https://anchor.fm/census/episodes/Bonus-The-Next-Generation-of-Data-Tool---Operational-Analytics-Conference-2021-ev7dot/a-a5a00b8

Boris Jabes: ... kick off the conversation. For those that don't know, my name is Boris. I'm the CEO of here at Census. And after having a few fun conversations on Clubhouse, I was like, "We should do a lot more of these, and we should get more people." And so we thought, Hey, let's put together something that resembles a conference, where everyone stays at home and doesn't have to get dressed up. And so was born this series of talks this week. And what we wanted to talk about was, especially the rise of what we're calling operational analytics and how companies are really starting to put data at the front and the center of their company, and not just kind of an... sorry, an analytical function on the side. And what that's leading to in terms of tools and processes and companies that have to emerge to serve that need.

Boris Jabes: And today we've got a pretty amazing session. We've got a whole bunch this week. And before I go further, I just want to give everyone a quick note that's in the audience that this conversation is being recorded. And if you want to chat and ask questions, absolutely please do. But just understand that you're consenting to us using your words and your profile photo in a recording. And after all this, we'll have a recording and a transcription available on the Census website, since not everybody can participate in the moment. So with that, why don't I ask everyone, Jeremiah, you go first to introduce themselves in like two or three sentences and how you got into the game of data?

Jeremiah Lowin: Sure. Happy to kick off. First off, thanks for organizing this whole thing. I'm the CEO of a company called Prefect. I spend all day, every day thinking about how to glue, what I imagine are all the tools we're going to be talking about tonight next, over the next week together and how to make it easy to get them all talking to each other and how to automate that, and that's the software that Prefect makes. My career before that is a long and circuitous winding road through all kinds of data science and machine learning, until I arrived here at what some considered the most boring part of the data stack, but I find the most exciting getting everything to work together.

Boris Jabes: Barr, how about you?

Barr Moses: Hi, everyone. My name is Barr. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Monte Carlo. We're named after the simulation, not the location. And we are a data reliability company. So we are dedicated to accelerating the world's adoption of data by eliminating what we call data downtime. I'm happy to chat more about that. Previously, I was at Gainsight, worked with enterprise companies, helping them use data as a competitive advantage. And yeah, looking forward to some great conversations today.

Boris Jabes: By the way I have to ask Jeremiah was Prefect named after Hitchhiker's Guide?

Jeremiah Lowin: For legal reasons, I don't think can confirm that.

Boris Jabes: All right.

Jeremiah Lowin: But, yes.

Boris Jabes: George, your turn.

George Fraser: That was a great question. My name's George, I'm co-founder and CEO of Fivetran. We get all of your data from all of your systems into one database. And Fivetran is pun on Fortran, since we're saying where the names come from.

Boris Jabes: I should say by the way, Census, because we were trying to help people build a source of truth out of their data warehouse that publishes all of your models and insights out into every SaaS product that you use, that's why we called it Census. Just like the thing that you have to count that is, hopefully, there should only be one answer, and that's where our name comes from Martin.

Martin Casado: Yeah. So I'm Martin. I'm a GP at Andreessen Horowitz, where I chase people like Boris, Jeremiah, Barr and George, and then try and give them money. And what brought me into data, and the reason I focus on data is if you look at infrastructure, I'm kind of a long time infrastructure guy, data is actually the largest market and it's growing twice as fast as all of the other markets, almost two X CAGR. And so it's kind of the it, in infer right now.

Boris Jabes: Wow. Thanks for giving us the stat.

Martin Casado: There you go.

Boris Jabes: That's good to know. Well, actually, all right, well then, let me open. Not necessarily with the kind of market numbers, but what's... All of us have spent time in it and Martin, you've had, probably, the broadest view, but what is the impact that you all see of data at the companies you work with? What's the biggest thing that it does? What's the biggest change that it affects in companies?

Martin Casado: Do you want me to go?