Neeva

Snowflake is betting that the future of AI isn’t just analyzing data, it’s acting on it. That means a shift away from chatbots and toward autonomous agents that can actually get work done. And Snowflake is reorganizing fast to keep up, from shipping hundreds of AI features to restructuring teams along the way. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy to unpack the company’s transformation and what it signals about where AI is headed next. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why Ramaswamy believes the chatbot era is ending and the agentic era is beginning. How Snowflake is evolving from a data warehouse into an AI and applications platform. What “shipping with your data” actually looks like in practice. Why the company is making big internal changes to support its AI push. Subscribe to Equity on ⁠YouTube⁠,⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠ Overcast⁠,⁠ Spotify⁠ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on⁠ X⁠ and⁠ Threads⁠, at @EquityPod.  Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:17 Snowflake’s AI shift and agentic future 01:45 Why 2026 marks the end of chatbots 04:09 Cortex Code, Snowflake Intelligence, and new products 06:09 Who benefits: non-technical users & enterprises 07:35 Adoption challenges and why AI pilots fail 12:11 How AI is reshaping jobs and skills 14:39 Layoffs, automation, and the future of documentation 18:37 Snowflake’s evolution into an AI platform 21:04 Competition: Databricks, hyperscalers, and AI giants 25:01 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Sridhar Ramaswamy is the CEO of Snowflake. Ramaswamy joins Big Technology Podcast to break down the competitive dynamics in the AI race today, drawing from his experience working at Google and competing with it. We also cover the future of software, looking at whether AI will turn established software companies into "dumb backends." In the second half, we discuss “shadow AI” driving enterprise adoption from the bottom up, the risk of becoming a feature in someone else's platform, and why Chinese open-source models might actually be a net positive for the US. Hit play for a sharp, deeply informed conversation about where AI competition, enterprise software, and the future of work are heading. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/bigtech.  Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Snowflake is moving beyond the data warehouse. Its new Snowflake Intelligence is an agentic platform for every employee, not just data teams. Sarah Guo sits down with Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy to discuss his first 18 months at the helm, as well as the massive pivot to make the data giant AI-first. Sridhar talks about Snowflake Intelligence, the company's new AI agent platform, and its implications for enterprise data management. They also explore how Sridhar navigates partnerships with major tech companies, how he fosters a culture of continuous improvement within the organization, and how he envisions Snowflake’s future as an integral data-driven enterprise solution.  Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @Snowflake Chapters: 00:00 – Sridhar Ramaswamy Introduction 00:42 – Snowflake’s Market Adaptation 03:14 – Snowflake’s Evolution and AI Integration 05:44 – Introducing Snowflake Intelligence 09:01 – Snowflake Intelligence User Experience 11:55 – Drawing the Line Between Data, Agent System, and App 13:30 – Leadership and Organizational Changes 16:19 – How Being an Investor, Entrepreneur Informed Sridhar’s Leadership 18:50 – Importance of Product-Market Fit 22:46 – Snowflake’s Strategic Positioning 27:10 – Snowflake’s Partnership Strategy 30:20 – How Sridhar Sees the ROI of AI 35:09 – How AI Changes the Ad Model 38:15 – Why LLMs Still Need Search 42:11 – Conclusion

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

SaaStr 807: Snowflake's CEO on the AI Data Cloud, Partner Strategy, and What's Next Join Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake, and Jeremy Burton, CEO of Observe, in a comprehensive discussion led by SaaStr CEO & Founder, Jason Lemkin. Discover the inner workings of Snowflake's Board, the dynamics of strategic partnerships, and the evolving role of AI in data management. Learn how Snowflake aims to be the AI Data Cloud and how Observe integrates with Snowflake to provide scalable analytics. With detailed insights into the partnership strategies, future technological trends, and success stories, this conversation offers a blueprint for leveraging AI and data to drive business value. Don't miss out on the valuable lessons and future predictions shared by these industry leaders. ----------------- This episode of the SaaStr podcast is sponsored by: Attio This episode is brought to you by Attio — the AI-native CRM. Connect your email, and Attio instantly builds a powerful CRM - with every company, contact and interaction you've ever had. Get 15% off your first year at https://attio.com/saastr ------------------ This episode of the SaaStr podcast is sponsored by: Attention.com Tired of listening to hours of sales calls? Recording is yesterday's game. Attention.com unleashes an army of AI sales agents that auto-update your CRM, build custom sales decks, spot cross-sell signals, and score calls before your coffee's cold. Teams like BambooHR and Scale AI already automate their Sales and RevOps using customer conversations. Step into the future at attention.com/saastr ------------------ Hey everyone, we just hosted 10,000 of you at the SaaStr Annual in the SF Bay Area, and now get ready, because SaaStr AI is heading to London! On December 2nd and 3rd, we're bringing SaaStr AI to the heart of Europe. This is your chance to connect with 2,500+ SaaS and AI executives, founders, and investors, all sharing the secrets to scaling in the age of AI. Whether you're a founder, a revenue leader, or an investor, SaaStr AI in London is where the future of SaaS meets the power of AI. And we just announced tickets and sponsorships, so don't wait! Head to SaaStrLondon.com to grab yours and join us this December in London. SaaStr AI in London —where SaaS meets AI, and the next wave of innovation begins. See you there!

