Tobie Morgan Hitchcock, founder and CEO of SurrealDB, dives into the cutting-edge world of databases designed for modern developers. He discusses how SurrealDB merges document, graph, and time-series data to streamline backend processes. Tobie reveals the advantages of separating storage from compute for scalability and the decision to rewrite the platform in Rust for enhanced performance. He also highlights SurrealDB's capabilities for real-time analytics and AI integration, offering insights into the future of data management.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
SurrealDB's Origin
Tobie Morgan Hitchcock and his brother built several applications, including sports analytics tools.
They developed SurrealDB to simplify managing multiple databases for these applications.
insights INSIGHT
Reimagining Databases
Tobie's non-database background allowed him to reimagine database design.
His master's thesis on temporal data inspired SurrealDB's time-travel capabilities.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Rewriting in Rust
SurrealDB was initially written in Golang, including custom data structures.
They rewrote it in Rust for better performance and community support.
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In this episode, we sit down with Tobie Morgan Hitchcock, the founder of SurrealDB, to dive deep into the evolving world of databases and the future of data storage, querying, and real-time analytics.
SurrealDB isn’t just another database — it’s a multi-model database that merges document, graph, and time-series data, making it easier for developers to consolidate their backend without sacrificing performance.
You'll learn how SurrealDB separates storage from compute for scalability, its innovative take on graph databases, and the radical decision to rewrite the entire platform in Rust. Tobie also shares how SurrealDB is designed to handle real-time analytics and integrate AI/ML models directly inside the database.
If you're curious about the future of databases, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.
SurrealDB
Website - https://surrealdb.com
Twitter - https://x.com/SurrealDB
Tobie Morgan Hitchcock:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiemorganhitchcock
Twitter - https://x.com/tobiemh
FIRSTMARK
Website - https://firstmark.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap
Matt Turck (Managing Director)
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck
(00:00) Intro (02:03) What is SurrealDB? (02:53) How did SurrealDB get started? (09:10) The Challenges of Building a Database from Scratch (10:36) Why SurrealDB Chose Rust (12:54) A Deep Dive into SurrealDB’s Unique Features (19:30) Why Now? (26:32) What Sets SurrealDB Apart from Other Databases (30:01) SurrealDB’s Role in the Future of AI and Machine Learning (32:45) Why Developers Are Choosing SurrealDB (36:14) What’s New in SurrealDB 2.0? (40:10) SurrealDB Cloud: Scalability Meets Simplicity (42:21) How SurrealDB Fits into the Competitive Database Landscape (45:37) Early Lessons from Building SurrealDB (48:34) Co-Founding SurrealDB with His Brother
The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck