204: Will a Duck DB-Like Excel Emerge by 2075? And Is Data Every Company’s Most Valuable Asset? Featuring Benn Stancil of Mode

The Data Stack Show

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

• Benn's Background and Journey in Data (0:48)
• Reflection on Strategy and Vision (2:10)
• The Importance of Doing It Your Way (4:10)
• Early Experiences and Blogging (6:27)
• Self-Imposed Pressure in Startups (8:24)
• The Challenge of Decision-Making (12:11)
• Key Decisions in a Startup's Trajectory (15:48)
• Understanding Startup Anxiety (17:24)
• Importance of Focus in Data Startups (20:02)
• Product Market Fit Insights (24:38)
• Cultural Change and Product Fit (30:23)
• Evolution of Data Teams (31:57)
• The Role of High-Profile Data Successes (34:12)
• Challenges of Data in Smaller Businesses (36:16)
• Product Team Dynamics (38:18)
• The Future of Excel (41:11)
• Anti-Patterns in Data Usage (45:05)
• Imagining Excel's Replacement (47:05)
• Exploring New Data Solutions (49:24)
• The Role of LLMs in Data Analysis (51:29)
• Final Thoughts and Takeaways (53:10)

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. 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.