bets. Working in technology, our team always has an eye on the changing landscape and what data or tactics can lead our customers down the road to success faster. An example of this was discovered on a call with one of our amazing customers, Flux Footwear, who went from zero to six figures using Littledata and Segment Twilio to launch their brand.  Meeting in person to celebrate and learn from these success stories is crucial to our culture and motivates our teams for what is next. Post meetings, you will often see unplanned pods of team members reviewing code, looking at campaign outlines, or talking about any core projects — this is where we truly thrive as a team and working together. Sounds fun, right? We are always looking for the right people to join our team  Littledata has an evolving need as we grow for problem solvers and solution finders. You might be thinking this sounds like a great place to work. It is! Whether or not you see an open position that fits your skillset, we’re always on the lookout for motivated team members to join us on this journey to be inspired by data.  Want to be a part of a workplace that goes beyond the regular 9 to 5 and offers something more? Somewhere to grow professionally and personally, surrounded by teammates who make you feel at home wherever you are in the world? Check out our open positions and apply to become part of the special culture we’ve fostered at Littledata!

2022-11-09

Working remotely, together! A recap of our Spring 2022 company offsite

As a remote team, our normal workdays at Littledata consist of lots of Slack messages and quick video chats. From sharing ideas to celebrating sales, offering help to posting memes—our team’s strong connection is fostered in the virtual world first. Twice a year, though, we’re treated to a company offsite where each employee gathers together to work in person. While we usually embark on a design sprint during offsite events, our most recent one was set up as a chance for our team to focus on both working together in person and learning from each other. I’m coming up on completing my first full year with Littledata, and the offsites are without a doubt one of my favorite perks I’ve enjoyed at any company I’ve worked for. To show you exactly why these experiences are so special—and why they mean so much to me and the rest of our team—here is a recap of our latest offsite. Bringing remote work to the real world Our offsite took place in the beautiful city of Athens, Greece. We stayed as a team at a hotel in a town on the outskirts of the city called Vouliagmeni. Aside from the amazing hotel complete with conference rooms, meals throughout the day, and outdoor coworking areas to enjoy the weather, the location gave us access to some truly amazing views of the Greek coast. After welcoming a few new joiners and enjoying the first night of dinner together as a team, we jumped into the “working together” part of the offsite. In the first half of the week, that took the form of several 45-minute learning sessions conducted by team members from different departments. The learning sessions covered specifics about our product and roadmap, new challenges on the horizon, and best practices from each department. Usually, we’d spend the first few days of an offsite design sprint mapping out a problem and thinking creatively to sketch potential prototypes that solve it. Essentially, we’re working together in teams and stretching our design muscles to ideate and improve on the group’s best ideas. This offsite, we still focused on working together, but by sharing our great ideas and knowledge with the rest of our team. Because team members from different departments conducted the learning sessions, our whole team got the opportunity to attend talks that helped them learn new skills or gain deeper insight into key areas of our industry. Among my favorite sessions were the deep dives on Google Analytics 4, Shopify Plus, and our current connections. I was also able to add to my own personal skills by learning about thought leadership on social media from my teammate and social media superuser Blake Wisz. Overall, the learning sessions were a big hit across our team. Many of us had similar feedback when recapping the offsite that they were a great chance to deepen our knowledge of the Littledata product, the ecommerce analytics industry, and how we can each grow our own skills. Feeling the Littledata culture—in person! The second half of the week, we set aside time to just work together as colleagues. Kind of like you would picture working in an office with teammates—if that office was a resort on the picturesque Greek coast with nothing but sunshine, that is. This time together helped us not only truly feel the deep connection we have as coworkers, but build on it. When working, we talked through problems just as we would on Slack or in calls, with the added bonus of being able to feel each other’s energy in person. Our wonderful HR team set up fun activities for us to enjoy while on the offsite that also helped us stay relaxed, like morning yoga. We also broke up the collaborative work time with some well-earned R&R, specifically to visit the amazing sights and scenery Athens has to offer. We took an open-top bus tour and stopped to take in the city, see the famed Acropolis, and enjoy other historic sights. Each night after we’d wrapped up for the day and had dinner together, we’d gather outside to share a few drinks and swap stories, learn about each other’s cultures, and just enjoy being together as one big family. In my opinion, though the sights and atmosphere in each destination we choose for our offsites are second to none, these end-of-day hangouts are truly the most special moments. Being able to come together as an international team, learn about each other's lives, find common interests, and build lasting friendships is what makes Littledata more than just a company you work for. It truly is a family. Want to join us on our next adventure? This offsite experience was just one of two that we’ll get to enjoy as a team in 2022. We’re back to running a design sprint in our next offsite, and we’re excited that we’ll have even more new team members to welcome joining us. Want to be a part of a workplace that goes beyond the regular 9 to 5 and offers something more? Somewhere to grow professionally and personally, surrounded by teammates who make you feel at home wherever you are in the world? Check out our open positions and apply to become part of the special culture we’ve fostered at Littledata!