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Jeremy Burton

CEO

Observe

It's been a wild few years for Snowflake, from a record-breaking IPO to a plummeting stock price to a data-breach scandal. Sridhar Ramaswamy took over in the heat of the turmoil and helped steady the ship, in part by betting big on AI. Ramaswamy returns to Rapid Response to share lessons from the company's turnaround, including insights behind high profile partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic, how Snowflake embraced China's Deepseek early, and why Ramaswamy calls Snowflake the most consequential AI-data company in the world. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Sridhar Ramaswamy is the CEO @ Snowflake, the $60BN public company with $3.5BN in revenue growing 30% per year. Sridhar joined Snowflake following his company, Neeva, being acquired by them for $150M. Prior to founding Neeva, Ramaswamy spent 15 years at Google where he had an integral part in the growth of AdWords and Google's advertising business from $1.5 billion to over $100 billion. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 1. OpenAI vs Deepseek vs Anthropic: Why will OpenAI beat Deepseek? What does no one see with Deepseek that they should see? Why has OpenAI beaten Anthropic? What elements turn a model from a commodity into a sustaining product suite? Will model providers become application providers? Will OpenAI be the biggest killer of startups in the next 10 years? 2. Snowflake vs Nvidia & Databricks: To what extent is Sridhar concerned NVIDIA will move into the data layer and compete with Snowflake? How does Sridhar view the competition from Databricks? What have they done better than them? What have they done worse than them and lost on? Does being private hurt or help Databricks in their fight against Snowflake? If Sridhar could, would he take Snowflake private today? 3. Leadership, Parenting, Money: Do richer leaders make better leaders? How does being rich change the mindset of a leader? What are Sridhar's biggest lessons when it comes to parenting? What about the way that Sridhar was brought up, did he do deliberately differently with his kids?

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Nine months into his role as Snowflake’s CEO, Sridhar Ramaswamy sat down for a candid discussion on the journey so far & what’s ahead. He uncovered details about his transition to Snowflake CEO, the operational changes he’s put in place to accelerate product development, and his bold predictions for AI’s future—along with how he’s guiding a vision for Snowflake to fit into that landscape. Sridhar also reflects on how his leadership has evolved, from leading a major Google unit to founding Neeva (acquired by Salesforce) and now running Snowflake.   [0:00] Intro [0:56] Sridhar’s Journey to Snowflake [3:37] Snowflake's AI Vision and Cortex AI [10:35] Innovative Uses of AI at Snowflake [15:49] Challenges and Future of AI in Business [21:27] Snowflake's Long-Term AI Aspirations [25:04] Predictable and Unpredictable Aspects of AI [26:20] Autonomous Agents and AI Predictions [27:01] Market Consolidation in AI [29:54] Journey into AI and Early Experiences [31:21] The Evolution of AI Models [32:06] Building Neeva and AI Search Engines [36:16] Leadership and Product Development at Snowflake [40:45] Setting Goals and Accountability [43:25] Leadership Style and Cultural Foundations [47:25] Career Advice and Finding Your Path   Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins host Lukas Biewald to explore how AI is transforming enterprise data strategies. They discuss Sridhar's journey from Google to Snowflake, diving into the evolving role of foundation models, Snowflake’s AI strategy, and the challenges of scaling AI in business. Sridhar also shares his thoughts on leadership, rapid iteration, and creating meaningful AI solutions for enterprise clients. Tune in to discover how Snowflake is driving innovation in the AI and data space. Connect with Sridhar Ramaswamy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridhar-ramaswamy/ Follow Weights & Biases: https://twitter.com/weights_biases https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb Join the Weights & Biases Discord Server: https://discord.gg/CkZKRNnaf3

