Cash Rules Everything Around Me
The Weekend Windup #7 - Cool Reads, Events, and More
I’ve been reflecting on the last week’s announced merger of two darlings of the data industry, and observing reactions to this news. In the practitioner community, it’s definitely a mix of Kumbaya and dread. Plenty of people are hopeful things will stay positive, but nearly everyone is making a Plan B (forking, budgeting, looking at new options, etc). I’m agnostic to whatever happens, and try to take a Zen-like attitude to these things, mostly because stuff like this is very common in our industry. It is what it is, and here’s some advice if you’re new to the game.
Cash rules everything around me. In the peak MDS period, billions of VC dollars were flying around like confetti. The Golden Rule is the person who owns the gold makes the rules. And investment money comes with strings attached, namely hit homeruns and make massive exits. In the age of consolidation, these strings are now being pulled - M&A, IPO, etc. Things change, cuz cash rules everything.
Don’t get too comfy. If your team relies heavily on a tool, especially one getting lots of funding and moving to paid enterprise plans, start thinking about other options or budgeting for potential new costs. Be realistic because things change fast in this industry!
Everything eventually becomes “legacy”. Don’t be surprised when popular tools merge, get acquired, change their business model, or aren’t “cool” anymore. Again, this is just how the system is designed to work, especially with investors looking for a huge return.
Don’t make a tool your identity. It’s slightly hilarious to see people crying over the “death” of the tool or stack. To me, tools are like goldfish. They’re great while they’re around, but they come and go quickly. Don’t tie your whole identity or job to one specific technology or tool. Don’t be a tool (heyo!). Change is the one constant in our field. Be flexible!
Be a giver, not a taker. I’ll be frank. Quite a few people using open-source are ungrateful, entitled, and cheap AF. It amazes me when I see people asking the world from open-source projects, but also aren’t contributing to these projects or their community. If this is you, have some self-awareness about the fact you’re a taker, not a giver, and try to give more than you take.
AI means cherry picked, custom solutions. With AI coding tools getting better every week, we’ll likely see teams developing custom-built solutions for specific workflows. This is game changing. The idea of always needing an open-source project might not hold true for everything anymore. Just cherry pick the parts you want and use AI to create it. This also has massive implications for the broader vendor ecosystem, but that’s a rant for another day.
Off to Helsinki tomorrow for Helsinki Data Week. If you’re there, let’s grab a bite/drink/sauna. I’m also bringing my climbing shoes if anyone is down for a bouldering session.
For now, have a fun weekend,
Joe
Awesome Upcoming Events
Beyond BI…Yes, way beyond.
The next wave of analytics isn’t just faster dashboards or bolted-on GenAI features. It’s a foundational shift to agentic systems that can think, act, and explain. AI agents don’t stop at visualizing what happened. They reason about why, recommend what’s next, and do it with clarity and traceability.
Join me and a roster of great minds in the field as we discuss what’s beyond BI.
San Francisco - I’m back on November 4-5, 2025 for Small Data SF!
What’s up with “small data”? Isn’t BIG data always better than small data? This event is awesome because it brings together developers and data practitioners for two days of workshops and talks that challenge the “bigger is always better” mentality in data and AI. Join us to explore the philosophy that’s reshaping how we think about data processing!
Day 1 (November 4): Hands-on workshops where you’ll learn practical techniques for efficient data processing, local-first development, and building AI applications that don’t require a cluster to run.
Day 2 (November 5): A full day of talks from industry leaders who are redefining what’s possible when you optimize for simplicity, speed, and developer experience rather than theoretical scale.
🐥
Detroit! See you at the inaugural Data in the D Conference!
But wait, there’s more!
My other upcoming events are posted here.
Cool Reads
Here are some things I read this week that you might enjoy.
The Don’t Look Up Moment: Notes from Vienna’s Data & AI Executives Reality Check - Karl Ivo
Data 3.0 needs an autonomous abstraction - NextData
AI Not A Reliable Source Of News, EU Media Study Says - Barron’s
News Integrity in AI Assistants
Is the Flurry of Circular AI Deals a Win-Win—or Sign of a Bubble? - WSJ
The Moat Problem - inflection points by parul singhThe odds of making it - Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged
The security paradox of local LLMs - Quesma BlogBuild Your Own Database - NaN
Here is the Tech Stack I Used To Create TopMusic - Nadir Mountain
Do We Still Need Traditional Data Modeling Tools? - Jaco van der Laan
Find My Other Content Here
📺 YouTube - Interviews, tutorials, product reviews, rants, and more.
🎙️ Podcasts - Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
📝 Practical Data Modeling - This is where I’m writing my upcoming book, Mixed Model Arts, mostly in public. Free and paid content.
The Practical Data Community
The Practical Data Community is place for candid, vendor-free conversations about all things tech, data, and AI. We have regular events such as book clubs, lunch and learns, Data Therapy, and much more.
Closing Question
Do you think AI is in a bubble? Drop a note in the comments.
Want your article or event featured here?
Go an article or upcoming event you want featured here? Please them here.
Haha love your points especially about everything becomes legacy and dont link the tool to your identity but we know many people do so thanks for calling it out Joe .. enjoy Finland 🇫🇮 😉
Super informative post (checking out some of the events you mentioned now), and thanks for the callout!