Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders S12 Bonus: David Sztykman, Hydrolix
Jan 21, 2026
David Sztykman, Chief Architect at Hydrolix, shares his journey from streaming media at Akamai to creating a stateless data platform. He discusses how live-event telemetry shaped Hydrolix's mission for real-time data observability. Sztykman highlights the challenges of scaling and the intricacies of moving to multi-cloud Kubernetes. He emphasizes the importance of curiosity in hiring and reflects on delivering a terabyte-per-minute support during the Super Bowl. Looking ahead, he envisions extending into security and AI user experiences.
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Stateless Streaming With Indexed Object Storage
- Hydrolix stores all streaming data cheaply by indexing and compressing it into object storage for fast retrieval.
- Decoupling storage from compute and staying stateless enables real-time queries at scale like Snowflake but for live streams.
Real-Time CDN Observability Origin Story
- At Akamai, David built a pipeline to get real-time insights for live events like the Super Bowl and Apple keynotes.
- The goal was to detect bitrate shifts and rebuffering by streaming edge data into a live analytics pipeline.
Prioritize Roadmap By Customer Feedback
- Talk with flagship customers to prioritize roadmap work and validate features under real load.
- Build features that generalize across customers, and avoid overly bespoke work unless revenue justifies it.