---
title: "The PostModern Data Stack"
description: "Explore how the Postmodern Data Stack is reshaping cloud infrastructure, as industry leaders challenge tech giants with open formats and multi-engine solutions."
categories: ["trends"]
keywords: ["Postmodern Data Stack","Snowflake","Databricks","cloud infrastructure","data movement","open formats","data pipelines","multi-engine solutions","data warehousing"]
ai_summary: "Discover how the Postmodern Data Stack is transforming cloud infrastructure and challenging tech giants with innovative data solutions."
date: 2024-08-12
lastmod: 2026-07-17
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/the-postmodern-data-stack/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---

If the Modern Data Stack is dead, what replaces it?  

The Postmodern Data Stack.


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/gyohea2ajdvpdzzwu9vu.png)

Post-modernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism which marked a departure from a belief in grand narratives & an acceptance of pluralism. 

This idea is taking hold in data.

Two juggernauts, Snowflake & Databricks, are challenging the dominance of Google, Microsoft, & Amazon at the biggest scales of data. 

Many of these clouds embrace freer data movement including open formats like Iceberg, elimination of [egress fees](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/aws-joins-google-cloud-in-removing-egress-costs/) to lower the cost of data, & multiple engines to support different workloads.

Just as in art & philosophy, post-modernism in data means embracing a new way of working with data. To delve into this topic, I've invited three founders to talk through the implications : 

[Colin Zima](https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinzima/), founder & CEO of Omni which combines the freedom & control of previous generations of BI. 

[Jordan Tigani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantigani/), founder & CEO of MotherDuck, a query engine that works as an embedded database, local & cloud based data warehouse, & data pipelines. 

[Tyson Mao](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tysonmao/), founder & CEO of Tobiko Data which commercializes SQLMesh, & enables workloads to move across query engines simply.


We will discuss the Postmodern Data Stack at [TC Disrupt](https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2024/) in October. 

If you have questions you'd like me to ask on stage, please reply to this thread or send me a message on Twitter & I'll weave them into the conversation.