We spoke to Tara Spokes, founder of The Data Conversation, about her journey from noticing a problem to building a business around it.

Every founder has a moment where something shifts. What led you to start your social enterprise, and what was happening in your life or the world at the time that made this work feel important? 

I worked on data projects within the Department of Social Services for 5 years. During this time, I met small community organisations that had data reporting requirements against their grant funding. I was new to community grants and while the data that was being asked for seemed small and straight-forward to me, by spending time with the funding recipients I could really see how hard it was to provide these numbers if you don’t have the right systems in place to collect the data. It took a few years after that for me to be in the position to leave my APS job and have a go at setting up the business with the original intent to support community organisations with their data reporting requirements.

Looking back, what has the journey been like from that first idea to where you are today? Share the moments that challenged you, surprised you, or changed the direction of your work. 

It has been a very steep learning curve… When I started, I didn’t know anything about business… or pipelines… or accounting. When my dad fell ill in my second year of operations, I decided to hire some staff to help with project workload. That brought on a whole new suite of things-to-know. Learning about payroll, worker’s insurances, team dynamics, setting up systems to work for people to work asynchronously, and so on – these things have taken a lot of time to learn and work on, alongside working on our client projects and community projects. We have just come up to 4 years in business, and we now have a steady team of 7 that each work across different aspects of our data projects.

The Mill House Ventures has been part of many founders’ journeys in different ways. If you’ve participated in a program, event or worked alongside the community, what role has it played in your journey, and were there any moments, people or opportunities that had a lasting impact? 

I was one of the GRIST participants in 2023. The people I’ve met across the Millhouse community have been just as big an impact as the learning from the course itself. Continuing to stay connected with Millhouse, SECNA, and the wider Canberra social enterprise community has helped me to feel part of something bigger than anything I can ever do on my own. I find that continued connection, dipping in and out as you need, provides a continuity and community that makes running a business at the same time as achieving some social purpose, feel less “all-on-you”. I also found reaching out to my GRIST mentor as I moved through different stages of my business to be a steadying and calming check point.

Can you share a moment that reminded you why this work matters? It could be a conversation, a person, a piece of feedback, or an experience that stayed with you. 

Every time I come along to SECNA business for good lunches, or any gathering of not-for-profits and social enterprises really. It’s listening to stories of the great work that orgs are doing across our communities and seeing how we can help make some aspects of their day a little easier. This is what gets me excited and reminds me why we do what we do.

How has your experience as a founder changed you? What have you learnt about yourself, leadership, or creating change that you didn’t expect when you started? 

So much!!  I didn’t think leadership had anything to do with running a business, but as a founder I’ve had to step into roles that I never identified with. It took me a few years to finally accept the idea of being the ‘boss’. I just saw myself as one of the team, but this meant there was nobody at the helm… I’ve come to embrace that role and that has helped things to be clearer for me and for the team. I’m now doing monthly sessions with a leadership coach to pull apart what are the aspects of leadership that I want to engage in and how do I step into this space with more confidence and strength of conviction. Being a founder has absolutely changed how I see myself and will continue to do so for a while yet, I think.

If you could sit down with someone thinking about becoming a social entrepreneur, what would you want them to know before they begin? 

The importance of profit. I avoided this word for years and deeply believed it was only important for the commercial sector. I’ve come to see how it’s actually the life-blood of any business and is essential not only to us being able to survive, but more importantly to being able to offer our community programs in the long run.

I would also tell them to find their people; and this will likely be more than one group or person. I have found that one group or person can’t be the connection or sounding board for all of the things you’re working through. Sometimes you connect on a technical or practical issue. Sometimes it can be a genuine emotional support – a bit of a cheer squad. (This is important too!) Pick out the groups or individuals you meet along the way that vibe with you on some aspect – and then make time to meet with them. Once a month, or twice a year. Anything. Whatever works for you both, but make room for it in your diary. It will help all the other things in your diary work better.