Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

Ghodsi: Databricks still retains all seven original co-founders

Ali Ghodsi · Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi: How to Run a $100 Billion Business · Oct 15, 2025 · at 1:03:16

Ali Ghodsi, CEO and co-founder of Databricks, discusses co-founder longevity and team retention at the company with Ben Horowitz.

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“We're, you know, seven co-founders still.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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