Look Ma, No Data Warehouse! - Building Analytics Systems with Open-Source Tools

This 27-minute conference talk from Data Council features George Fraser, Co-Founder & CEO of Fivetran, sharing practical insights on building powerful analytics systems without traditional data warehouses. Learn how to combine open-source tools like DuckDB, Fivetran, and Polaris Catalog to achieve cloud warehouse capabilities while avoiding high costs and vendor lock-in. Discover valuable perspectives for teams frustrated with expensive data warehouses or restrictive platforms, with specific focus on leveraging the Iceberg open table format and new dbt adapters for advanced analytics and AI applications. The presentation offers alternative approaches to data infrastructure that maintain functionality while providing greater flexibility and cost efficiency.