Bob Muglia joins the show to talk about why we need to move beyond SQL, semantic models, the power of knowledge graphs, the past, present, and future of databases, and much more.

Bob has a storied history in the data space, having significant involvement with Microsoft Office, SQL Server, Snowflake (former CEO), and much more. It's rare to meet someone with such a deep involvement in the creation of our industry, and this was a fascinating conversation.

Also, check out Bob's book, "The Datapreneurs." One of the best books about the data industry I've read in ages.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-muglia/

X: https://twitter.com/Bob_Muglia

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Datapreneurs-Promise-Creators-Building-Future-ebook/dp/B0BZQFJ5RP

Summary

Data has been one of the most substantial drivers of business and economic value for the past few decades. Bob Muglia has had a front-row seat to many of the major shifts driven by technology over his career. In his recent book "Datapreneurs" he reflects on the people and businesses that he has known and worked with and how they relied on data to deliver valuable services and drive meaningful change.

Announcements

Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management Introducing RudderStack Profiles. RudderStack Profiles takes the SaaS guesswork and SQL grunt work out of building complete customer profiles so you can quickly ship actionable, enriched data to every downstream team. You specify the customer traits, then Profiles runs the joins and computations for you to create complete customer profiles. Get all of the details and try the new product today at dataengineeringpodcast.com/rudderstack Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Bob Muglia about his recent book about the idea of "Datapreneurs" and the role of data in the modern economy

Interview

Introduction How did you get involved in the area of data management? Can you describe what your concept of a "Datapreneur" is?

How is this distinct from the common idea of an entreprenur?

What do you see as the key inflection points in data technologies and their impacts on business capabilities over the past ~30 years? In your role as the CEO of Snowflake you had a first-row seat for the rise of the "modern data stack". What do you see as the main positive and negative impacts of that paradigm?

What are the key issues that are yet to be solved in that ecosmnjjystem?

For technologists who are thinking about launching new ventures, what are the key pieces of advice that you would like to share? What do you see as the short/medium/long-term impact of AI on the technical, business, and societal arenas? What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen business leaders use data to drive their vision? What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on the Datapreneurs book? What are your key predictions for the future impact of data on the technical/economic/business landscapes?

Contact Info

LinkedIn

Parting Question

From your perspective, what is the biggest gap in the tooling or technology for data management today?

Closing Announcements

Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. Podcast.init covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used. The Machine Learning Podcast helps you go from idea to production with machine learning. Visit the site to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes. If you've learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email [email protected]) with your story. To help other people find the show please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends and co-workers

Links

Datapreneurs Book SQL Server Snowflake Z80 Processor Navigational Database System R Redshift Microsoft Fabric Databricks Looker Fivetran

Podcast Episode

Databricks Unity Catalog RelationalAI 6th Normal Form Pinecone Vector DB

Podcast Episode

Perplexity AI

The intro and outro music is from The Hug by The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA Sponsored By: Rudderstack:

Introducing RudderStack Profiles. RudderStack Profiles takes the SaaS guesswork and SQL grunt work out of building complete customer profiles so you can quickly ship actionable, enriched data to every downstream team. You specify the customer traits, then Profiles runs the joins and computations for you to create complete customer profiles. Get all of the details and try the new product today at dataengineeringpodcast.com/rudderstackSupport Data Engineering Podcast

Bob Muglia likely needs no introduction. The former CEO of Snowflake led the company during its early, transformational years after a long career at Microsoft and Juniper.  Bob recently released the book The Datapreneurs about the arc of innovation in the data industry, starting with the first relational databases all the way to the present craze of LLMs and beyond. In this conversation with Tristan and Julia, Bob shares insights into the future of data engineering and its potential business impact while offering a glimpse into his professional journey.  For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podcast's companion newsletter, head to https://roundup.getdbt.com.  The Analytics Engineering Podcast is sponsored by dbt Labs.

Data and AI are advancing at an unprecedented rate—and while the jury is still out on achieving superintelligent AI systems, the idea of artificial intelligence that can understand and learn anything—an “artificial general intelligence”—is becoming more likely. What does the rise of AI mean for the future of software and work as we know it? How will AI help reinvent most of the ways we interact with the digital and physical world? Bob Muglia is a data technology investor and business executive, former CEO of Snowflake, and past president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Division. As a leader in data & AI, Bob focuses on how innovation and ethical values can merge to shape the data economy's future in the era of AI. He serves as a board director for emerging companies that seek to maximize the power of data to help solve some of the world's most challenging problems. In the episode, Richie and Bob explore the current era of AI and what it means for the future of software. Throughout the episode, they discuss how to approach driving value with large language models, the main challenges organizations face when deploying AI systems, the risks, and rewards of fine-tuning LLMs for specific use cases, what the next 12 to 18 months hold for the burgeoning AI ecosystem, the likelihood of superintelligence within our lifetimes, and more. Links from the show: The Datapreneurs by Bob Muglia and Steve HammThe Singularity is Near by Ray KurzweilIsaac AsimovSnowflakePineconeDocugamiOpenAI/GPT-4The Modern Data Stack