Reality sends signals.Independent digital magazine · Monthly issues · Independent blog and chronicles
Cultura Data-Driven by Gustavo Santos

Independent digital magazine · monthly issues and ongoing stories

Reality sends signals.

We investigate the stories behind them. Data, people, business, technology, literature and uncomfortable questions — without turning life into a math class.

Current issue · November 2026

Better questions change what data can tell us. An issue about decisions, people, and the stories behind the charts.

Open issue All issues

Evidence

Do data-driven companies perform better?

Yes, there is an advantage — but it shows up when data changes decisions, not when a company buys tools. What 15 years of studies and the 2026 surveys say.

By Gustavo Santos · · 6 min read

Manifesto film

Some ideas need to be seen.

Our manifesto film starts from watching everyday life and a simple question: how many signals pass right in front of us without being noticed?

An audiovisual story that introduces the spirit of Data-Driven Culture: before technology come people, thinking and the real world.

The idea behind the manifesto
Manifesto da Cultura Data-Driven | by Gustavo Santos · Official Cultura Data-Driven channel (in Portuguese) · Watch on YouTube
Quatro amigos discutem política numa mesa de boteco em Santa Tereza, Belo Horizonte, enquanto um garçom segura a conta.

Crônica — fora da série 365 · PT

Aperte o botão

Num boteco de Santa Tereza, quatro amigos descobrem que a política brasileira tem dois botões, muitas cadeiras e uma conta para pagar.

Gustavo Santos ·

Em uma rua de Belo Horizonte, o narrador sente dor na panturrilha após tentar correr; ao lado, um cartaz de sexta-feira 13 e um caderno brincam com sorte, azar, coincidência e falta de forma.

Crônica 013 de 365 · PT

O sinal da sexta-feira 13

Um pique para atravessar a rua, uma fisgada na panturrilha e um calendário suspeito. Entre sorte, azar e coincidências, o que a gente escolhe lembrar?

Gustavo Santos ·

Dona Martinha e seu neto Hélio observam as nuvens sobre Belo Horizonte; ao lado, um computador exibe gráficos meteorológicos.

Crônica 012 de 365 · PT

A senhora que controlava o clima

Dona Martinha observa o céu. Hélio confia nos modelos. Ambos estão tentando descobrir quando vale a pena levar um guarda-chuva.

Gustavo Santos ·

The chronicles are becoming a book. A Realidade Dá Sinais — 365 Crônicas (in Portuguese) is on digital pre-sale until January 6, 2027.

Support the pre-sale

One magazine. Many ways of seeing.

  • 01 · Long reads

    Blog

    Analysis and reporting on data, AI, business, economics, engineering and society — with context and sources.

  • 02 · Literature

    Chronicles

    Ordinary people, small absurdities and the amusing habit of thinking we have already figured everything out.

  • 03 · Video

    Interviews & video

    Films, conversations and annotated references — always with clear authorship.

  • 04 · Experiments

    Lab

    Play with the numbers. Make a hypothesis. See what happens.

  • 05 · Reading

    Library

    Books for better thinking, with exercises that make sense.

  • 06 · Learning

    Learn

    Courses, talks and workshops that start from real problems.

  • 07 · The beginning

    The idea

    Data-Driven Culture is not about installing yet another piece of software. It is about learning to distrust easy answers.

  • 08 · Real world

    Business & data

    The problems companies run into and the questions they may be failing to ask.

Interviews & video

See all

Our channel · YouTube

How iFood uses data: tapioca, football and credit

Excerpts from Diego Barreto’s conversation on Flow Podcast, published on the magazine’s channel with credit to the original show. In Portuguese.

Understand the case and the questions it raises
Como o iFood usa dados: tapioca, futebol e crédito · Cultura Data-Driven channel · excerpts from Flow Podcast · Watch on YouTube

From the blog

All blog posts

Evidence

Do data-driven companies perform better?

Yes, there is an advantage — but it shows up when data changes decisions, not when a company buys tools. What 15 years of studies and the 2026 surveys say.

Gustavo Santos ·

Market signals

The construction site started generating data

Chinese robots that paint, sand, level concrete and scan the site arrived in Brazil. To work, they need one thing above all: data.

Gustavo Santos ·

Signals from reality

The tapioca nobody sold

The customer wanted. The bakery could make. The problem was nobody had introduced the two.

Gustavo Santos ·

Fundamentals

Data-Driven Culture without the fuss

It is not Power BI, it is not AI, it is not having lots of data. It is turning reality into consequence.

Gustavo Santos ·

Decision

Stop deciding on 'I think'

Experience is too valuable to discard — and too dangerous to become proof without investigation.

Gustavo Santos ·

Open lab

The mystery of the 23 birthdays

With 23 people in a room, the chance that at least two share a birthday is over 50%. Change the number and watch intuition stumble.

Try the experiment

Library

Is higher revenue always better news?

An exercise based on Storytelling with Data, by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic: pick the headline the numbers actually support.

Try it yourself

Editor’s letter · November 2026

The world speaks all the time. Data helps us listen.

We are building a magazine for people who are not satisfied with the first chart and cannot resist a good story. There is room here for business, football, behavior, the environment, science, literature, doubts and even the fruit stand on the corner. You do not need to love math to be curious.

The blog investigates. The chronicles observe life. The books invite practice. The lab puts hypotheses to the test. The videos set numbers in motion.

— Gustavo Santos, editor

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