Storytelling With Data
Storytelling With Data is a bootstrapped education company founded by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic that teaches data visualization and storytelling methodology to business professionals, enterprise teams, and universities through bestselling books, customized training, and an online community.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersMilwaukee, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Storytelling With Data does
Storytelling With Data (legal entity: Storytelling with Data LLC) is a privately held, bootstrapped education and content company founded by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, a former Google People Analytics manager and five-time best-selling author. The company teaches a structured methodology for communicating with data, covering context analysis, chart selection, clutter elimination, attention focus, design thinking, and storytelling, which is delivered through books, customized enterprise team trainings, public workshops, an 8-week online course, on-demand video learning, and a children's book sub-brand (Daphne Draws Data). It does not operate a proprietary technology platform; delivery runs on Zoom, Squarespace, Tito.io, and Mailchimp, with exercises provided in Excel and solutions demonstrated across Tableau, Power BI, Python, R, Datawrapper, Flourish, and Google Data Studio.
SWD serves three primary customer segments: business professionals who need to communicate data to colleagues or leadership (the primary persona), organizations that purchase customized team trainings (with named enterprise customers spanning Google, Adobe, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, P&G, NASA, Hilton, MetLife, Standard Chartered, Kaiser Permanente, John Deere, L'Oréal, Robert Bosch, and others), and universities and high schools that adopt the original book as a textbook at 100+ institutions globally. Secondary segments include children and parents reached via the Daphne Draws Data sub-brand, and an online practitioner community. The book series is translated into dozens of languages and is supported by a free content ecosystem (blog, podcast, YouTube, Excel tutorials, chart guide, makeovers) and a premium community subscription that provides weekly office hours and the full video library.
The business generates revenue from four streams: enterprise team training sessions (professional services, quote-based with multi-year contracts), self-serve enrollment in public workshops and the 8-week online course (described as subscription/recurring), book sales across print, Audible, and bulk through Wiley (one-time license), and the premium community subscription (recurring). Distribution combines direct enterprise sales, self-serve website enrollment, university curriculum adoption, and retail book distribution. The team is small (~9-10 named individuals plus April 2026 hires), distributed across the US and London, founder-owned, and operating from Milwaukee.
Storytelling With Data firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Storytelling With Data
- Legal name
- Storytelling with Data LLC
- Website
- https://storytellingwithdata.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Storytelling With Data is a bootstrapped education company founded by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic that teaches data visualization and storytelling methodology to business professionals, enterprise teams, and universities through bestselling books, customized training, and an online community.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Storytelling With Data industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Professional Training & Education
- NAICS
- Computer Training (611420), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data Storytelling & Collaborative Analytics (HDAEAMAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence (SQL, BI Tools, Reporting) (EDABAFAD), Data Science & Analytics (Data Literacy, SQL, Visualization) (EDAMACAF)
Keywords
Where Storytelling With Data is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Milwaukee
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Storytelling With Data business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Team Training Sessions: Customized on-site and virtual workshops for organizations, where content is tailored with examples from the client's own work. Sold directly as enterprise engagements, with pricing based on session length and group size.
- Public Workshops and Online Course: Individual enrollment in public workshops (single sessions) or the 8-week multimedia online course combining lectures, reading, videos, podcasts, exercises, and a course project.
- Book Sales: Sale of books (print and Audible/audiobook formats) through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight, and bulk orders via Wiley. Titles include: storytelling with data (original), storytelling with data: let's practice!, storytelling with you, storytelling with data: before & after, and Daphne Draws Data (children's book).
- Premium Community Subscription: Premium subscription to the SWD community provides direct access to the SWD team through weekly office hours, full video library, and regular virtual events.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Team Trainings |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Storytelling With Data product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Storytelling With Data teaches professionals and organizations how to communicate effectively with data through customized team training sessions, public workshops, an 8-week multimedia online course, on-demand learning, and a series of books on data visualization and storytelling. Offerings are anchored on a structured data storytelling methodology developed by founder Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, and delivered via direct enterprise sales, individual self-serve enrollment, and book retail channels.