by Greg
2022-04-29

Here's why Littledata is the right next step for your career

Where we work — and the work we do — can have a huge impact on our overall wellness. Since the majority of us will spend 1/3 of our lives (roughly 90,000 hours) at work, it's only logical that it should be somewhere we can thrive and grow our skills alongside kind and helpful teammates. Littledata is hiring right now for positions in the Engineering, HR, Sales, and Product departments. Each role comes with the chance to join a global team that feels like a family while helping to shape the future of ecommerce data by building a platform that powers thousands of small businesses around the world. To prove why Littledata is the right next step for you, we've got three blog posts that go in-depth on how we get things done, why we do them the way we do, and what sets us apart from your average tech company. Why work at Littledata? What are you looking for in your next professional adventure? If it involves the freedom to try new and creative projects, a team of passionate and supportive co-workers, or the chance to join a company poised for growth in a flourishing industry, then Littledata is the perfect fit. Of course, knowing if a place is your ideal landing spot requires more than company highlights. So we shared the things we love most about our work at Littledata, and what makes it such a special place to work. From the flexibility afforded by remote work to the core values that keep us honest and hardworking. https://blog.littledata.io/2021/06/04/why-work-at-littledata/embed/#?secret=qo3PCvCdKo How Littledata’s product sprints fuel innovation Product sprints have become a staple in the startup world, and for good reason. They help organize work into weekly (or bi-weekly) chunks, set clear objectives for teams, and have proven to be great tools to drive ideation and problem-solving. At Littledata, we put our own unique spin on product sprints. The formula we've cooked up goes beyond simply keeping things organized — it pushes innovation among our teams. Our Head of Product broke down exactly why we've succeeded with this sprint formula, and gave an excellent look into our thought process as a company. If you're the kind of person who wants to know what the day-to-day is like before you join a new team, this post has everything you need to understand what makes daily work at Littledata so innovative. https://blog.littledata.io/2021/08/12/development-sprints-product-innovation/embed/#?secret=wWgpPD7Ohz Why we migrated to microservices from Meteor There are many different ways to build an app. From the design process itself to the tools and strategies used to build it, each component in the process affects the quality of the app and the team that's building it. Because we're always making improvements on our process at Littledata, we migrated to building our app with microservices instead of a Meteor monolith. We did this for several reasons, and our Head of Engineering wrote a post explaining why we made the switch and how we did it. If you're curious to see how the Littledata team continues to build the best data platform on the market, this post is for you. https://blog.littledata.io/2021/10/20/why-we-migrated-to-microservices-from-meteor/embed/#?secret=2Yhqc2f6av Ready to join the team? Our careers page has everything you need to learn how you can become a part of the Littledata family. You can also stay in touch with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well to get company updates and hear when new positions are posted.

