Shows
Straight Data TalkKasriel Kay: From Data Governance to Data EnablementKasriel Kay, leading data democratization at Velotix, joined Yuliia and Dumke to challenge conventional wisdom about data governance and catalogs. Kasriel argues that data catalogs provide visibility but fail to deliver business value, comparing them to "buying JIRA and expecting agile practices." He advocates for shifting from restrictive data governance to data enablement through policy-based access control that considers user attributes, data sensitivity, and business context. Kasriel explains how AI-driven policy engines can learn from organizational behavior to automatically grant appropriate data access while maintaining compliance, ultimately reducing time-to-insight and unlocking missed business opportunities.2025-06-3050 min
Straight Data TalkPatrick Thompson: From Data Quality to Decision Quality - Building Structured Systems in an AI-First WorldPatrick Thompson, co-founder of Clarify and former co-founder of Iteratively (acquired by Amplitude), joined Yuliia and Dumky to discuss the evolution from data quality to decision quality. Patrick shares his experience building data contracts solutions at Atlassian and later developing analytics tracking tools. Patrick challenges the assumption that AI will eliminate the need for structured data. He argues that while LLMs excel at understanding unstructured data, businesses still need deterministic systems for automation and decision-making. Patrick shares insights on why enforcing data quality at the source remains critical, even in an AI-first world, and explains his shift from analytics...2025-06-0244 min
Straight Data TalkKir Tititevsky: Modern Streaming Architecture Transforming the Service BusKir Titievsky, Product Manager at Google Cloud with extensive experience in streaming and storage infrastructure, joined Yuliia and Dumky to talk about streaming. Drawing from his work with Apache Kafka, Cloud PubSub, Dataflow and Cloud Storage since 2015, Kir explains the fundamental differences between streaming and micro-batch processing. He challenges common misconceptions about streaming costs, explaining how streaming can be significantly less expensive than batch processing for many use cases. Kir shares insights on the "service bus architecture" revival, discussing how modern distributed messaging systems have solved historic bottlenecks while creating new opportunities for business and performance needs....2025-03-3143 min
Straight Data TalkSerhii Sokolenko: Building a Python-First Compute Platform for Data EngineersSerhii Sokolenko, founder at Tower Dev and former product manager at tech giants like Google Cloud, Snowflake, and Databricks, joined Yuliia to discuss his journey building a next-generation compute platform. Tower Dev aims to simplify data processing for data engineers who work with Python. Serhii explains how Tower addresses three key market trends: the integration of data engineering with AI through Python, the movement away from complex distributed processing frameworks, and users' desire for flexibility across different data platforms. He explains how Tower makes Python data applications more accessible by eliminating the need to learn complex frameworks while automatically...2025-03-1755 min
Straight Data TalkAndrii Yasinetsky: Building an AI Startup & Reshaping Healthcare, AI Democratization and Changes It Brings to Tech Jobs and World EconomyAndrii Yasinetsky, CTO and co-founder of Diadia Health and AI expert, joined Yuliia to share his perspective on the current AI landscape and its future implications. Currently Andrii and his team are building an AI-first healthcare platform focused on metabolic and hormonal health. Andrii talks about how AI is changing both technology stacks and business economics. We discuss what's wrong with AI claims in enterprises and why it doesn't match reality, he points out the decreasing cost of intelligence, and why the middle layer of tech jobs may disappear within five years. Andrii also shares his take on how...2025-03-1058 min
Straight Data TalkJess Kyle: How Communication, Empathy, and Trust Transform Data WorkJess Kyle, a Data Engineering Leader with 13 years of experience across startups and enterprises, joined Yuliia to share her mission of making data work more enjoyable for everyone involved. As a leader of a data engineering team at a sports betting company, Jess shared how transparent communication can transform team dynamics and stakeholder relationships. In her work she challenges the common notion of "soft skills" in data, emphasizing that communication is a hard skill that should be screened for in interviews. Jess provides practical insights on managing overwhelm, delivering difficult feedback, and emphasizes why empathy and humility are the...2025-02-1758 min
