Aaron Katz is the Co-Founder and CEO of ClickHouse, the real-time analytics database powering companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and Microsoft. ClickHouse just surpassed $350M in ARR and raised over $1B from investors including Dragoneer, Khosla Ventures, Coatue, 20VC and Benchmark. Previously, Aaron was CRO at Elastic, where he helped scale revenue from approximately $5M to $500M and led the company through its IPO. Before Elastic, he spent 12 years at Salesforce, working alongside Marc Benioff and helping transform it from a 200-person startup into a global software giant.
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
01:52 – Are We Still Early in the AI Cycle?
03:49 – The Biggest Risk in AI Investing Today
04:46 – Is Anthropic’s Revenue Actually Durable?
06:16 – How Should Companies Think About AI Token Spend?
10:04 – AI Is Pulling Product Roadmaps Forward by Years
12:01 – What Happens When AI Agents Become the Customer?
16:12 – Every AI Agent Will Need an Identity and a Budget
17:59 – Will Every Company Have Its Own AI Model?
21:20 – Open Models vs Frontier Models: Who Wins?
22:35 – Could OpenAI and Anthropic Become Infrastructure Companies?
24:46 – Are Enterprises More Scared of Frontier Labs Than Chinese Models?
28:01 – Why Enterprises Are Moving Back On-Prem
36:25 – What Founders Get Wrong About Fundraising
38:36 – ClickHouse’s Path to $1BN ARR
39:33 – Can Startups Compete With OpenAI and Anthropic for Talent?
46:51 – Is 0 to $100M ARR in One Year the New Standard?
48:26 – Does Revenue Concentration Still Matter in AI?
53:44 – Quick-Fire Round
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