by Greg
2022-01-28

Why we migrated to microservices from Meteor

Growth always means change. As Socrates once said, “the secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” At Littledata, we’re always innovating our app and building the new. To us, that means finding better and faster ways to make necessary improvements and changes. Our app relies on a sophisticated combination of backend and frontend technologies. The biggest challenge for us right now is upscaling the app so we can integrate with other ecommerce platforms. At the moment, our platform consists of separate services and one monolith, the Meteor app, as depicted below: The architecture worked well for us for a while, and we enjoyed the speed of engineering Meteor offered to us. But, at the same time, we faced many limitations which became obstacles in our path to scaling. What are the problems with Meteor? There’s a handful of limitations we’ve faced using Meteor that pushed our decision to switch away. 1. Overall architecture and maintainability The idea of having the overall architecture communicate easily from frontend with backend definitely has many benefits. This includes only requiring a low level of necessary code-writing knowledge, as well as speed of delivery on new solutions. However, in the long term, it causes many problems with maintaining the app — things like code readability, hard unit testing, and slow production bundle deployment. The deployment slowness is a good example of the architecture problem overall. We recently migrated to CircleCI in order to fix the problem, but are stuck with a meteor limitation. 12 minutes to build and deploy … that’s a lot of time when you need fast iteration and delivery. 2. The Meteor community is isolated Meteor moves via a self-defined path, quite differently from standard industry tendencies. In some ways, that’s a good thing. But if you want to add a new approach or library to your Meteor setup, you could face a handful of unexpected problems. One limitation we’ve encountered is that, instead of promises, Meteor surprisingly uses a callback to async functions with the following syntax: Another is its old school template system based on the traditional template approach. That was great for 2000-2010, but in 2021 and beyond, we have much more efficient techniques to work with frontends such as React, VueJS, and Angular. Moreover, it’s becoming harder and harder to find an engineer who wants to work with a traditional template system nowadays. 3. Difficulty finding engineers to work with Meteor It’s a challenge to find engineers willing to stick with Meteor. They usually tend to work with newer, more well-known tools — ones with more perceived value in the market. When evaluating the labour market for front-end and back-end engineers today, we’ve seen that Meteor is not the main framework for JavaScript development. Frontend engineers have consistently preferred to work with frontend-oriented frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.JS because they provide a wide range of instruments. Unlike the Meteor template system in Vue.JS, we can use the whole power of JavaScript inside our frontend applications without being limited to a mere few template commands. Moreover, we can use many helpful engineering tools such as autocomplete, linting, and type checking in Vue.JS in order to make our engineering process more efficient and enjoyable. The biggest benefit for us, though, shows in Vue.JS’ much better scaling. It has robust routing management, which is important for a large application like ours. Meteor, on the other hand, has been steadily losing its popularity as a framework for backend technology since 2016. That makes it harder and harder for us to find engineers willing to work with Meteor in the future. How did we migrate away from Meteor? Though rewriting everything away from Meteor sounded like a good solution in theory, we realised that path significantly postponed our main objectives. So, we had only one solution: to rewrite portionally. Like many software companies today, and especially fellow startups, we decided the best solution was to use separate microservices to maintain and scale our platform. In part 2 of this post, I’ll share which microservices we chose, how we use them, and detail the full migration process away from Meteor.

by Ari
2021-10-20

How Littledata’s product sprints fuel innovation

Littledata thrives on innovation. As a top data connector with a complex backend and seamless frontend, we're always looking for ways to innovate faster and smarter. To fuel that innovation, we use focused development sprints to ship high-quality features and updates. Over the years, we’ve learned that: 1) having clear objectives, 2) removing unknowns, and 3) delivering value in smaller chunks is key to an impactful product development process. That's why we start projects by first clarifying our goals, then discussing the scope of features and their impact. That way, we can break them down into meaningful chunks and prioritize them for implementation. Delivering value in small chunks is key to impactful product development We arrived at this process after several trials and errors over many arduous months. Our north star metric all along has been sprint velocity. We measure that metric using total story points, which focus on a task’s worth of value delivered to customers rather than working time spent. We believe teams that most often deliver value to their customers have a higher chance of success in the long run. All that said, we recognize every team dynamic is different. Each team should test what works best for them. Littledata’s process — laid out below — helped us double our velocity per developer, per sprint. We highly recommend it to any product team that wants to try it out. To show you why our process works, let’s dive deeper into it. Choosing Goals and Objectives How to set Annual and Quarterly OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) We begin each year by stating our overall goals and objectives using the OKR framework. These annual OKRs are then broken down into quarterly OKRs and translated to fit each team. Using Team Initiatives / Epics Once each team clearly understands their OKRs for the quarter, they break them down into epics (or initiatives). Epics are bodies of work that, when completed, push the team closer to achieving their goals for the quarter. For example, in one quarter, our product team identified trial conversion rate as a key metric that, if improved, could help Littledata move closer to its business goals. To boost the trial conversion rate, the team used first principles thinking, user research and feedback, and user experimentation to help identify root issues that prevented users from completing the trial. Littledata breaks goals down into epics, which help us work together on clear initiatives Using that data, the team came up with several epics like creating a “getting started” campaign, improving the onboarding experience for users, and launching a feature to educate users about the product. Each epic contained clearly defined user stories (specific tasks) to help resolve the root issues identified. Epics breakdown We want to be able to start delivering value to our users as soon as we can. So, once we have a clear understanding of our target epics (or initiatives) for a quarter, we break them down further into valuable, independently deployable iterations: 1HOUR iteration1DAY iteration1SPRINT iterationFINAL iteration Each of these iterations is deployable on its own and adds value to our customers. Work starts using the smallest possible version of the epic that we could build and deploy while still adding value to users. We continue building to reach the final iteration: a fully-featured spec that has all the bells and whistles we’d initially planned for. Breaking an epic down into these iterations means that: We start adding value to our users sooner than later. Instead of waiting for a couple of sprints, we start delivering value in hours (literally.)We can measure impact a lot earlier. This helps keep us agile, letting us shift strategies if our proposed solution or the identified problem is not aligned with our users' needs.We increase perceived velocity. This helps keep team spirits and momentum high. We try to stack a mix of epics in every sprint to continue delivering value to customers across multiple fronts. The full Littledata sprint process Our sprint development cycle begins well before an actual sprint starts — ideally about two sprints in advance. We hold a few planning and estimation sessions beforehand to make sure we’ve clarified all the unknowns and aligned the entire team on the deliverables for the sprint. Then, it’s on to the epic planning. Planning epics We plan epics for a couple of sprints at a time. Each Littledata sprint lasts two weeks, which we’ve found to be short enough to accurately forecast the roadmap, yet long enough to enable us to take on larger features. For each epic planning discussion, we involve the Product Manager (PM), Engineering Manager (EM), and Technical Program Manager (TPM). Writing specs After we’ve aligned the desired outcomes for the PM, EM, and TPM for each epic and prioritised them into the sprint, the TPM works with the engineering team to break the epic down into smaller tickets that make sense from an implementation perspective. Estimating tasks Our EM works with the engineering team on a daily basis to discuss tickets specified by the TPM and estimate their complexity using story points (and following industry best practices.) Although complexity estimation is arbitrary and differs from team to team, as long as the team remains consistent in its estimations, we believe it adds a lot of objectivity to estimating sprint velocity. This further helps us plan each sprint, know the team capacity per developer per sprint, and aids us in our hiring decisions. Pre-sprint planning The PM, EM, and TPM meet again prior to the sprint’s start to discuss the now estimated epics. They negotiate and prioritize work based on the team’s capacity, as well as the value added to our customers and the business. This is where we lock in the work for an upcoming sprint. The entire product team connects at the start of each sprint to align on the epics and their desired outcomes. Ideally, this is more of an alignment meeting. By this point, everyone on the team will have gone through specs and will be quite familiar with the expectations. There should be no unknowns at this stage; the entire focus should be on execution. The sprint At Littledata, we follow an agile, two-week sprint model. We use Jira tickets to track progress, with each ticket flowing through the following stages: TODO: Prioritized ticket, assigned to a particular developerIN PROGRESS: The developer has picked up the ticket and is working on it. Ideally, there shouldn't be more than one ticket per developer in this column at any given point in time.CODE REVIEW: The developer has moved the ticket for peer review to make sure there aren’t any code quality issues.QA: After a ticket passes code review, our QA analyst makes sure the implementation matches the acceptance criteria specified on the ticket.DEPLOYMENT: If there are no dependencies, the ticket gets deployed to production after it passes QA. We try to deploy to production several times in a given sprint. Sprint review When we reach the end of each sprint, we wrap up with a review meeting. We talk through the sprint velocity, discuss what the blockers were, and brainstorm how we can improve in the next sprint. Many key Littledata features and product innovations have come from this sprint process, with sprint reviews feeding directly back into sprint planning for the next cycle. Those innovations include: A complete refresh of our popular ecommerce analytics audit checksInnovation in how Littledata handles userID for Shopify and SegmentNew transaction monitoring to help our own dev team as well as our customers, such as the uptime and status monitorRapid iteration around additional app integrations, such as Zipify and Shogun landing page tracking And so much more! Indeed, the cycle continues to work on and on, from the next sprint to the one after... Try our process for yourself Has our product development process piqued your interest? Could you see yourself thriving in a collaborative work environment as part of a growing team dedicated to making a difference in customers’ lives? At Littledata we're building the top ecommerce data platform on the planet, with customers — and teammates — around the world. Take a look at our open positions, and don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Plus, if you're using development sprints in an innovative way, let us know and you might even get featured on the blog!

2021-08-12

Why work at Littledata?

