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Jun 21, 2021 · 25m · mad

Fireside Chat: DeVaris Brown (Founder & CEO, Meroxa) with Matt Turck (Partner, FirstMark)

DeVaris Brown · 18m spoken Matt Turck · 4m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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In this Data Driven NYC fireside chat, FirstMark Partner Matt Turck interviews DeVaris Brown, Founder & CEO of Meroxa, about real-time data streaming architectures and Change Data Capture. DeVaris outlines Meroxa's underlying technical design, high-value enterprise use cases, and practical strategies for building exceptionally diverse engineering teams.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Matt holds 18.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Matt as informed peer 2.8 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 0.2 Matt pushing back 0.8
05100:0010:0020:000:00–4:01 · Matt as informed peer 2/10 Title Cards and Event Introductions Matt opens the episode with a warm welcome and asks a broad foundational question about the data pipeline tooling landscape. DeVaris provides an extensive breakdown of real-time data versus batch processing and Heroku-like platform abstractions.4:01–8:25 · Matt as informed peer 4/10 How Meroxa Operates vs. Traditional ETL/ELT Systems Matt attempts to simplify Meroxa's value proposition, prompting DeVaris to gently correct him that Meroxa ingests from databases rather than SaaS tools. Matt demonstrates domain knowledge by invoking Fivetran and asking how Meroxa differs from traditional ELT.8:25–13:18 · Matt as informed peer 3/10 Change Data Capture (CDC) and Meroxa's Architecture Matt asks technical questions regarding Change Data Capture and architectural choices around intermediate stream processing. DeVaris explains Meroxa's open-source foundation, schema management, and proxy API layer in an educational format.13:18–18:20 · Matt as informed peer 3/10 High-Level Business Use Cases and Target Audience Matt asks DeVaris to summarize high-level business use cases and target customer profiles. DeVaris outlines real-time syncs, active learning, and webhooks while describing how Meroxa abstracts data engineering complexity.18:20–22:56 · Matt as informed peer 2/10 Building Diverse Teams and Inclusive Company Culture Matt shifts the conversation to company culture, highlighting Meroxa's focus on building a diverse team. DeVaris shares detailed stats and discusses how intentional networking drives diverse hiring.0:00–4:01 · Guest teaching 3/10 Title Cards and Event Introductions Matt opens the episode with a warm welcome and asks a broad foundational question about the data pipeline tooling landscape. DeVaris provides an extensive breakdown of real-time data versus batch processing and Heroku-like platform abstractions.4:01–8:25 · Guest teaching 4/10 How Meroxa Operates vs. Traditional ETL/ELT Systems Matt attempts to simplify Meroxa's value proposition, prompting DeVaris to gently correct him that Meroxa ingests from databases rather than SaaS tools. Matt demonstrates domain knowledge by invoking Fivetran and asking how Meroxa differs from traditional ELT.8:25–13:18 · Guest teaching 3/10 Change Data Capture (CDC) and Meroxa's Architecture Matt asks technical questions regarding Change Data Capture and architectural choices around intermediate stream processing. DeVaris explains Meroxa's open-source foundation, schema management, and proxy API layer in an educational format.13:18–18:20 · Guest teaching 2/10 High-Level Business Use Cases and Target Audience Matt asks DeVaris to summarize high-level business use cases and target customer profiles. DeVaris outlines real-time syncs, active learning, and webhooks while describing how Meroxa abstracts data engineering complexity.18:20–22:56 · Guest teaching 2/10 Building Diverse Teams and Inclusive Company Culture Matt shifts the conversation to company culture, highlighting Meroxa's focus on building a diverse team. DeVaris shares detailed stats and discusses how intentional networking drives diverse hiring.0:00–4:01 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Title Cards and Event Introductions Matt opens the episode with a warm welcome and asks a broad foundational question about the data pipeline tooling landscape. DeVaris provides an extensive breakdown of real-time data versus batch processing and Heroku-like platform abstractions.4:01–8:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 How Meroxa Operates vs. Traditional ETL/ELT Systems Matt attempts to simplify Meroxa's value proposition, prompting DeVaris to gently correct him that Meroxa ingests from databases rather than SaaS tools. Matt demonstrates domain knowledge by invoking Fivetran and asking how Meroxa differs from traditional ELT.8:25–13:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Change Data Capture (CDC) and Meroxa's Architecture Matt asks technical questions regarding Change Data Capture and architectural choices around intermediate stream processing. DeVaris explains Meroxa's open-source foundation, schema management, and proxy API layer in an educational format.13:18–18:20 · Guest disagreement 0/10 High-Level Business Use Cases and Target Audience Matt asks DeVaris to summarize high-level business use cases and target customer profiles. DeVaris outlines real-time syncs, active learning, and webhooks while describing how Meroxa abstracts data engineering complexity.18:20–22:56 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Building Diverse Teams and Inclusive Company Culture Matt shifts the conversation to company culture, highlighting Meroxa's focus on building a diverse team. DeVaris shares detailed stats and discusses how intentional networking drives diverse hiring.0:00–4:01 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Title Cards and Event Introductions Matt opens the episode with a warm welcome and asks a broad foundational question about the data pipeline tooling landscape. DeVaris provides an extensive breakdown of real-time data versus batch processing and Heroku-like platform abstractions.4:01–8:25 · Matt pushing back 2/10 How Meroxa Operates vs. Traditional ETL/ELT Systems Matt attempts to simplify Meroxa's value proposition, prompting DeVaris to gently correct him that Meroxa ingests from databases rather than SaaS tools. Matt demonstrates domain knowledge by invoking Fivetran and asking how Meroxa differs from traditional ELT.8:25–13:18 · Matt pushing back 1/10 Change Data Capture (CDC) and Meroxa's Architecture Matt asks technical questions regarding Change Data Capture and architectural choices around intermediate stream processing. DeVaris explains Meroxa's open-source foundation, schema management, and proxy API layer in an educational format.13:18–18:20 · Matt pushing back 1/10 High-Level Business Use Cases and Target Audience Matt asks DeVaris to summarize high-level business use cases and target customer profiles. DeVaris outlines real-time syncs, active learning, and webhooks while describing how Meroxa abstracts data engineering complexity.18:20–22:56 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Building Diverse Teams and Inclusive Company Culture Matt shifts the conversation to company culture, highlighting Meroxa's focus on building a diverse team. DeVaris shares detailed stats and discusses how intentional networking drives diverse hiring.

