Unlocking the Power of Relational Data with Kumo CEO Vanja Josifovski

In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Dr. Vanja Josifovski, CEO of Kumo and former CTO of Airbnb and Pinterest, joins host Boaz Ashkenazy to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the way businesses unlock value from their structured data. Josifovski shares his journey from building recommendation systems for millions of users to founding Sequoia-backed Kumo, which is tackling one of AI's biggest challenges: turning business data into actionable insights.

From his early days witnessing the evolution of embeddings and vector representations to today's transformer revolution, Josifovski offers a unique perspective on the AI landscape. The conversation delves into why the current AI boom has largely overlooked structured business data, the future of personalized consumer experiences, and how coding tools are democratizing software development. If you're interested in understanding how enterprise data can drive better business decisions and what the future holds for work in an AI-driven world, this episode offers invaluable insights from someone who's been at the forefront of the AI revolution for two decades.

Chapters:

[02:00] Vanja's Background and AI Journey

[04:00] The Evolution of Embeddings and Vectors

[07:00] Silicon Valley's AI Revolution

[09:00] Founding Kumo and the Enterprise Data Problem

[12:00] The Future of Personalization

[15:00] How AI is Changing Software Development

[18:00] The Optimistic Future of Work

[21:00] Societal Changes and Abundance

[25:00] From Big Tech to Startup Life [00:28:00] Two Words for the Future: "Lots of Fun"

Contact Info:

Connect with Vanja Josifovski:

● Website: kumo.ai

Connect with Boaz Ashkenazy:

● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boazashkenazy

● Email: info@shiftai.fm