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...