speaking balance: gold is Matt, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Matt 27.2% · guest 72.8%0:00 · Matt 27.2% · guest 72.8%3:00 · Matt 32.1% · guest 67.9%3:00 · Matt 32.1% · guest 67.9%6:00 · Matt 3.7% · guest 96.3%6:00 · Matt 3.7% · guest 96.3%9:00 · Matt 5.3% · guest 94.7%9:00 · Matt 5.3% · guest 94.7%12:00 · Matt 11.6% · guest 88.4%12:00 · Matt 11.6% · guest 88.4%15:00 · Matt 12.9% · guest 87.1%15:00 · Matt 12.9% · guest 87.1%18:00 · Matt 18.8% · guest 81.2%18:00 · Matt 18.8% · guest 81.2%21:00 · Matt 31.2% · guest 68.8%21:00 · Matt 31.2% · guest 68.8%24:00 · Matt 28.4% · guest 71.6%24:00 · Matt 28.4% · guest 71.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 4:35 Gentle premise correction on SaaS tools

DeVaris politely reframes Matt's summary, pointing out that Meroxa connects directly to databases rather than SaaS tools.

 Hardest push from Matt ▶ 4:02 Host seeks simplified baseline summary

Matt challenges the conversation to stay accessible by attempting to distill Meroxa's core functionality into plain terms.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:35 Guest corrects host summary

DeVaris educates Matt on Meroxa's specific integration layer, clarifying that ingestion starts at the database level.