Straight Data TalkDeepti Srivastava: Systems Thinking for Enterprise AIDeepti 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...2025-02-1056 min
Straight Data TalkBogdan Banu: From Zero to Data Platform in StartupBogdan 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...2025-02-0356 min
Straight Data TalkJason Touleyrou: How to Make Data Governance Work in OrganizationsJason Touleyrou, Data Engineering Manager at Corewell Health joined Yuliia to discuss why most organizations struggle with data governance. He argues that data teams should focus on building trust through flexible systems rather than rigid controls. Challenging traditional data quality approaches, Jason suggests starting with basic freshness checks and evolving governance gradually. Drawing from his experience across healthcare and marketing analytics, he shares practical strategies for implementing governance during migrations and measuring data team value beyond conventional metrics. Jason's linkedin page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontouleyrou/2025-01-2755 min
Straight Data TalkRichard He: The Cost of Inaction for Data Teams and Data PlatformsRichard He, Founder at Fundamenta – Data Consultancy, former Engineering Director at Virgin Media O2 and creator of Practical GCP YouTube channel, joined Yuliia to discuss the critical concept of "cost of inaction" in data infrastructure modernization. Based on his two decades of experience, including several successful migrations, Richard emphasized the importance of proactive platform evolution over reactive large-scale migrations. He shared valuable insights on measuring ROI for platform teams, and bridging the gap between technical execution and business strategy. Richard's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shenghuahe/2025-01-2055 min
Straight Data TalkPaolo Platter: From 10 Years of Data Consulting to Creating Witboost - A Platform that Scales Enterprise Data ProductsPaolo Platter, CTO and co-founder of Agile Lab and Witboost, joined Yuliia to share how his 10 years of building custom data solutions for clients led to creating Witboost - a platform that helps big companies manage their data products at scale. One of their customers used Witboost to build over 250 data products in just 18 months, showing how well the platform works at scale. Paolo explained why setting rules for data teams becomes harder as companies grow, and shared how he shifted from saying "yes" to every client request as a consultant to building a product that works for many...2024-12-161h 03
Straight Data TalkAmy Raygada: Data Consultancy in 2024: Navigating AI Hype, Org Silos, and Drive an ImpactAmy Raygada, data consultant and founder of Cosmodata, recently joined the Thoughtworks team. Together with Yuliia, she unpacks what it’s like to work as a data consultant in today’s world, where AI challenges every organization. Amy shared her journey from individual contributor to consultant, offering insights on navigating organizational silos, the similarities between being an individual contributor and a consultant, and how to advise big organizations while making a meaningful impact.Amy Raygada linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-raygada/2024-12-0256 min
Straight Data TalkDanilo Sato: AI ReadinessDanilo Sato, AI Platform & Engineering Portfolio Leader at ThoughtWorks (16+ years), joined Yuliia and Scott to discuss enterprise AI readiness assessment and how implementation is progressing. Danilo shared a fascinating case study about how technical solutions often face non-technical barriers. He shared his views on data mesh principles intersecting with AI solutions and treating AI models as specialized data products.Danilo's Linkedin Page: linkedin.com/in/danilosato2024-11-181h 00
Straight Data TalkThe Hidden Costs of Modern Data StackMartin Fiser, Field CTO at Keboola with 8 years at Google, joined Yuliia and Scott to challenge modern data stack complexity and costs. He advocates for all-in-one platforms over fragmented solutions, highlighting how companies waste up to 40% of time on tool integration. Martin shared insights on US-European cultural differences in data approaches and warned against "development by resume" culture where engineers prioritize trendy tools over business outcomes.2024-11-041h 06
Straight Data TalkScott Hirleman - Cost Managment in DataScott Hirleman, founder of Data Mesh Radio, has a very diverse career, including a role as FinOps Manager. In this podcast, we sit down together to discuss his FinOps philosophy: cost containment, cost attribution, and cost forecasting. It's an insightful conversation on how to balance costs for data teams with both data and business considerations in mind.2024-10-211h 01
