#107 Developing New Products Using Machine Learning with Max Sklar - Engineering and Innovation Labs Advisor and Podcast Host

The Local Maximum is hosted and produced by Max Sklar. Max is a software engineer and new product developer by trade, with a focus on machine learning, Bayesian inference, content discovery, and prototyping. The bulk of his work as a machine learning engineer was at Foursquare, where he built Foursquare City Guide’s critically acclaimed 10-point venue rating system and the Marsbot app. More recently, he led the development of a causality model for Foursquare’s Ad Attribution product and now works at Foursquare’s innovation lab.

Enjoy the show!

We speak about:

[00:30] About Max Sklar

[02:00] How did you get into the world of data?

[06:05] About the recommender system at Foursquare

[10:15] Why do you like solving open-ended problems?

[12:20] How has your new role been?

[14:20] What are the benefits of staying at a company for a long period of time?

[16:30] About Marsbot

[20:00] About the attribution side of Foursquare

[26:40] How do you pick the innovations you are going to try?

[28:50] How does the monthly pitch day work?

[31:20] About Local Max Radio

Resources:

Podcast: https://www.localmaxradio.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-sklar-b638464/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/localmaxradio/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxsklar

Marsbot: https://marsbotapp.com

Foursquare: https://foursquare.com

Quotes:

“Try a few ways and see what works.”

“I am looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble people cause.”

“I focus on making a splash on pushing forward technology.”

“Getting things to work that no one has necessarily tried before - that no one in our company has tried before.”

“It's tough to describe probability functions to end clients, it's always good to have that on your side”.

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And as always, we appreciate your Reviews, Follows, Likes, Shares and Ratings. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy the show!

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