Toby Mao - SQLMesh, Simplifying Data Transformations, and more
Apr 3, 2024
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Toby Mao, Founder of SQL Mesh, talks about simplifying data transformations. He discusses experimentation best practices, data tools, driving cars, and much more.
Toby Mao founded SQL Mesh to simplify data transformations, targeting SQL understanding and efficiency.
SQL Mesh aims to address the data scientist's challenge of lacking metadata knowledge in SQL queries.
SQL Mesh is compatible with popular data warehouses like BigQuery and Snowflake, promoting vendor flexibility.
Deep dives
Introduction of Top Talk Data and Toby as CTO
Toby introduces himself as the CTO of Top Talk Data, a startup focusing on data transformation. He explains his background, having previously worked at Airbnb and Netflix, highlighting his experience in analytics and experimentation platforms.
Evolution from Semantics Layer to SQL Mesh
Toby discusses his journey from working on a semantics layer at Airbnb to conceptualizing SQL Mesh. While developing a semantics layer startup idea, he realized the importance of data transformation, leading to the creation of SQL Mesh with a focus on understanding and transpiling SQL for efficient data transformation.
Challenges of Using SQL for Transformation
Toby addresses the challenge faced by data scientists who prefer working with SQL but lack metadata understanding in their queries. He highlights the limitation of existing tools like DBT, emphasizing the need for a transformation framework like SQL Mesh to enable seamless SQL-based transformations.
Benefits of BigQuery and Snowflake in Transformation
Toby discusses the popularity of BigQuery and Snowflake, attributing their success to cost-effectiveness and ease of use. He explains SQL Mesh's compatibility with BigQuery and Snowflake, aiming to prevent vendor lock-in and facilitate smooth transitions between data warehouses.
Balancing Open Source Offering with Commercial Cloud Services
Toby outlines Top Talk Data's strategy to balance open source tools with commercial cloud offerings. He plans to introduce a hosted version of SQL Mesh that manages state and additional metadata, enhancing observability for enterprise clients, while maintaining a powerful standalone open source tool for broader usability.
Toby Mao started his data tooling company, SQLMesh, in 2022, when investing in data tools was unfashionable. Yet, he's managed to get traction with SQLMesh and is on a mission to simplify data transformations and make data easier to work with. We also chat about experimentation best practices, which he learned at some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
This is definitely a great episode if you're interested in startups, data tools, experiments, driving cars, and much more.
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