253: Why Traditional Data Pipelines Are Broken (And How to Fix Them) with Ruben Burdin of Stacksync

Jul 16, 2025

Ruben Burdin, Founder and CEO of Stacksync, delves into the complexities of data integration, especially the challenges of two-way syncing for platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot. He questions the practicality of traditional methods like zero-copy ETL and highlights how these can create more issues than they solve. The conversation introduces Stacksync's innovative real-time SQL-based synchronization as a solution to streamline data management, reduce overhead, and enhance operational workflows across varied enterprise systems.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Manual Two-Way Sync Nightmare

Ruben Burdin describes the extreme complexity of building two-way sync workflows manually.
Even a single contact sync pipeline consumed his full-time effort for weeks due to updates, deletes, and backfills.

INSIGHT

Complexity of Cross-System Data Models

Different systems have different data models and definitions, making two-way sync exceptionally complex.
Filters and associations like contacts belonging to companies differ widely, complicating synchronization.

ANECDOTE

CSV: The Original Sync Tool

The original two-way sync is effectively just CSV files with manual VLOOKUPs.
Often only one person knows how these CSV-based integrations truly work, creating a high risk.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This week on The Data Stack Show, Eric and welcomes back Ruben Burdin, Founder and CEO of Stacksync as they together dismantle the myths surrounding zero-copy ETL and traditional data integration methods. Ruben reveals the complex challenges of two-way syncing between enterprise systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, and NetSuite, highlighting how existing tools often create more problems than solutions. He also introduces Stacksync's innovative approach, which uses real-time SQL-based synchronization to simplify data integration, reduce maintenance overhead, and enable more efficient operational workflows. The conversation exposes the limitations of current data transfer techniques and offers a glimpse into a more declarative, flexible approach to managing enterprise data across multiple systems. You won’t want to miss it.

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

The Pain of Two-Way Sync and Early Integration Challenges (2:01)
Zero Copy ETL: Hype vs. Reality (3:50)
Data Definitions and System Complexity (7:39)
Limitations of Out-of-the-Box Integrations (9:35)
The CSV File: The Original Two-Way Sync (11:18)
Stacksync’s Approach and Capabilities (12:21)
Zero Copy ETL: Technical and Business Barriers (14:22)
Data Sharing, Clean Rooms, and Marketing Myths (18:40)
The Reliable Loop: ETL, Transform, Reverse ETL (27:08)
Business Logic Fragmentation and Maintenance (33:43)
Simplifying Architecture with Real-Time Two-Way Sync (35:14)
Operational Use Case: HubSpot, Salesforce, and Snowflake (39:10)
Filtering, Triggers, and Real-Time Workflows (45:38)
Complex Use Case: Salesforce to NetSuite with Data Discrepancies (48:56)
Declarative Logic and Debugging with SQL (54:54)
Connecting with Ruben and Parting Thoughts (57:58)

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, customer data infrastructure that enables you to deliver real-time customer event data everywhere it’s needed to power smarter decisions and better customer experiences. Each week, we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.