Deepti Srivastava, Founder of Snow Leopard AI and former Spanner Product Lead at Google Cloud, joined Yuliia to chat what's wrong with current approaches to AI integration. Deepti introduces a paradigm shift away from ETL pipelines towards federated, real-time data access for AI applications. She explains how Snow Leopard's intelligent data retrieval platform enables enterprises to connect AI systems directly to operational data sources without compromising security or freshness. Through practical examples Deepti explains why conventional RAG approaches with vector stores are not good enough for business-critical AI applications, and how a systems thinking approach to AI infrastructure can unlock greater value while reducing unnecessary data movement.Deepti's linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedeepti/Snowleopard.ai - http://snowleopard.ai/

Bogdan Banu, Data Engineering Manager at Veed.io, joined Yuliia to share his journey of building a data platform from scratch at a fast-growing startup. As Veed's first data hire, Bogdan discusses how he established a modern data stack while maintaining strong governance principles and cost consciousness. Bogdan covered insights on implementing consent-based video data processing for AI initiatives, approaches to data democratization, and how his data team balancs velocity with security. Bogdan shared his perspectives on making strategic vendor choices, measuring business value, and fostering a culture of intelligent experimentation in startup environments.Bogdan's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bogdan-banu-a68a237/