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

All of us as consumers have felt the magic of ChatGPT—but also the occasional errors and hallucinations that make off-the-shelf language models problematic for business use cases with no tolerance for errors. Case in point: A model deployed to help create a summary for this episode stated that Sridhar Ramaswamy previously led PyTorch at Meta. He did not. He spent years running Google’s ads business and now serves as CEO of Snowflake, which he describes as the data cloud for the AI era. Ramaswamy discusses how smart systems design helped Snowflake create reliable "talk-to-your-data" applications with over 90% accuracy, compared to around 45% for out-of-the-box solutions using off the shelf LLMs. He describes Snowflake's commitment to making reliable AI simple for their customers, turning complex software engineering projects into straightforward tasks.  Finally, he stresses that even as frontier models progress, there is significant value to be unlocked from current models by applying them more effectively across various domains. Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital Mentioned in this episode:  Cortex Analyst: Snowflake’s talk-to-your-data API Document AI: Snowflake feature that extracts in structured information from documents

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Guest: Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake “People underestimate what it is to go through a complete reset,” says Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy. And he knows it: After an incredible 15-year run at Google, he started over from zero with an AI search startup, Neeva. And in hindsight, he regrets not trying to port over more of the skills that had made him a successful leader before. “You should be truthful with yourself about what is it that you know that you're really good at,” he says. In this episode, Sridhar and Joubin discuss Morgan Stanley, working with urgency, avoiding comparisons, following your passions, Steph Curry, summer school, the Google bubble, axes of improvement, Vivek Raghunathan, Bill Coughran, Bell Labs, Mark McLaughlin, Nikesh Arora, daily emails, Chris Degnan, competitiveness, aircraft carriers, and size 31 pants.  Chapters: (01:05) - Travel challenges (03:55) - Crisis mangement (08:59) - Parenting (14:01) - Defining success (20:37) - From Google to Neeva (27:57) - Transition troubles (31:06) - Glean vs. Neeva (34:08) - Becoming Snowflake’s CEO (38:41) - Authority (39:58) - Frank Slootman (44:24) - Palo Alto Networks (48:27) - Transparent culture (50:56) - Sridhar’s morning ritual (54:23) - Complete visibility (57:49) - Priorities (01:00:10) - Snowflake’s stock price (01:02:33) - Who it’s hiring Links: Connect with Sridhar Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Sridhar Ramaswamy is the co-founder of Neeva, SVP at Snowflake and former SVP at Google. He joins Big Technology Podcast to reflect on the strange year Google’s had in 2023, working on the fly to reimagine search and ship faster than it was initially comfortable with. In this episode, Ramaswamy delivers deep insights on the future of search, generative AI, and how his former employer will adapt in these times. Stay tuned for the second half where Ramaswamy candidly discusses his search competitor Neeva, why he sold it to Snowflake, and what the two companies hope to accomplish together. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

For the first time in decades web search might be at risk for disruption. Bing is allied with OpenAI to integrate LLMs. Google has committed to launching new products. New startups are emerging. Sridhar Ramaswamy co-founded the challenger AI-powered, private search platform Neeva in 2019. He is a former 16-year Google veteran who most recently led the internet’s most profitable business as SVP in charge of Google Ads, Commerce and Privacy. Sridhar, Elad and Sarah talk about the challenge of building search, how LLMs have changed the landscape, and how chatbots and "answer services" will affect web publishers. No Priors is now on YouTube! Subscribe to the channel on YouTube and like this episode. Show Links: LinkedIn Neeva Search Neeva Gist Poe by Quora Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @RamaswmySridhar Show Notes:  [1:32] - Why Sridhar started a private search engine after leaving Google [11:11] - Information Retrieval Problems, Mapping Search Queries and LLMs [15:25] - Google and Bing’s approach to search with LLMs [19:06] - Scale challenges when building a search engine startup [22:26] - Distribution challenges and why they release Neeva Gist [24:11] - Why Neeva is a privacy centric subscription service  [28:25] - The relationship between search and publishers/content creators [30:16] - Sridhar’s predictions on how AI will disrupt current ecosystems

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Neeva CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins Molly to talk all things search and AI chatbots, including Neeva’s technology and the difficulty of building a search engine (1:41), Neeva’s consumer focus and business model (20:00), and the search-to-answer revolution (41:31). (0:00) Molly kicks off the show (1:41) Neeva’s Purpose (5:06) The technological underpinning of Neeva (8:00) The hurdles building Neeva (10:26) Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub - Apply in 5 minutes for six figures in discounts at http://aka.ms/thisweekinstartups (11:53) The problems search aims to solve (18:31) LinkedIn Marketing - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at https://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups (20:00) Why choose Neeva (24:01) Neeva’s business model (29:18) Moving from search to answers + citing sources (35:53) The ad supported publishing ecosystem (37:58) Pilot - Get 20% off the first 6 months at https://pilot.com/twist (39:13) Leaving Google (41:31) The search to answers revolution (44:34) Compensating publishers and dealing with content moderation (48:51) Open loop vs. Closed loop (54:29) Neeva copycats FOLLOW Sridhar: https://twitter.com/ramaswmysridhar FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