 Matt holds his own ▶ 5:00 Host cites Fivetran and ELT dynamics

Matt demonstrates domain familiarity by referencing Fivetran's founder and asking DeVaris to contrast real-time streaming with standard ELT.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicMatt as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementMatt pushing backWhy
Title Cards and Event Introductions 2300 Matt opens the episode with a warm welcome and asks a broad foundational question about the data pipeline tooling landscape. DeVaris provides an extensive breakdown of real-time data versus batch processing and Heroku-like platform abstractions.
How Meroxa Operates vs. Traditional ETL/ELT Systems 4412 Matt attempts to simplify Meroxa's value proposition, prompting DeVaris to gently correct him that Meroxa ingests from databases rather than SaaS tools. Matt demonstrates domain knowledge by invoking Fivetran and asking how Meroxa differs from traditional ELT.
Change Data Capture (CDC) and Meroxa's Architecture 3301 Matt asks technical questions regarding Change Data Capture and architectural choices around intermediate stream processing. DeVaris explains Meroxa's open-source foundation, schema management, and proxy API layer in an educational format.
High-Level Business Use Cases and Target Audience 3201 Matt asks DeVaris to summarize high-level business use cases and target customer profiles. DeVaris outlines real-time syncs, active learning, and webhooks while describing how Meroxa abstracts data engineering complexity.
Building Diverse Teams and Inclusive Company Culture 2200 Matt shifts the conversation to company culture, highlighting Meroxa's focus on building a diverse team. DeVaris shares detailed stats and discusses how intentional networking drives diverse hiring.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Brown: Data tooling market consists mostly of batch point solutions
“The tooling landscape looks like a bunch of point solutions that run in batch and not in real time.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 1:01
Disclosure
Meroxa bypasses data warehouses to transform data on every real-time event
“What we do this differently is that we act off of every single event. So every time there's a database transaction, somebody calls your API, they interact with your website that, that makes the API call that talks to the database. We can then transform that da…”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 6:00
Insight
Data engineering complexity is caused by bad tooling obfuscating the process
“If you really break down what a data engineer is, at the end of the day, that their job is to get data from one place to the next, right? So all you really need to know is three things. Where my data's coming from, where my data's going, and what format does i…”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 15:51
Opinion
Open-source data tool creators fail to prioritize product experience
“The open source ecosystem exists, But those people don't necessarily think about like the product experience around how does this technology actually interact with, you know, the goals that people are trying to achieve.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 17:40
Prediction Not checkable as stated
DeVaris Brown: Meroxa will evolve into a real-time application ecosystem
“Once, you know, real-time data is table stakes and everybody's able to use it at a fashion, then we evolve from just a real-time data platform as a service to now we can be a real-time application ecosystem.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 17:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Meroxa's workforce is 60% Black/Brown, 40% women, and 90% underrepresented executives
“Right now we're, 60% black and brown. 40% women. Our executive staff is 90% underrepresented. We got one white guy out of 10 people.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 18:56
Assertion Not checkable as stated
All but four of Meroxa's 27 employees came from Brown's direct network
“We got 27 amazing people on staff. I think all but four of those people came from my direct network.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 20:05
Insight
Founders who only think about team building after starting are too late
“If at the point you are only thinking about building a team when you start a company, you're already too late.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 20:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
/dev/color has 1,100 Black engineers; Black PMs has 400-500 members
“DevColor has 1100 Black engineers of all skill levels. Black PMs is, I think, like, 405 hundred product managers that are out there.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 21:50
Opinion
Plumber provides more granular stream introspection than native Apache Kafka
“It essentially gives you the ability to introspect streams, and it's super, super granular, super detailed, and it gives you know, better, better information than what you would get natively from Kafka.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 23:54
Opinion
Running the JVM at scale is a pain compared to Golang
“Running the JVM at scale is a pain in the ass, and Golang is much more research efficient, and so you can do all these cool things from a single binary.”
DeVaris Brown Jun 21, 2021 ▶ 24:08
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