From Econometrics to Entrepreneurship

A short while after graduating, he officially launched Datavore, a small consultancy focused on helping companies make better use of their data. A very ambitious idea, but according to Chris, it didn’t start with some grand scheme.

It started over a beer.

Starting at Econometrics

During his Master’s thesis and while working with Quantum Leben, he looked at ways to combine traditional actuarial models with machine learning techniques. Insurance companies rely on well-known statistical methods to estimate future claims and reserves. For example, they use the Chain Ladder method, which has been an industry standard for multiple decades.

Instead of replacing that method entirely with a neural network, Chris applied a hybrid approach. The traditional model produces an initial estimate, and the neural network adjusts that estimate by learning patterns in the data. The main advantage is that it builds on an existing structure, which makes the results more stable and easier to interpret.

“If a neural network completely replaces the model,” he explains, “you can sometimes get results that don’t make much sense in practice.” This combination gives the flexibility of machine learning and the logic of the traditional model. This idea of interpretability is an important part of Datavore.

How the idea of Datavore materialized

The idea for Datavore took shape during conversations with his brother-in-law, Dennis van der Heijden, a business controller with several years of corporate experience. Around April 2024, they started discussing whether they could combine their skills and build something together.

They started talking about what kind of problems companies struggle with and where their skills might be useful. Gradually, those conversations became a bit more concrete. They designed a logo; if you look closely, you can see a mouth incorporated into it. It reflects their hunger for data (herbivore, carnivore). You get it?

Besides creating the logo and name, they built a website and considered which services they actually wanted to offer. They decided to go all in. On May 23, 2025, Datavore was officially registered.

Chris tells us entrepreneurship has interested him since he was young. Even in primary school, he set up small businesses, such as buying and selling items to classmates. For a long time, he thought he might end up in trading instead. That career path is quite common among econometrics students and initially appealed to him as well.

Starting from scratch

Launching a company right after graduating sounds exciting, but Chris quickly pointed out that the start-up phase was not exactly what you might expect.

When you start a company, you basically start with nothing. No reputation, no clients, or any track record. Only the things you did during your studies and the people you know.

In the first few months, there was no cash flow at all. Most of their time went into preparing presentations, reaching out to people, and finding opportunities. This involved talking to many people.

They were not trying to oversell anything immediately, but just hearing each other out and trying to figure out what kinds of challenges companies were facing. It might take three or four conversations before anything comes out of it. But slowly, those conversations started turning into projects.

Gaining track

Their first assignment came through Chris’s own network. During his studies, he was a working student at the insurance company Quantum Leben. When someone at the company temporarily dropped out, they asked him to step in for a short-term project.

The assignment involved analysing the company’s data processes and identifying ways to improve them. The company had plenty of data, and even a data specialist, but the processes surrounding it were far from streamlined. Data quality was inconsistent, systems did not always communicate well with each other, and some of the models they had tried to build simply did not run properly.

“So before you even think about machine learning,” Chris explains, “you first need to understand what data you actually have and whether it is usable.” The project focused on mapping the current situation and identifying practical steps to improve it, which is exactly the kind of project Datavore works on.

A golden combination

Both Chris and his brother-in-law have fairly different roles within the company. Chris mainly focuses on the technical side of projects. That means working with data, building models, and implementing analytical solutions. His co-founder approaches things from a business perspective, figuring out how solutions will actually be used within the client’s organisation.

As it turns out, this is a golden combination.

You can build the most sophisticated model in the world, but if nobody understands it or trusts it, it is useless.

Making models understandable and practical is an important part of their work and what they try to achieve. Clients need to be able to see how a model works and why it produces certain results.

That is why Datavore starts projects by taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture: to get an overview of how data is collected, stored, and used within the company.

Beyond the model

Of course, running a company at that scale involves plenty of tasks that have nothing to do with econometrics or programming, but more with the business side. Besides working on data projects, he spends quite some time on tasks like preparing presentations, handling administrative work, and designing promotional materials, such as playing cards he hands out at networking events.

Naturally, some tasks are less enticing, such as filing tax returns or organising the company’s finances. His workweek usually ranges between forty and fifty hours, not McKinsey-like as some might expect. The main difference compared to a regular job, he says, is that everything contributes directly to building something of your own.

Since starting Datavore, the founders have worked on a mix of projects. Some are relatively small assignments that may take only a few days. Others take over a hundred hours. One example was a project involving inventory management for a company renting hard plastic festival glasses.

The importance of your network

Chris repeatedly emphasises the importance of networking. Datavore rarely approaches companies through cold calls or cold emails; most opportunities come through people they have already connected with. Maybe it is a former colleague, maybe a family connection, or maybe someone they met at an event.

He adds that a connection is easily made, and can take just 10 seconds, but you never know when that connection might become valuable later. These connections played a key role in the company’s start, both in creating opportunities and in driving learning.

Before the conversation ended, Chris shared one piece of advice for our student readers, gain experience outside the classroom. Working-student positions, internships, or thesis projects at companies can give you a much better understanding of the internal workings and day-to-day operations of organisations. “You learn a lot from just being inside a company and seeing how things work.” Chris’ own working-student position is a great example: it is both a product and a driver of building a network.

If you are interested in the types of projects Datavore works on and you want to find an internship or write your thesis at a company, Datavore is always open to a conversation. Although the company is still relatively small, they are always interested in meeting motivated students. After all, that is exactly how many opportunities start, with a simple conversation.