Attention all vertical software product nerds! This podcast is just for you. Jonny has successfully created an amazing company that specializes in streamlining infrastructure data for public transportation. Join us for an in-depth exploration of this fascinating topic on leveraging existing data, navigating government procurement cycles, and changing behavior. You can watch/listen to this podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.

How do you create a verticalized data company that provides accurate and real-time information without completely changing the existing user experience infrastructure?

In this episode of The Capital Stack, we have Jonathan Simkin, the Co-founder and CEO of Swiftly, Inc., talk about the process of building a #govtech data platform. Swiftly is a big data platform that helps public transit agencies improve operational performance, service reliability, and real-time passenger information.

Listen in to learn about the value of verticalized data companies and the importance of them developing sticky long-term solutions. You will also learn the importance of using existing infrastructure and data to improve user experience without completely changing things when creating a data platform.

What You Will Discover:

·       [00:49] How Jonny got interested in public transit after discovering the technology opportunities in the transport industry.

·       [02:53] When the transportation technology revolution happened and how Swiftly rethought the entire data flow for riders.

·       [09:29] How they use existing infrastructure and data to improve riders’ experience without completely changing things.

·       [13:23] Why Swiftly pivoted to a data company to make it easy and scalable for app developers to access accurate information.

·       [15:34] The value delivered by verticalized data companies and the importance of developing sticky long-term solutions.

·       [19:19] The importance of investing in producing the most accurate and complete information to benefit everything downstream.

·       [20:48] Why changing people’s behavior is harder than naturalizing data to make it meaningful.  

·       [22:36] How they overcame the fear of messing up to navigate the public sector procurement.

·       [24:44] Random questions with Jonny!

Memorable Quote:

·       “If the data you’re producing is not accurate and does not add a substantial amount of value, it does not matter how good your application layer is.”– Jonny [19:28]

Connect with Jonny:

·       Website: https://www.goswift.ly/

·       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathansimkin/