The Modern Data Show

S02 E15 From Data Source to API in Minutes with Matteo Pelati and Vivek Gudapuri, founders at Dozer

Prepare to be amazed in this episode as Matteo Pelati and Vivek Gudapuri, the brilliant minds behind Dozer, reveal their experience in pushing the boundaries of data management and analysis. By simplifying the process of data serving and allowing companies to create APIs quickly and efficiently, Dozer's approach sets them apart from the modern data stack. Their open-source approach allows developers to build custom operators and extend connectors, ensuring that Dozer can cover a wide range of use cases while still offering customization at each step. They also discuss the challenges they faced during the development of Dozer and how they are positioned to adapt to upcoming trends and developments in real-time data processing.
 

S02 E14 Transforming Data Pipelines for the Future: An Interview with Sean Knapp, CEO of Ascend.io

Uncover the secret to turning data engineering into a superpower! As Sean Knapp, the CEO and founder of Ascend.io, joined us and discussed the value of depth and breadth in capturing the entire data value chain, emphasizing the need for an automation layer to adapt to the evolving data landscape. Ascend's platform enables intelligent data pipeline creation and management, with a dynamic control plane that detects and responds to changes in real time across extensive pipeline networks. Sean further explored the potential of generative AI in data engineering & his optimism about the future of the modern data stack, foreseeing consolidation and the emergence of new parallel spaces in the data ecosystem.
 

S02 E13 Building a Data-Driven Fashion Empire: The Zalando Data Foundation Story with Dr. Alexander Borek, Director of Data and Analytics at Zalando

Step into the world of Zalando, Europe's leading online fashion retailer, where data drives innovation and enhances the customer experience. In this episode, join us as we interview Dr. Alexander Borek, the brilliant mind behind Zalando's data and analytics strategy. Discover how Dr. Borek and his team have revolutionized the company's approach to data by implementing the cutting-edge concept of data mesh. Learn how Zalando successfully strikes the perfect balance between decentralization and structure, unleashing the full potential of data while maintaining collaboration with various business units. Dr. Borek also unveils the secrets to leveraging data for innovation and value creation in the dynamic world of online fashion. Tune in now for an eye-opening exploration of data management, leadership, and the future of data-driven decision-making at Zalando.

S02 E12 Unveiling Twilio’s Data Transformation: A Journey into Modern Data Stack with Don Oriti, Head of Data Platform and Engineering at Twilio

Twilio has built an open source data lake using AWS technologies and Databricks, processing billions of events daily through their Kafka environment. They aim to provide a cohesive view of data across platforms and enable other businesses to use data wherever they want. Don, the Head of Data Platform and Engineering at Twilio, shares insights into Twilio's data stack in the latest episode of the Modern Data Show. The conversation covers the Twilio data stack, which begins with data ingestion through Kafka or CDC for Aurora databases, followed by storage in S3, high-level aggregation and curation using Spark, and the use of tools such as Kudu, Reverse ETL, data governance, cataloging, and BI tools.
 

S02 E11: The Reverse ETL Revolution: Overcoming Challenges in Syncing Live Data to SaaS Tools with Tejas Manohar, Co-founder and Co-CEO at Hightouch

Did your business ever face challenges to sync live data to your sales, marketing, and customer success tools? Then this is where you need Hightouch, a Reverse ETL platform that syncs data from a data warehouse to SaaS tools in minutes. It enables businesses to get accurate customer data quickly without requiring engineering effort or manual work. In this episode, Tejas Manohar shared his journey from developing games at a young age to becoming the  Co-founder and CEO of Hightouch. He provided valuable insights into Hightouch's internal connector framework, which automatically performs tasks like change data capture and batching, as well as providing methods to send rows that may need to be retried in future syncs. He also talked about Hightouch's two new products and the future of reverse ETL.

S02 E10: From On-Prem to the Cloud: Managing ClickHouse with DoubleCloud with Natalia Shuliak, COO at DoubleCloud

When working with open-source technologies, you benefit from the community's creations, but you also have to do a lot of admin and support work as the technologies tend to break, and support usually falls on yourself. This is where DoubleCloud's platform comes into the picture. In this latest episode of the Modern Data Show, Natalia Shuliak talks about how DoubleCloud saves you from administrative work and allows you to focus on data pipeline development and management, while providing backup, security, and support.

S02 E09: Building Data Pipelines at Shopify: Insights from Marc Laforet, Senior Data Engineer at Shopify

With its widespread popularity and success in the e-commerce industry, it is difficult to imagine anyone who has not at least heard of Shopify. This episode features Marc Laforet, a senior data engineer at Shopify, who shares his journey of how he transitioned from being a biochemist to a data engineer at Shopify. Marc explains the type of data Shopify works with, which is diverse in format and comes from different sources, and how the company determines which tools to build to extract the most value from the data. Marc also discusses data governance and explains two possible architectures: a gating process or a trust-but-verify approach.

S02 E08: Data-Driven Fitness: An Inside Look into Urban Sports Club’s Innovative Data Platform with Artur Yatsenko, Head of Data Platform at Urban Sports CLUB

Urban Sports Club, a company that connects fitness enthusiasts started their data journey when they realised treating data as a product instead of a by-product could help them unlock the value of data. In the latest episode of the Modern Data Show, we are joined by Artur Yatsenko, Head of Data Platform at Urban Sports Club to discuss the company's platform, its evolving data stack, and the challenges faced while building it. Arthur shared insights on adopting open-source software and tools for data management and implementing data as a product strategy.

S02 E07 Revolutionizing the Data Landscape: Inside Salesforce’s modernization journey with Murali Kallem, Head of Data Platform at Slesforce

Salesforce is moving towards a more user-friendly and modernized data platform that allows for faster migration and operation, while also enabling users to take advantage of new functionalities that were previously unavailable. In the latest episode of the Modern Data Show, Murali Kallen, Head of Office of Data at Salesforce discusses the Snowflake modernization efforts, including migrating to Snowflake and adopting cloud-friendly tools. Murali also covers the importance of vendor support structures for established companies and the consideration of open-source versus commercial offerings.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:12 Data platform at Salesforce
00:07:53 Structure of Salesforce's data team
00:12:28 Data tool buying criteria from the data leader's perspective
00:23:05 Partnership with Snowflake
00:27:24 Future of data space

S02 E06 Breaking Down the Buzzword: What Data Mesh Really Means for Organizations with Colleen Tartow, Director of Engineering at Starburst data

With the introduction of the Data Mesh concept a lot of people are trying to wrap their heads around the term, In the latest episode of the Modern Data Show, Colleen Tartow Director Of Engineering at Starburst Data provides a comprehensive explanation of what data mesh actually is, the socio-technical aspect of data mesh and the fundamental shift in the way data is produced and governed within an organization.