Challenge

PSYKHE is an early-stage startup that uses AI and psychology to recommend consumer products. Anabel, the founder and CEO, had been managing a small team of data scientists and engineers for the last year, and despite some success, was struggling to get to product launch. The lead data scientist had just announced he was leaving, and Anabel got in touch with Ortom for help. She wanted assurance that all the work done to date would not be wasted and sought guidance on future direction. Data and machine learning were central to her plans for the company, and she needed confidence that she was on the right track.

Solution

Ortom worked with PSYKHE to build and execute an ML and data strategy. This involved a comprehensive review of systems, code, and data, as well as detailed interviews with the data science and engineering teams.

The review revealed that, while a lot of good work had been completed, the data science team was getting bogged down in infrastructure and data pipeline issues. Because they were spending a significant amount of time on tasks outside their expertise, technical debt was accumulating, and morale was low.

Ortom recommended hiring a data engineer to resolve pipeline and infrastructure issues. Additionally, the team provided hands-on support to build and deploy new features in the recommendation engine.

Tom was extremely flexible and accommodating, which was very much appreciated as we are a young startup working across many time zones, during the pandemic.

Anabel Maldonado
Founder and CEO, PSYKHE

Results

• Strengthened Team & Infrastructure: Ortom helped PSYKHE hire a new data scientist and secure temporary infrastructure support.
• Knowledge Preservation: The team facilitated a smooth handover and documentation process, ensuring valuable knowledge within the company was not lost.
• Enhanced Personalisation: Ortom developed a model that incorporated individual user feedback into PSYKHE’s recommendation system.
• Successful Deployment: The system was successfully implemented, allowing thousands of users to receive personalised product recommendations based on their feedback.

Tom of Ortom is a fount of knowledge. His passion towards AI and its subset, machine learning, is clear and unique. Ortom was able to give well-rounded advice, be resourceful, understand the needs that we felt had to be met, and take directions from myself, who does not have a technical background, and translate them into the model.

Anabel Maldonado
Founder and CEO, PSYKHE

Conclusion

The model was successfully handed over to the new team and is now part of the product. Following this work, PSYKHE secured a new funding round, validating the impact of Ortom’s contributions.

Tom is a knowledgeable specialist AI consultant. He has been extremely valuable to my startup.

Anabel Maldonado
Founder and CEO, PSYKHE