Many of us have a similar idea when picturing the perfect job. A role with opportunities to grow, a stimulating work environment, caring coworkers and, of course, a reliable income that we feel meets our value. Finding that ideal fit, however, isn’t easy. That’s true for companies looking to hire the perfect candidate, as well. In the end, it comes down to a focus on company culture. One where employees lift each other up. Where each team member feels valued and sees how their work adds to the company’s overall goals. Our team at Littledata spans across the globe, but we’re still a very tight-knit group. We believe that comes from our commitment to bringing on team members who fit their role both technically and culturally. Finding that perfect fit is challenging when we’re competing against industry giants for our top candidates. There’s no denying that there are lots of perks to working at a big tech company like Apple or Google. But working for a successful analytics startup like Littledata has many special perks of its own. Not least of which is that everyone’s voice is heard, and every team member contributes key ideas to our product growth and partner community. "We work toward shared goals at Littledata, and that's been a key to both customer success and employee happiness," says Littledata co-founder Ari Messer, who leads our remote US team. Any one of our employees could have just as easily joined a bigger company, but chose Littledata instead. And they choose Littledata, again and again, every day. We asked our team why they decided to work at Littledata and what they love most about being a part of our family. Here are some of the top reasons they gave us, in their own words. If Littledata sounds like a team you’d like to be a part of, we want to hear from you. We list our open opportunities on our careers page. Don’t see the right fit? Stay in touch for future roles; we're scaling quickly and new job opportunities pop up almost weekly. Great work begins with great values Our core company values have remained the same since launch and continue to guide our proverbial ship. They weave throughout our day-to-day work, team offsite trips and design sprints, and continue to play a massive role in our success. Littledata founder and CEO Edward Upton defined these values early on, and they remain an essential part of our work culture. 1) New technologies Littledata is a next-gen data connector. We develop super-fast analytics apps using the latest web services and tools. Our apps empower top direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands to use modern data stacks without sacrificing speed or flexibility. 2) Happy people We believe a happy staff translates into happy customers. We employ happy and productive people with flexible working hours, engaged learning plans, and fun outside of work. 3) Collaboration We believe that true innovation comes from an environment marked by challenge, curiosity, and communication. We emphasize cross-team collaboration and share Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) across the company. Working remotely, together Littledata has had a remote, distributed team since the beginning. When COVID-19 hit, companies all over the world grappled with the sudden transition to working outside the same office. Our team didn’t skip a beat because we’ve been working this way for years. Most importantly, working remotely allows us to be flexible in more ways than one. We encourage our team to work where they want, when they want, and how they want. In fact, we've found that when done right, remote work is more productive. Work where you want Getting the most out of your work comes down to your own productivity and routines. We encourage our team to work wherever they feel the most productive that day—whether that be at home, a coffee shop, a co-working space or a more traditional office. Work when you want Many of us have families to take care of, errands to run, and outside interests to explore. Our team members live dynamic lives. That’s part of what makes them so amazing to be around—inside and outside of the workplace. Work shouldn’t consume your life or dictate how you live each day. Aside from scheduled meetings, at Littledata your time is yours. We encourage our team to work at their own pace, meaning that they can take back ownership of their day-to-day routines. Time is our most valuable resource, it’s best we spend it wisely. Our team works when they feel most productive—which doesn’t have to be from 9 to 5. Work how you want Keeping a strong work-life balance is essential at Littledata. That’s why our remote work culture only helps to promote finding an equilibrium between your work and everything else outside of it. We encourage our team members to find a balance between their work responsibilities and their responsibilities outside of the “office.” We know that life happens, so we give our team the freedom to be present in their personal lives. That’s how we build happy employees empowered to do their best work. Being remote also means that we can hire the best talent from around the world, not just one specific area. Littledata’s international team has members across the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., with hubs in Nashville, New York City, London, Cluj, and Bucharest (plus more cities coming soon!). Completely remote work isn’t for everyone, though. Some people do work best in an office setting with a fixed, "regular" schedule. That’s why we support co-working spaces and collaborative offices as needed. Never stop learning Each month, our employees receive dedicated “learning days” to further develop their skills. This time helps us explore our areas of interest while building up the skills we need to master our work. Those learning days have included all kinds of things: Online courses in Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, data visualization, data science, and moreProject-based learning around new programming languages and tools like NetlifySpeaking and participation at conferences such as Google I/O, Shopify Unite and Measurecamp (we're looking forward to the return of in-person events!) By investing in our team’s professional development and interests, we’re building the best brand ambassadors Littledata could ask for, who are also experts in their craft. Build something great All of our greatest ideas, updates, and designs are the product of collaboration. Our team members may call different countries home, but we are constantly working together online. The Littledata development team builds the backbone of our data platform, and their work helps power hundreds of ecommerce businesses around the world. Their code ensures the successful delivery of hundreds of millions of essential tracking events to our customers' analytics tools and data warehouses. Through collaboration with our marketing team, customer support team, and operations team, the dev team is able to build off shared ideas to develop cohesive, creative, and innovative solutions. The support, insights, and feedback they receive help them mold Littledata's analytics platform into the best version it can be. Annual offsite meetings It’s important for us to find time each year to put work aside and connect as a team. Our global team gathers annually for an offsite retreat—typically held in Europe. This provides us a great opportunity to collaborate, catch up, and relax alongside all of our team members. During week-long offsites we find a balance between work and leisure, taking advantage of the great opportunity to collaborate and bond as a team. Throughout the week, we run a design sprint. The process helps to spark innovation and align members under a shared vision. This gives us the chance to work in cross-functional teams, and gain a better understanding of the goals of each department. Some of Littledata’s greatest advancements were the result of design sprints, and they've helped place Littledata as the future of ecommerce analytics tools. Work hard, play hard! We find plenty of time to have fun during our offsites, exploring the city we’re visiting, lounging on the beach, and most definitely enjoying the amazing company of our co-workers. And it doesn't stop there. During monthly "sprint retrospectives," every team member has a chance to highlight what's been working best and also suggest improvements to company processes, whether that's about how we make feature requests or how we might improve cross-team communications. At the end of each quarter, we also take time as a company to reflect on the goals we set for the past 3 months, assess our performance, and create specific OKRs for where we want to be and what we want to achieve in the next quarter. Each of these OKRs aligns individual departments toward our overall company objective, guiding our team under common goals and uniting our vision for the future. Join the Littledata family While the greatest resource we can give to our employees may very well be time (and freedom over their time), our greatest resource is our team. Our product would be nothing without the people behind it that shape it every day. Our team is small but mighty, with each member playing an integral part in Littledata’s success. They are the backbone of our product, between our incredible support team to our skillful engineers, and everyone in between. Together we’re able to build a product that each and every one of us is proud to stand behind. Since our team collaborates from across the world, it’s even more important that we invest our time in building inter-team relationships. Something we value most about Littledata is our camaraderie; we support each other in all of our professional and personal endeavors. “We always blame the problem, not the person.”  —David Pascu, Head of Client Services Here at Littledata, we’re surrounded by some of the most uplifting people, who encourage us to work harder every day for the betterment of our team as a whole. As David so wisely put it: “We blame the problem, not the person.” We investigate those problems head-on in our design sprints, often solving big problems in a short time. Some days that’s a product improvement for the install flow of a particular Shopify analytics connection. Other days, we’re crafting the perfect answer to the question “Why Littledata?” or prototyping a tool that visualizes analytics throughputs more succinctly. (Yes, those were real design sprint projects!) Our can-do attitude makes any challenge seem possible. Our bond as a team makes working together toward solutions and innovation an exciting task. Work as a team, win as a team As a startup, we understand that each one of our employees is taking a leap of faith in joining our team. That’s also part of what makes our team so strong. Every member of the Littledata team believes in the work that they do and the service they provide. While joining a startup can be a risky decision, great risks yield great rewards. Our team is 100% to thank for Littledata’s growth and success over the years. We’re the first to give thanks where it is due; when we hit milestones and reach our goals each quarter and annually, our team are the first ones rewarded. One of the greatest benefits of being part of a small team like Littledata is the lack of bureaucracy that many encounter in larger corporations. Each of our team members has what we like to call ‘flexible’ roles—and let’s be clear, flexible does not mean multiple. By ‘flexible’ we mean that we encourage our employees to explore other fields that interest them, but might be out of their "job description." Allowing our team to follow their passions, interests, and work in areas that they do best in creates a recipe for success. So, are you in? We’re always looking for motivated and talented team members to become a part of the Littledata family. If you want to be a part of building a market-leading analytics tool while also shaping a truly special team culture, we want to hear from you. Not passionate about ecommerce analytics yet? Join our team and you will be soon 🙂 Check our careers page for the roles we have open. If you don’t see the perfect fit, reach out to us and share your skills and experience. Any of our team members would be happy to hear from you and see if we can make a match.

