The $9B Startup Going After Snowflake and Databricks | Renen Hallak, CEO of VAST Data

In this episode, we sat down with Renen Hallak, founder and CEO of VAST Data, a $9 billion company that's shaking the foundations of data storage, databases and compute functionality. Through the conversation, we explore VAST Data's perspective on AI infrastructure, the process of selling over a billion dollars worth of software, and the technical innovations behind disaggregated, shared-everything architecture. VAST Data Website - https://www.vastdata.com/ Twitter -   / vast_data   Renen Hallak LinkedIn -   / renenh   FIRSTMARK Website - https://firstmark.com Twitter -   / firstmarkcap   Matt Turck (Managing Director) LinkedIn -   / turck   Twitter -   / mattturck   Foursquare: Website - https://foursquare.com Twitter -   / foursquare   IG -   / foursquare   DATA DRIVEN NYC This episode of the MAD Podcast was recorded live at Data Driven NYC, an event series organized by FirstMark Capital. The events are free and held monthly in New York, currently with the support of Foursquare. If you wish to attend and be notified of future events, please follow FirstMark on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/firstmar... CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:40 - What is VAST Data? 02:56 - The company was started in stealth mode. Why? 03:42 - Did VAST Data get lucky with the gen AI explosion? 04:27 - VAST Data founding story 05:57 - How does the company work across 2 continents? 06:48 - What made you think that you can disrupt the market? 09:23 - VAST Data architecture explained 23:08 - Moving from data storage to databases 25:01 - What was the hardest thing to build? 26:32 - How does VAST Data work with open source 26:54 - A glimpse into the future products 28:22 - The world without VAST Data: how it would've looked like 29:45 - Who were VAST Data's first customers? 30:56 - How do hedge funds use VAST Data? 32:08 - VAST Data's sales strategy 34:04 - Renen's transition from technical founder to CEO 36:01 - How do you hire great people? 37:07 - What was the hardest thing on your journey as a CEO? 38:43 - $9B CEO daily routine 40:17 - Difference between offices in NY and Israel 42:07 - Renen's learnings from sales LISTEN ON: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7yLATDS... Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...