Product overview
Storytelling With Data is an educational content company offering a portfolio of books, training services, and free resources. Their core products include the foundational 'storytelling with data' book and its follow-ups ('before & after', 'let's practice!', 'storytelling with you'), plus the children's book 'Daphne Draws Data'. Training offerings span team trainings, public workshops, 8-week online courses, and on-demand learning. The company also provides free resources including a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, community platform, Excel tutorials, chart guide, and makeover examples. The ecosystem works together to teach data visualization and presentation skills through multiple modalities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Daphne Draws Data: Children's educational brand focused on teaching data literacy to kids through the story of Daphne the dragon. Includes the children's book 'Daphne Draws Data' and companion website daphnedrawsdata.com.
Products and services
- Team Trainings
Quantifiable outcome
- The storytelling with data book has been used as a textbook by more than 100 universities and translated into a dozen languages
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Storytelling With Data
Customer profileNamed customers26 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Storytelling With Data technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Storytelling With Data partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Storytelling With Data competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Coursera: A large MOOC platform with data visualization and data storytelling courses from multiple institutions. Competes for self-paced individual learners and provides an alternative channel where SWD-style content is also available, often at lower price points.
- DataCamp: A larger, well-capitalized online data skills learning platform with courses on data visualization, SQL, and BI tools. Targets a similar individual practitioner learner with self-paced video courses, and competes with SWD's online course and public workshops for the same audience.
Direct peers
- Juice Analytics: A data visualization consulting and training firm that helps organizations communicate data more effectively, offering workshops and custom engagements that overlap with SWD's team training and methodology positioning.
- PolicyViz: A data visualization consulting and training practice run by Jonathan Schwabish, offering workshops, books, and resources focused on data visualization for professionals — a direct niche competitor to SWD in data communication training.
- Nancy Duarte / DataStory: Duarte is a closely adjacent competitor in the data storytelling/presentation space, offering books, workshops, and a similar methodology (the 'Duarte DataStory' framework) taught by a well-known author/presenter to enterprise audiences — a near-direct alternative to SWD.
Emerging players
- Brent Dykes: Author of 'Effective Data Storytelling' and a recognized data storytelling consultant/speaker who offers training and advisory services — a single-expert alternative in the same niche as SWD's training and book offerings.
- Data Literacy Academy: A training provider focused on enterprise data literacy programs, offering workshops and consulting that overlap with SWD's team training in teaching organizations to work more effectively with data.
- Information is Beautiful (David McCandless): A data visualization author and creator offering books, talks, and workshops on presenting data beautifully. Operates in the same data storytelling education niche with a more design-forward angle, competing for keynote and workshop attention.
- Maven: A cohort-based learning platform hosting live, instructor-led courses taught by practitioners. Competes for the same professional audience seeking live, expert-led data and analytics training, with a similar high-touch, expert-instructor model.
- ChartSpark (Alli Torban): A data visualization newsletter/course brand by Alli Torban, now also a Data Storyteller at SWD. Targets the same individual practitioner audience with educational content, and represents a partial in-housing/adjacent asset rather than a pure competitor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Storytelling With Data social profiles
Digital presenceStorytelling With Data financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Storytelling With Data leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Storytelling With Data funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Storytelling With Data M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Storytelling With Data
What does Storytelling With Data do?
Storytelling With Data teaches professionals and organizations how to communicate effectively with data through customized team training sessions, public workshops, an 8-week multimedia online course, on-demand learning, and a series of books on data visualization and storytelling. Offerings are anchored on a structured data storytelling methodology developed by founder Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, and delivered via direct enterprise sales, individual self-serve enrollment, and book retail channels.
Is Storytelling With Data a public or private company?
Storytelling With Data is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Storytelling With Data founded?
Storytelling With Data was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Storytelling With Data based?
Storytelling With Data is headquartered in Milwaukee, United States, in the North America region.
How does Storytelling With Data make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Team Training Sessions are the primary driver. The others are public Workshops and Online Course, book Sales and premium Community Subscription.
Who are Storytelling With Data's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Coursera and DataCamp. Direct peers are Juice Analytics, PolicyViz and Nancy Duarte / DataStory. Emerging players are Brent Dykes, Data Literacy Academy, Information is Beautiful (David McCandless), Maven and ChartSpark (Alli Torban).
Does Storytelling With Data have an API?
No public API is recorded for Storytelling With Data.
What industry is Storytelling With Data in?
Storytelling With Data's product category is Professional Training & Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAMAJ, Data Storytelling & Collaborative Analytics, with a secondary code of EDABAFAD, Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence (SQL, BI Tools, Reporting). Its NAICS code is 611420.