2021-06-04

Ready for what's next in Shopify analytics? Littledata is hiring

We're hiring again! With growth in our Shopify apps for Segment and Google Analytics exceeding expectations, Littledata is looking to fill 5 new roles. These are fully remote roles in engineering, marketing and customer success, based around hubs in 3 countries on 2 continents. About Littledata Do you trust your data? Starting with that deceptively simple question, we have grown from an analytics audit tool with a small team in Europe, to the leading data connector for Shopify stores, with customers and teammates around the world. Our product is constantly evolving to meet the needs of modern ecommerce brands, and our team processes are agile and supportive. Targets and goals are shared across the company, and everybody contributes to our product roadmap. We run regular design sprints to encourage deep thinking and rigorous prioritization. And we interact regularly with our tech partners and agency partners around the world, whether it's discussing an API update, updating our help center, working on a new ebook, or launching the next shared webinar. In short, if you're interested in ecommerce analytics, now is the perfect time to get involved. Whether or not you have experience with DTC brands on Shopify, we encourage experienced professionals in the SaaS world to apply. We believe that data is both an art and a science -- but if you don't get the science right, the art will inevitably fail. Data geeks are welcome here! [note]Littledata is scaling quickly, but we maintain core values around curiosity and collaboration. Learn more about our culture.[/note] Open roles These are the roles currently accepting applications. Check our careers page for the latest updates, and don't forget to follow our blog and Twitter feed to stay in the loop. Content Marketing Manager (US/Canada) Littledata is looking for an experienced Content Marketing Manager to join our fully remote marketing team in the US. In this key position, you will report directly to our founders and be responsible for accelerating growth across proven inbound marketing channels. You will take ownership of our content strategy, from blog posts to landing pages and lead magnets, and coordinate between internal staff, freelancers and partners to publish, promote, and optimize content that makes us stand out from the pack. Read more about the Content Marketing Manager job opening Customer Support (US/Canada) We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Customer Support Specialist to join our world-class technical support team. In this fully remote role, you will focus primarily on customers in the Pacific time zone. From responding to inquiries over chat and email, to gathering customer feedback for product development, this is an exciting chance to play a key role in customer success with the Littledata platform. Learn more about the Customer Support job opening Analytics Advocate (Europe) Do you love Google Analytics? Do you dream about funnel analysis? We're looking for an experienced analytics educator -- a writer, blogger, vlogger, instructor or consultant -- with experience educating users and teammates about analytics best practices. Littledata's app for Shopify stores provides a reliable data pipeline to Google Analytics and Segment. Merchants rely on us for accurate data about their online sales and marketing, and with your help they can understand how to get the most from the integration. This is a remote role based in Europe. Learn more about the Analytics Advocate job opening. Software Developer, Node/Mongo DB (Europe) We are looking for a curious, methodical and ambitious engineer to join our talented product team of 6. Key responsibilities include adding to existing functionality built with Node, MeteorJS, and MongoDB; working with marketing data APIs from Google, Facebook and Shopify; and evaluating the feasibility of new features. Learn more about the Software Developer job opening Head of Engineering (UK) Are you interested in building an analytics product used by thousands of stores and hundreds of millions of end customers? Do you like shipping code at a rapid pace? Littledata is seeking an experienced Head of Engineering / Software Lead that is passionate about building data integrations. This position is full-time and is based within the UK. Learn more about the Head of Engineering job opening

