When you're building a company or creating a new product from scratch, the data available to you will often tell you that what you're doing is completely illogical. That's because creating something is an act of instinct on a very primal level.

Later on in the product lifecycle, you can use more data to leverage tactical, short-term optimizations-increasing the number of sign-ups, or driving up your active user-base. As you're starting out, though, you have to carve out your long-term product vision. Use the limited data you have as a starting point to launch yourself into the things you don't know.

"Being data-informed means that you acknowledge the fact that you only have a small subset of the information that you need to build a successful product."
-Andrew Chen

Being data-driven means that you're trying to drive up data points (DAUs, MAUs, etc.) simply for the sake of it. Being data-informed means you're trying to build your product vision, working backwards from the problem or the job-to-be-done.

Companies that have been around the block-like Intel-tend to be data-driven. They know what works, and use data to optimize for the local maximum. Growth is linear, and maxes out at 10%. Being data-informed allows you to set your sights higher. Being data-informed and willing to take calculated bets is how you set your sights on the global maximum, and take over an entire industry.

Data doesn't tell you what decisions to make. Data informs your decision making. You'll never have the complete picture when you're building product and that's a good thing-this is where the opportunity is. If all the data is out there for you to find, it means that someone else probably beat you to the punch.