To compete against bigger players, you need a special edge. Sridhar Ramaswamy, who led Google’s huge ad business, is now going head-to head against his former employer with an ad-free subscription-based search engine called Neeva. Ramaswamy became disillusioned by Google’s priorities and practices and argues that big platforms – including Facebook and Amazon – have failed to scale responsibly. Sharing inside stories of how big tech makes decisions, and his own experiences with a startup, Ramaswamy offers lessons on growth, monopolistic threats, and why challenging even great companies is necessary right now. “I’m a tech optimist,” he says, “but we need to be conscious of the good and bad.” A renewed focus on responsible tech scaling is right for the businesses and for society. Read a transcript of this interview at: mastersofscale.com Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

My guest today is Sridhar Ramaswamy, co-founder and CEO of Neeva and Venture Partner at Greylock. After a 15-year career building Google’s ad business, Sridhar launched Neeva as an ad-free search engine with a focus on personalization and privacy. During our conversation, we dive into the early days of search and what led to Google’s dominance. Sridhar shares his view on the potential end state for ad-based search engines, and how all of his experiences led him to found Neeva. Beyond a great deep dive into the origins of search, this discussion is filled with great lessons about data-driven decisions, the value of partnerships, and balancing revenue opportunities against user experience. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Sridhar Ramaswamy.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more.   ------   This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep's new Pod Pro Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at your perfect temperature. Simply add the Pod Pro Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. To embrace the future of sleep and get $150 off your new mattress go to eightsleep.com/patrick or use code "Patrick".   ------   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:39] - [First question] - Major chapters of the history of search engine technology  [00:09:21] - The early days of the page rank revenue model prior to ads  [00:16:27] - Reputation and quality and how they were applied in Google’s early days [00:21:10] - Driving variables of Google’s ad model that will drive their business going forward [00:26:48] - Lessons learned about the importance of partnerships while at Google [00:33:26] - What is Neeva and what motivated him to start it in the first place [00:39:11] - Variables in building an ad-free search engine that can compete with Google [00:44:57] - Thoughts on tracking and privacy in the tech world today writ large [00:50:09] - Lessons he’s learned about pricing when it comes to software [00:52:58] - Figuring out finding customers when your addressable market is everyone  [00:56:20] - What he’s learned about leadership over the course of his career writ large [00:58:05] - What he’s learned about identifying candidates and winning them over when it comes to recruiting new talent [01:00:27] - His philosophy on product development in general [01:02:19] - Framing problems in a way that allows you to reach milestones as you build  [01:04:43] - His biggest professional mistake and what he learned from it [01:06:08] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him [01:07:49] - What Bill Campbell brings to mind when he thinks about him

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Sridhar Ramaswamy, the CEO and cofounder of Neeva, tells us how the company — an ad-free, private search engine — is differentiating itself in the search market. Sridhar also shares the leadership lessons he’s learned from running a team of 10,000 people during his fifteen and a half years at Google. Follow on Sridhar Twitter, @RamaswmySridhar. Scott opens with how a lack of corporate governance could lead us to a market crash.  Related Reading: Coinbase Independent Directors Have Close Company Ties Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Sridhar Ramaswamy is CEO of Neeva, an ads-free search engine he helped found after running Google's ads and commerce business. Ramaswamy spent seventeen years inside Google, and eventually grew disillusioned with its business. Now he's trying to create the solution with $77.5 million in funding. In this conversation, we discuss his evolving view on advertising, what decoupling search from ads allows from a product standpoint, and how the current anti-trust environment is opening Google up to the competition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva

Former Google executive Sridhar Ramaswamy talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new startup, Neeva, which promises to offer paying subscribers a search engine with no ads and without selling its users' data. Ramaswamy, who worked at Google from 2003 to 2018, talks about how it evolved into an advertising powerhouse, why people should care about the "incredibly personal" details revealed by their search history, and why he believes Neeva can reach a larger-audience than just wealthy privacy-conscious consumers. He also explains how Neeva limits the data it collects, the "big problem" with antitrust dogma in the US, and whether Silicon Valley is changing for the better. Featuring: Sridhar Ramaswamy (@RamaswmySridhar), co-founder, Neeva Host: Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large More to explore: On Reset, Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why — and how — tech is changing everything. On Recode Media, Peter Kafka interviews business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters about the collision of tech and media. On Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the big tech news stories of the week, who's winning, who's failing, and what comes next. And on Season 1 of Land of the Giants, Jason Del Rey chronicled the rise of Amazon — and now, on Season 2, Peter Kafka and Rani Molla are examining "the Netflix effect." About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Follow Us: Newsletter: Recode Daily Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sridhar Ramaswamy

CEO

SnowflakeNeeva