We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pablo Lerdo De Tejada a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pablo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

The idea for Datalogz started with a small gut feeling from personal experience. BI environments were exploding in size and complexity, and no one really had control. But in the early innings, we only had a rough thesis of what we could go after. So we did the hard work: talked to hundreds of data leaders, especially chief data officers and BI platform owners.

We’d go into every call asking not just about their pain points like governance gaps, duplication, and cost overrun, but also the key question: “If you could describe the ideal platform that solves this for you, what would it look like?” That question unlocked everything.

We learned that the existing tools were never built for BI teams to govern at scale. And so over time, what started as a vague idea got sharpened into a real product vision.

Our execution began with small scripts and analysis, proving value early. Once we validated the need, we built the platform, raised capital, and moved fast. But none of it would’ve happened without killing our initial assumptions and listening directly to the people who would buy the product.

You don’t build a category-defining product by being right from day one. You get there by being relentlessly curious, pivoting when needed, and being obsessed with the people you’re solving it for.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Pablo Lerdo de Tejada, Co-Founder and COO of Datalogz, a platform built to help large organizations clean up and govern their Business Intelligence environments. We give data leaders visibility into what’s being used, what’s duplicated, and what’s costing them money across tools like Power BI and Tableau.

Before Datalogz, I worked at an early-stage startup where I got hands-on experience scaling operations from the ground up. Prior to that, I was at McKesson, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, where I saw just how chaotic and costly unmanaged BI environments can get, and that’s what first inspired the idea for Datalogz.

Outside of the company, I’ve been named one of Expansión’s 30 Promesas de los Negocios (Mexico), we’ve raised over $8M in venture funding, and led events featuring top data leaders. I’m passionate about building real solutions to real problems and proud that our work is helping major enterprises reduce waste, improve trust in data, and scale responsibly.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots we made at Datalogz was early on, when we were focused on building a traditional data catalog. We believed companies needed a better way to document and organize their data assets—but once we got it in front of users, the feedback was consistent: “This looks nice, but no one has time to keep it updated.”

That was a turning point. We realized that what teams really needed wasn’t just documentation—they needed visibility. They didn’t want another manual tool. They wanted automation. So we started digging deeper into BI environments and saw a much bigger, more painful problem hiding in plain sight: BI sprawl. Duplicate dashboards, stale reports, wasted licenses, and massive blind spots in governance.

We talked to hundreds of data leaders and kept hearing the same thing: “I don’t even know what’s being used, what’s duplicated, or where I’m bleeding cost.” That’s when we pivoted—away from being a passive catalog, and toward being an active monitoring and governance platform.

It was a tough shift, but it turned out to be the best decision we made. That’s when adoption accelerated, our product started delivering real ROI, and we carved out a space that didn’t exist before.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I have two amazing co-founders, Logan and Tina.

I met Logan back in high school, and we’ve been close friends ever since. We both studied engineering at Texas A&M University and were always involved in entrepreneurial activities and events through our engineering college. We shared a passion for solving real-world problems and knew that one day we’d build something together.

Tina, our other co-founder, met Logan years later in New York City, where they both live. Logan was actually the one who connected the three of us. From our first conversations, it was clear that Tina brought strong sales and marketing expertise, which perfectly complemented our technical backgrounds. The chemistry was immediate, and we knew we had the right founding team. We’ve been building Datalogz together ever since.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pablolerdo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/founderpablo?igsh=ZzRyZnl2MmtsNjYw&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablolerdo/
• Twitter: https://x.com/founderpablo?s=21
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@founderpablo?si=YD_8QX4TYgEO9ZZk