Recent projects

Recent projects centered on designing and executing high-signal technical events for developers.
Modern Data Infrastructure Summit
San Francisco
A flagship technical conference for builders shaping modern data systems. Work kicked off in May 2025, and the event was executed in September 2025.
The first-ever Modern Data Infrastructure Summit brought together the people redefining how data systems are built for the era of AI, real-time, and scale. It was a day of engineers, architects, and founders digging into what “modern” really means when your workloads never sleep.

The brief
Create a high-signal technical event that:
- Attracts senior data engineers, architects, and infrastructure leaders
- Prioritizes production realities over marketing narratives
- Curates speakers who actively operate systems at scale
- Executes cleanly for an audience that notices details
Success was measured by engagement, credibility, and conversation, not vanity metrics.
Program & content
Every session was curated for depth and practical relevance, covering:
- Cloud cost optimization and efficiency at scale
- High-performance databases and distributed systems
- Real-time data pipelines and feature store design
- Infrastructure patterns supporting modern AI and ML workloads
Speakers were selected for hands-on experience running systems in production and brought lessons straight from the front lines.
Featured speakers:
Ning Sun, Ruihang Xia, Ryan Boyd, Felipe Cardeneti Mendes, Tyler Akidau, Oded Poncz, Andy Pavlo, and Arya Ketan.

Experience & execution
The summit was designed end-to-end to meet the expectations of a senior technical audience:
- A tightly paced agenda that respected depth and attention
- Production and stage design optimized for clarity and visibility
- A venue selected for acoustics, focus, and comfort
- Intentional space for conversation before, between, and after sessions
Operational execution emphasized precision and restraint. The experience supported the content without distracting from it.
Sponsors & partners
The summit was made possible with support from partners willing to back a first-year, high-signal technical event.
Sponsors:
MotherDuck, ScyllaDB, Greptime, Redpanda Data, and TiDB (powered by PingCAP)
Sponsor participation was integrated without compromising the technical integrity of the program.
Outcomes
- A full room of senior practitioners
- High attentiveness and sustained discussion across sessions
- Strong post-event feedback citing depth, relevance, and execution quality
- A recognizable summit brand with momentum for future editions
The Modern Data Infrastructure Summit established itself as a trusted convening point for the data infrastructure community.
Watch the talks
All sessions from the inaugural summit were recorded and released as a curated playlist, extending the life and impact of the event beyond the room.
