How to be an intrapreneur. Nima Safaian works in financial trading. Frustrated by outdated tools and methods, he wanted to create something new and better. Nima cross-pollinates data science, machine learning, design thinking, startup methods and linguistic analysis to create apps with new information and fresh insights on the financial markets. He talks about developing a team with no prior data science or programming background and what it took to innovate in a large organization.

More from Nima in this episode:

• How Nima came across key concepts that gave him new ideas
• How he drew on and cross-pollinated multiple skills from his own background
• Challenges and lessons Nima learned in trying something new
• The power of open source code and drawing on methods from other fields
• Why the ability to learn and frame problems can matter more than technical skills
• The importance of constant experiments and understanding what worked and what didn’t
• Developing new approaches in an environment that likes predictability
• Lessons on innovating from inside a company – intrapreneurship – and developing different areas of your skillset

Connect with Nima here.