2025 Manifesto

databeats will never be the same again

Friends, hope you’re doing alright in these tough times. Just wanted to say thanks for spending your energy reading my words! 🤝

It’s been a while since I wrote to you – today’s issue explains why.

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databeats was conceptualized in May 2022 with the simple goal of helping semi-technical folks – those working in data-adjacent roles like product, marketing, and growth – better understand the rapidly evolving data tooling landscape (aka the Modern Data Stack).

Born pre-ChatGPT, databeats remained true to its mission – to beat the gap between data people and non-data people – and I’m not shy to say that I’ve managed to forward the mission significantly (I have receipts).

Today, folks who wish to learn about data infrastructure, tools, and concepts can get pretty far by consuming the 101 free pieces of content – which I’ve spent over 2500 hours creating – live on the learning hub.¹ 

I deliberately avoided jumping on the LLM frenzy because I had so much more to cover. However, I haven’t ignored all that’s happened in our little world of data and software in the last 2 years and have spent a good chunk of my time learning about this new piece of technology that is changing, among other things, the way software is built and consumed.

Today, I want to share more about what led to databeats and where it’s headed now that I’ve given myself a lot of time to think and explore what’s next.

databeats, an evolution of what started as Data-led Academy² (2020) – an outcome of my newfound interest in modern data tools and technologies (2019), which was an outcome of my undying love for good software. 

My enthusiasm to try new tools is the reason I discovered Integromat and then helped the company grow to a $100M+ exit³ with a $0 marketing budget. Before I took on as the Head of Growth, a big part of my job was to create educational content and grow Integromat’s community presence.

I really enjoyed helping our users learn how to work with APIs, manipulate data, and build powerful workflows on Integromat (now Make.com).

“Software excites me, good software makes me want to jump!” 

That’s one of the 11 random things you will find about me in the About section of my LinkedIn profile⁴. It has been there for as long as I can remember and it still holds true – now more than ever because the SaaS ecosystem hasn’t been noisier and it hasn’t been harder to identify good software.

It’s been frustrating to see the flurry in which good software companies have abandoned innovation only to position themselves as AI-friendly, AI-first, and now increasingly, as AI Agents.⁵

It’s crazy how an entire industry has lost the plot. 

What’s worse is that there are no checks or balances, and no standards to make it easy for the buyer to understand the underlying technologies used by vendors that claim to have found magical solutions to messy problems, thanks to “AI”. 

It is mostly just BS. 

It is hyper-funded startups latching on to the next big thing to jack up their valuations and please their investors. 

Who cares about building technology that solves messy problems when one can spin up a bunch of stories, package them up nicely, and deploy one’s war chests to confuse and capture the market?

They don’t even care whether customers use their products as long as they get to showcase those sexy logos – because that’s all they need to hit the next milestone and raise the next round (or get acquired). 

All this leaves people like me – folks who genuinely care about good software – thoroughly annoyed and frustrated.  

But that’s not it. 

There’s something even more frustrating for those who believe in the utility of good software: most people building and selling software have no enthusiasm or curiosity to use software built by others. 

Isn’t it ironic? 

You want people to buy your tools and learn how to use them but when it comes to doing the same, you’re just not interested?

You don’t wish to change the way you do things but want everybody else to believe that this new category of software you’ve invented is something they must spend their limited energy and resources on? 

I’ve seen this play out over and over again. And I have a strong urge to do something about it.

There are good people out there who are building real good software, and many more who share my enthusiasm and frustration – I’m glad to call them friends. 

And I’ve decided to offer databeats as a platform to amplify the voices that share my love for good software.

As a result, the next chapter of databeats will be dedicated to helping folks explore, evaluate, and implement good software – particularly software that makes GTM teams more creative and their days less tedious.

In terms of the format, besides the usual deep dives and guides, I’m going to try short-form videos, curation, news, and so on.

Needless to say but I’ll say it anyway:

If there’s anything you’d like to see in the newsletter, hop on to LinkedIn and say hello to the GoodSoftwareDude 😎

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I’d like to thank the folks at HubSpot for sponsoring today’s issue! 🙏

1. I hope you’ve had a chance to check out the databeats learning hub.

2. Data-led Academy was acquired by Amplitude in 2022

3. Integromat was acquired by Celonis in 2020

4. Scroll down to the About section to learn 11 random things about me

5. What the heck is an AI Agent? I’m glad you asked.