Monica Sarbu, founder of Xata.io, and Tudor Golubenco, the CTO, share their journey from Elastic to launching Xata, a Postgres database platform. They discuss the challenges of schema management and the innovations behind their free tier, which supports both developers and nonprofits. The duo also explores how user-friendly database solutions can empower underrepresented groups in tech and the significance of their open-source roots in shaping Xata's mission.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Xata's Origin
After leaving Elastic, Monica started a non-profit offering mentorship in tech and built a mentorship platform.
While building the platform, she realized databases were still difficult to use, sparking the idea for Xata.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Tudor Joins Xata
Tudor, initially hesitant, was persuaded by Monica to join Xata after she secured two funding rounds.
Monica emphasized Tudor's technical expertise and product vision as key reasons for his involvement.
insights INSIGHT
Xata's Initial Vision
Xata's initial pitch focused on a database platform combining the ease of Airtable with traditional database power.
The platform aimed to simplify development by integrating features like full-text search via Elasticsearch.
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Want to learn more Postgres? Check out my Postgres course: https://masteringpostgres.com.
Production ready Postgres for teams that ship fast: https://xata.io In this interview, I talk with Monica Sarbu and Tudor Golubenco from Xata about their journey from Elastic to founding Xata. We deep dive on building a Postgres hosting platform, handling schema changes, and how they've made their free tier economical.
Links Mentioned: Xata.io: https://xata.io/ The economics of a Postgres free tier: https://xata.io/blog/postgres-free-tier
Follow Monica & Tudor: Monica on Twitter: https://twitter.com/monicasarbu Monica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicasarbu Tudor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tudor_g Tudor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tudorgolubenco/
Follow Aaron: Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis Website: https://aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.
Database school on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15 Database school audio only: https://databaseschool.transistor.fm
Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 00:26 - What is Xata? Overview and Mission 01:32 - Open Source Projects: PG Roll and PG Stream 02:33 - Synchronizing Data: Postgres to Elastic Search 03:12 - Monica and Tudor's Background & Journey to Elastic 04:00 - Founding of Packetbeat: The Start of Open Source Monitoring 06:08 - Transition from Elastic to Starting Xata 07:00 - Launching a Nonprofit and Insights on Database Challenges 08:29 - The Idea Behind Xata: Simplifying Application Development 10:00 - Tudor Joins Xata: The Decision to Start Again 10:47 - The Technical Vision for Xata's Platform 12:06 - Founding Xata During the Pandemic 13:11 - Funding Journey: From Seed to Series A 15:07 - Building a Platform, Not Just a Hosted Database 17:20 - Introducing Postgres to Xata's Stack 20:19 - Navigating Postgres as a DBA 22:44 - Open Source Strategy & Community Building 27:48 - PG Stream Use Cases & Postgres Replication 32:08 - PG Roll for Zero Downtime Schema Changes 36:05 - Implementing Safe and Fast Schema Changes 39:49 - Blob Storage and Cloudflare Integration 45:11 - Xata's Unique Features: Serving Builders and Larger Teams 49:20 - Free Tier Economics and Why It Matters 56:04 - Working as a Husband-Wife Team
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