Database School Scaling DuckDB in the cloud with MotherDuck CEO Jordan Tigani
Dec 11, 2025
In this discussion, Jordan Tigani, co-founder and CEO of MotherDuck, and a former BigQuery engineer, dives into the world of DuckDB and cloud analytics. Jordan explains how DuckDB serves as an embedded analytical database and highlights its cloud hosting model at MotherDuck. He shares insights on scaling strategies, the unique hypertenancy model for user isolation, and the academic origins of DuckDB. Notably, he discusses pricing lessons and targeting startups, revealing how they are building a delightful product for the long tail of users.
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Embedded Analytics, Hosted Seamlessly
- DuckDB is an embedded analytical database that runs in-process as a library and excels at aggregations and analytics workloads.
- MotherDuck hosts DuckDB in the cloud so users can switch from local files to a hosted MD: URI with no client changes.
Hypertenancy For Isolated Analytics
- MotherDuck uses a hypertenancy model where each end user can get an isolated DuckDB instance to avoid noisy-neighbor contention.
- That tenancy enables aggressive shutdown to zero and fine-grained cost control per active user.
Fired, Then Funded In 12 Days
- After Jordan got fired from SingleStore he hacked a DuckDB hosting idea and within 12 days had term sheets and five offers from VCs.
- He then partnered with DuckDB founders to avoid forking their core and to gain distribution and exclusivity.