Straight Data TalkDaniil Shvets – Data Science is more a business activity rather than ITDaniil Shvets, CEO and co-founder of ASAO DS: Data & AI Consulting Boutique, previously led various companies' Data Science and Product teams. Daniil sat down with Yuliia and Scott to share his opinion on Data Science being a business department with appropriate data skills rather than an IT department. He explained why having 54 ML models in one of the largest retailers in the USA is the wrong approach. Daniil also shared his views on the biggest challenges in perceiving Data Science's role. We also touched on AI and the consultancy business while Scott made all possible relationship analogies. :)...2024-10-0758 min
Straight Data TalkEric Broda & JGP: Implementing Data Mesh and BeyondEric and Jean-Georges Perrin are talking about their upcoming book Implementing Data Mesh, but also about actually executing Data Mesh through an open-source project. 2024-09-231h 03
Straight Data TalkSayle Matthews - Reflection on Google BigQuery Cost Changes After 1 YearSayle Matthews leads the North American GCP Data Practice at DoiT International. Over the past year and a half, he has focused almost exclusively on BigQuery, helping hundreds of GCP customers optimize their usage and solve some of their biggest 'Big Data' challenges. With extensive experience in Google BigQuery billing, we sat down to discuss the changes and, most importantly, the impact these changes have had on the market, as observed by Sayle while working with hundreds of clients of various sizes at DoiT.Sayle's LinkedIn page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sayle-matthews-522a795/2024-09-021h 07
Straight Data TalkMichael Toland - How to Make Data Products Work in the EnterpriseMichael Toland is a Product Management Consultant and blog contributor with Test Double, residing in Columbus, OH. His experience spans 8 formal years of internal Product Management, with a few additional years of doing Product Management without even knowing what the field really was.In this episode, Michael shared how a data empowered company the size of Verizon was able to drastically reduce time-to-market metrics, experiment, and run data product MVPs in production. The reference data became a cornerstone of Verizon's go-to-market strategy and a glue for different teams and departments.One of the key takeaways is t...2024-08-191h 02
Straight Data TalkJohn Grubb - Making FinOps Work Like an EngineerJohn Grubb is the Sr. Director of FinOps and Cost Modeling at Platform.sh. With experience as a former Data Platform Director, Director of BI & Analytics, and Director of Customer Care, John brings a sharp perspective on why cloud costs matter. He knows how to align financial and engineering teams and believes that FinOps is about maximizing the value of every cloud dollar rather than just cutting costs.Follow John on Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnygrubb/John's blog - https://www.thefinoperator.com/2024-08-0558 min
Straight Data TalkJean-Georges Perrin - Make Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS) WorkJean-Georges Perrin is a serial startup founder, currently co-founder of AbeaData [https://abeadata.com/], and co-author of "Implementing Data Mesh." He is the one who championed the PayPal's data contract project, which is now part of Bitol and the Linux Foundation. In this episode, JGP speaks about building and maintaining open-source data contract solutions using open standards. He shares a lot about why and how he came to it and the challenges of maintaining it to avoid appropriation of the solution. JGP discusses how they balance the interests of different groups in developing a community around open data contract...2024-07-2256 min
Straight Data TalkAndrew Jones - Reliable Data PlatformAndrew Jones, principal engineer at GoCardless, is the author of the book "Driving Data Quality with Data Contracts." During this session, we talked a lot about what a data platform is, who data platform engineers are, what it takes to make a data platform reliable, and, most importantly, how Andrew and his team managed to build a reliable platform at GoCardless. Sure enough, we touched a little on data contracts, their implementation, and the possibility of vendors doing the same as Andrew's team did.Andrew's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewrhysjones/2024-07-0859 min
Straight Data TalkTiankai Feng – Inclusivity in Data Work in PracticeTiankai Feng is Head of Data Strategy & Governance Services at Thoughtworks Europe. Tiankai joined us to discuss inclusivity in data teams, data work, and beyond. While it may sound vague and unclear, during the discussion, we actually tried to unfold what it really means. In essence, we emphasized empathy to understand what it takes to do data work and, conversely, what data teams need to understand from business stakeholders to deliver outcomes that truly matter.Check out Tiankai's LinkedIn; he does a great job there!2024-06-2447 min
Straight Data TalkRui Falhas Santos - Unfolding Successful AI Use Case in BankingRui Falhas Santos - is the Manager of Data Analytics at one of the largest banks in the world. He joined us to discuss the AI applications they have implemented. The creativity and the use case are very captivating, as it is applied in one of the most regulated and legacy-bound industries. Rui is a hands-on manager with an extensive background in data. His data team helped build a solution that reads, on average, 300k articles a month to catch any alarming signals about their clients. Additionally, we discussed responsible AI from the decision-making side of model output and...2024-06-1051 min
Straight Data TalkAndrii Yasinetsky: AI as a Great Equalizer, yet to face many challengesAndrii Yasinetsky is a serial startup founder, ex-Uber, and ex-Google. Now, he is building a healthcare AI startup in stealth mode; he joins us to talk about the enablers and obstacles in the current AI startup ecosystem. Andrii shares his views on the following challenges for organizations applying LLMs, such as converting bytes into high-quality data, ensuring the safety of LLMs, the implications of legal regulations on innovations, and expanding AI applicability to broader and more complex problems. Despite all the hurdles, Andrii sees AI as a great equalizer that will make many services more accessible and significantly enhance...2024-05-2753 min
Straight Data TalkMaya Mikhailov - Hurdels and Fun building AI startupMaya Mikhailov from Savvi AI joins us to discuss AI, startups, and the real-world delivery of value to enterprises. The pressing challenge for organizations today is that while the C-suite is both willing and financially prepared to invest in AI strategies, there remains a significant gap between effectively applying AI, extracting tangible value, and overcoming the perception of AI as a miraculous fix-all.Connect with Maya - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayam/2024-05-1356 min
Data UnchainedDeconstructing Data Management w/ Yuliia TkachovaWhat exactly is #DataManagement? How can it help us #monetize the data we have? And does this help with things like protecting #datasources? We discuss all these #questions and more on this latest #podcast episode of Data Unchained as #CEO and #CoFounder of Masthead Data, Yuliia Tkachova joins us to discus these topics and how her business is #disrupting the #industry.#datapipeline #datatables #bigdata #technology #hightechCyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US2023-12-0131 min
Open||Source||DataBuilding With Trust, Inspiration, and Reputation with Jaya Gupta, Yuliia Tkachova, and Omoju MillerThis bonus episode features conversations from season 5 of the Open||Source||Data podcast. In this episode, you’ll hear from Jaya Gupta, Partner at Foundation Capital; Yuliia Tkachova, Co-founder and CEO of Masthead Data; and Omoju Miller, Founder and CEO of Fimio.Sam sat down with each guest to discuss how they are building foundations for trust, inspiration, and reputation as we all race into the AI-centric future.You can listen to the full episodes from Jaya Gupta, Yuliia Tkachova, and Omoju Miller by clicking the links below.-------------------Episode Timestamps:...2023-07-1204 minOpen||Source||DataThe Human Right to Privacy and Caring About UX Design with Yuliia TkachovaThis episode features an interview with Yullia Tkachova, Co-founder and CEO of Masthead Data, an observability platform that catches anomalies in Google BigQuery in real-time. She holds degrees in Management Information Systems, Math, Statistics, and Marketing. Prior to Masthead, Yuliia designed complex BI products and solutions powered by ML and utilized by Fortune 500 companies.In this episode, Sam and Yuliia discuss how ML is shaping the future of data analytics, caring about users, and the fundamental human right to privacy.-------------------“We map those errors and anomalies on lineage, helping to understand what up...2023-05-1746 min
Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech LeadersS7 E4: Yuliia Tkachova, Masthead DataYuliia Tkachova grew up in the Ukraine, but lives in Canada now. She has a family with 2 kids, and a masters in statistics. And, she acknowledges that the war with Russia has been difficult to deal with, thinking of her friends and family back home. On the lighter side, she notes that she loves Depeche Mode and Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom she has seen many times in concert. She recalls the 2010 concert in Kyiv with Depeche Mode was a moment that she cherishes.As a data product manager, Yuliia was called out, even during the early...2022-09-1322 min