by Ari
2021-01-29

What we learned at Techsylvania 2018

Our European team had a fantastic time presenting Littledata's ecommerce analytics technology at this year's Techsylvania conference. But we weren't just there to speak, we were also there to listen, learn and be inspired. Here are some of our core takeaways from the 2018 event. If your mindset is set on innovation, Techsylvania is the place for you. It's the leading technology event in Eastern Europe for a reason - tech enthusiasts and business innovators come together in a spirit of collaboration and friendly competition to connect, hack and share ideas. What we learned Edward Upton, CEO: I learned so much from pitching at the Startup Avalanche competition at Techsylvania. The competition attracted startups from all over Europe and Asia, and Littledata was honoured to be chosen for the finals. After a few days of rehearsing the pitch and refining the slides, with intensive coaching from the Risky Business team, I have a much better idea of what investors want to hear - and how to communicate it succinctly. Hearing how Intercom uses speed of product development as a competitive advantage made me remember how our (already Agile) process could be improved Aside from the pitch competition, I listened to some of the great speakers from across the industry. My favorite was from Rich Archbold, a technology leader at Intercom. Hearing how they use speed of product development as a competitive advantage made me remember how our (already Agile) process could be improved. Yet, the greatest learning came from talking to founders of many interesting tech companies, some based in Cluj and others with growing offices here. Rares Ionescu, QA Guru: Techsylvania was a blast! I was especially impressed by Ralph Simon, the chief executive of Mobilium Global, a visionary with a vast experience in the entertainment world. He is known as the founder of modern mobile industry, also referred to as the "Father of the Ringtone" making a lot of trending musical references during his talk. The speech was comprehensive on building a successful start-up ecosystem. Florina Vintan, Analytics Superstar: I was impressed by the number of high-level attendees with strong technical backgrounds. I most enjoyed the conversation on Digital Transatlantic Bridges by Peter Gersak (IBM), Frederic Boulanger (Macadamian), Pat Sheridan (Modus Create) and Lucas Roh (Bigstep). The chat revolved around companies that established offices in different parts of the world to break down the transatlantic barriers. In case you didn’t know, Littledata breaks down those barriers every day with offices in London, New York and Cluj-Napoca! Bianca Dihoiu, Customer Advocate: The conference vibe was amazing, people seemed excited to be there and discuss tech stuff with their fellow enthusiasts. The talk that I enjoyed most was by Ashley Carroll from Social Capital. It focused on product management best practices and helped me to visualize our own product management more clearly. As a customer research at Littledata, I bridge the gap between Product and Support, so this was a perfect fit! Elisabeta (Bety) Crisan, Finance Pro: As an account manager, I found Luke Mawbey’s speech on money laundering the most appealing. The Head of Technology at Comply Advantage talked about a future in technology that will automatically fight financial crime. In the breaks between the conferences we managed exchange a few words on account issues and I learned some useful tips and tricks. Ioana Botian, Marketing Rockstar: Techsylvania was a vibrant event highlighted by the sharing of a lot of valuable information! I loved the Startup Avalanche pitches where startups had a chance to present their unique ideas. We were represented by Edward Upton, founder of Littledata, who charmed the audience with his charisma and insights about the many ways that fixing your analytics can lead to higher revenue -- especially with our smart automation like an analytics audit and automated reporting. I loved the Startup Avalanche pitches where startups had a chance to present their unique ideas. I also attended a mind-blowing conversation between Anda Gansca, CEO and Co-Founder of Knotch, and Katherine Manderfield, Director of Content Strategy at The New York Times about the Future of Advertising. The panel was a real eye-opener for me that made me rethink my strategy as a marketer. Alexandra Dimitriu, Analytics Maven: For me, Techsylvania was highlighted by great questions, lots of ideas and an amazing atmosphere. I had a chance to meet many passionate people that are concerned with the future in technology and are willing to make a difference in the world. My favorite speech was the one from IVCBOX. They illustrated how successfully connecting with customers can drive conversions and increase sales -- all things we're passionate about here at Littledata. What a great event! David Pascu, Biz Dev Guru: I had the chance to network with various representatives of Romanian tech companies and gather knowledge about their business and revenue drivers. Most companies admitted they are facing great difficulties when it comes to talent acquisition, so more and more are starting to invest in internship programmes. With developers in high demand here, more and more Eastern European tech companies are investing in internship programmes Having the chance to hear various experts talk about their experience in starting or managing a company encouraged me to push for roadmaps ruthlessly oriented to success, as these days the key for success in our field is to build up processes oriented and matured to have the most impact with the least drain on resources. Gabriel Bira, Galactic Overlord of Code: Although I started out sceptical about yet another “tech conference”, my opinion quickly took a U-turn. The conference coupled professionals describing an exponential progress curve of the Eastern European country in the world of tech. I had the rare opportunity of attending a speech from a local maverick, a 19-year-old Storyheap entrepreneur, Sebastian Dobrincu. The presentation revealed many insights for me on how to build a successful company from scratch. I also attended a technical event, held by a representative of Slack, Jeremy Apthorp. He presented us Electron, an open source framework that allows creative applications in JavaScript, HTML and CSS to build cross-app platform at low costs. [subscribe] A final thought Techsylvania was a perfect mix of tech enthusiasts, developers and entrepreneurs. A true centre of innovation and inspiration. If you or someone you know is looking to join one of the hottest startups in Cluj, I have good news. We're hiring! Check out our open positions and read about one of our newest employee's first design sprint. We can't wait for next year's conference. See you there?

2018-06-27

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