Bringing AI to the Data Cloud, with Snowflake's CEO Frank Slootman

**Sarah Guo** (0:05)
Our guest today needs no introduction. Frank Slootman is the legendary three-time CEO of Data Domain, ServiceNow, and Snowflake, and one of the most looked up to leaders in technology for his relentless execution. We're excited to talk to him about what's on the horizon for Snowflake and how he looks at the AI opportunity.
Frank, good to see you. Thanks for being here.

**Frank Slootman** (0:23)
Absolutely. Good to see you, Sarah.

**Sarah Guo** (0:25)
Let's start with just a little bit of personal background. You have had an amazing journey. You grew up in Holland. You're the first person in your family to go to college.
What were you like as a kid and in college, and how did you end up in product management and computing in the US?

**Frank Slootman** (0:39)
Yeah, that's kind of a big wide-ranging question. I sometimes have to go back and figure out what was the method to the madness because sometimes your life looks like a random walk. In other words, it's just a series of events that kind of go from one to the other.
But I was always a relatively focused, disciplined kid, if I were to describe myself, in almost any realm, whether it was school or sports or any of those things. It's just the nature of the beast, I would say.
And definitely a bit of a chip on my shoulder, which I generally like in people, by the way. You need to have a reason to get up in the morning and have some to prove to the world or whoever. Those are all useful things. Obviously, I ended up in the US because I think the US is obviously much better. Maybe not obvious, but it's obvious to me that it's a much better canvas for people like me.
And obviously, we see that all around us, right? People that come from all over the world here because they have far greater opportunity and they would have where they came from. And it certainly is true for me. There's no doubt that I would have done where I came from, what I've done here. So, I'm very grateful, you know, having had that opportunity. I always tell younger people, you know, it's very important where you decide to be. Don't just go where your friends are.

**Sarah Guo** (2:04)
To the point of choosing the right place, be it geography, yes, and thank you, America. My parents are also immigrants. You talk about being on the right elevator, and some of the companies you worked at, you know, weren't the hottest companies at the time when you joined. Like, tell us about those choices.

**Frank Slootman** (2:18)
I just used the analogy of the elevator because there's this aspect of opportunity and circumstance that you can't change. It is what it is.
And you're going to be subject to it for better or for worse. And therefore, you need to choose carefully. Some people think that, you know, I can will my way to anything. That's not true, right? So the choices you make, like we just said, where are you going to be? What industry are you going to be? What company are you going to be?
What people are you going to be with?
Are all very formative. And so you have to make, you know, very careful choices. Because if you combine good choices, you know, with great execution, you know, you get the perfect cocktail for opportunities, for future opportunities, and for having a successful sequence of experiences. So it matters a whole lot. A lot.

**Sarah Guo** (3:08)
And I talked to a lot of people joining entrepreneurial ventures.
And they're always trying to figure out where to go. That is often where their friends go. And sometimes it's where investor friends will direct them. What advice would you have for people choosing that company in terms of the things you can't change?

**Frank Slootman** (3:25)
You know, it's a great question. I get asked a couple of times a year to speak to graduating classes at really prominent business schools and all that sort of thing. And they always ask me, is there one message that you have for the graduating class? I'm like, well, you know, don't go working for some consulting firm, you know, out of school, right? Try to get a real job in the real economy, building real products, selling real products. You really need to feel what it's like, you know, to sort of be in the drivetrain of the economy as opposed to I'm just eating out of somebody else's trough.
And I kind of sit on the vessel and glide along and I'm feeling good about myself, but you haven't really touched the real economy yet. And I really wish that for people early on in their careers to sort of feel the heat of competition and also the cold winds of threat of markets that are, you know, disappearing.