The author, who has experience with Census and reverse ETL, shares their personal story of trying to learn Census without an instruction manual, resulting in frustration and wasted time. They now aim to help first-time Census users avoid this mistake by providing a starter guide. The guide covers the four Ws of Census: Who (the data nerds behind Census), What (reverse ETL and operational analytics), Why (unblocking data at scale), and How (resources to get started). The author emphasizes the importance of looping in stakeholders early, starting with low-hanging fruit, and using reverse ETL to make data work for organizations, rather than just working around it. They also highlight what Census is not: a SaaS platform that stores company data, a Customer Data Platform, an ETL tool, or just another data pipeline tool.