Our work with tiney
Outlier partnered with Tiney, a platform supporting micro nursery businesses, to provide fractional data expertise when their attempts to build an in-house data team hit challenges.
Our ongoing partnership delivers senior data leadership and practical implementation, enabling Tiney to maximise their existing data infrastructure while planning for future growth.
Overview
Tiney is a tech platform that helps people start and run micro nurseries from their homes.
Founded in 2019, Tiney provides comprehensive support to childminders, from training and registration to business operations tools. The platform offers a mobile app that guides practitioners through onboarding, regulatory compliance, and daily business management, including contracts, payments, educational tracking, and insurance.
Situation
Tiney had the foresight to implement data collection from the beginning, with their CTO establishing BigQuery as their data warehouse early in their journey.
This foundation allowed the company to gather valuable information from various sources, including payments and app usage, creating a significant data repository.
While this proactive approach served them well initially, as Tiney doubled in size year-over-year and grew to support approximately 1,000 active childminders across England, they faced several data challenges:
Outgrowing their informal data structure: The data infrastructure had become unwieldy as the company scaled, with a growing backlog of requests from team members who increasingly recognized the value of data-driven insights.
Failed attempts at building an in-house data team: Tiney experimented with hiring full-time data specialists but encountered difficulties finding the right fit. Senior data scientists found the role lacked sufficient complex challenges, while junior analysts would struggle without proper guidance and structure.
Limited time for data strategy: The founder and engineering team, who had been handling data responsibilities, could no longer dedicate sufficient time to service the increasing demand for analytics and reporting.
I needed senior expertise but didn't necessarily have either the budget nor the right role for a senior person to come in and be the solo data person.
I also wanted more pragmatic steering from people who have really been there and done it in a lot of startups- that founder energy where they understand where it makes sense to take risks and not always implement the most complicated solution to a problem.
– Edd Read, CTO & Founder // Tiney
GOALS
Tiney partnered with Outlier to address these challenges and improve their data capabilities.
The key objectives were:
Enhance their existing data infrastructure to meet the growing demands of the business
Provide strategic guidance on data tools and architecture decisions
Make data tools and dashboards more user-friendly and flexible for business teams
Build a roadmap for future data team structure and capabilities
Apply advanced analytics expertise to derive better insights from existing data
THE SOLUTION
FRACTIONAL DATA TEAM
Instead of continuing their search for a full-time hire, Tiney opted for Outlier's fractional data team model, giving them access to senior data expertise for two days per week. This approach provided:
Direct access to experienced data expertise without the overhead of a full-time senior hire
Strategic data expertise combined with pragmatic implementation, balancing ideal solutions with practical business needs
Flexibility to scale support as needed
STRATEGIC DATA INITIATIVES
We worked with various Tiney teams to implement targeted improvements to their data capabilities:
Customer Service Analytics: We created a comprehensive view of customer service by ingesting data from multiple support tools into their data warehouse and building custom analytics dashboards.
Revenue Forecasting Improvements: We collaborated with Tiney's strategy team and CFO to enhance their commercial modeling, focusing on improving the data that feeds into their revenue forecasting.
Growth Funnel Analysis: We developed flexible cohort tracking tools to analyse Tiney's complex sales and onboarding funnel—which can take up to a year as practitioners complete training and regulatory requirements.
IMPACT
Outlier's fractional data team model has delivered significant benefits for Tiney.
Senior Expertise Without Overhead: Tiney gained access to advanced analytics professionals at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. As Eds noted, "It's a lot less than we would pay all-in for a senior data person." We implemented data tools and dashboards that significantly improved the quality of Tiney's insights. "The way they've analysed and presented the data comes from a position of having done a lot of analytical work—I wouldn't have been able to draw upon anything like that level of experience."
Strategic Tool Selection: Tiney benefited from experienced guidance on data tooling choices, avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring solutions appropriate to their company stage and team capabilities.
User-Friendly Analytics: We designed dashboards and reports that are accessible and flexible for business users, reducing the backlog of custom queries previously handled by the CTO and freeing up significant time.
Foundation for Future Growth: While continuing to extract value from their existing setup, Tiney is now positioned to make informed decisions about future data team structure and requirements.
Working with Outlier, I get two days a week of highly efficient, experienced time. I pretty much think we're getting more than two days a week—I feel like we're getting really good value for money.
– Edd Read, CTO & Founder // Tiney
Future Outlook
The partnership between Tiney and Outlier continues to evolve through a collaborative workflow
Weekly stand-ups to coordinate priorities and track progress
Direct partnerships between the Outlier team and specific people on the Tiney team (e.g. the customer service team and the CFO) to address specific departmental needs
Knowledge transfer ensures Tiney's team understands the solutions being implemented
Rather than hiring an in-house data team, Tiney has chosen to extend and potentially expand their engagement with Outlier, finding it more productive and less risky in the short term.
As Tiney approaches profitability and prepares for their next funding round, Outlier is helping them develop a roadmap for their data future—whether that involves gradually building an in-house team, continuing with a fractional model, or adopting a hybrid approach.
This flexibility allows Tiney to focus on their core mission of elevating home-based childcare while ensuring they have the data capabilities needed to support their growth and decision-making.
