SanjMo: 2nd Anniversary Newsletter

Two years ago, I set out on an unknown journey brimming with trepidation. I started SanjMo to continue pursuing my role as an industry analyst, albeit independently. I had no idea what I would do except maybe consult with a client or two, here and there.

After two years, I am beyond thrilled with the enormous outreach I have received from my network, nearly doubling my client count. You all have been troopers and have kept me on my toes. You have pushed me to research new domains and have challenged me to flex my neurons in more ways than I thought possible.

This newsletter is dedicated to you, my vibrant network.

Here are some exciting things that have happened in the last two years:

Book

I am honored to publish my thoughts on data products through the launch of Data Products for Dummies. In collaboration with DataOps.Live and Wiley, this milestone encapsulates years of research and synthesis. I hope you find this content useful and enlightening. It was an invigorating process for me to pen my ideas into structured learning content in an effort to decrease the barrier to entry on this topic and increase the accessibility of information. Stay tuned for the live book launch at Big Data London this September. You are also welcome to pre-order copies here.

The Ravit Show also gave me an opportunity to contribute to the Data Observability book this year. This book has over 2000 downloads.

Blogs

I am thrilled that my Medium blog is helping readers across the globe digest data topics in novel ways. My goal is to create a hub for readers to stay current with new trends and breakthroughs while also providing tactical advice on how to integrate these new technologies and learnings into their own business. So far, my Medium blogs have generated over 25,000 views.

I also regularly publish guest blogs on my clients’ websites and have published on the well-respected The New Stack.

Podcast

It brings me great joy to stumble across people at conferences who are actively watching my podcasts. With over 40 episodes published, garnering nearly 20k views, It Depends has helped companies with recruiting and has increased exposure for budding entrepreneurs and technologists who are eager to share their creations with the data community. I am gratified to learn that even venture capitalists watch these videos as a part of their due diligence.

It Depends has become a platform for breaking news in data. As an example, it was an honor to cover Bob Muglia’s Datapreneurs book launch this summer on It Depends. He and I had a vibrant and candid discussion about his journey and key learnings as prior CEO of Snowflake.

Finally, I have enjoyed joining many of my peers’ podcasts and riffing on hypes and trends by throwing caution to the wind.

Research

When I joined Gartner, I was purely a database management specialist. I remember when I got my first inquiry on GDPR, a term that sounded very foreign to me. The EU GDPR regulation propelled me into my data governance coverage which I defined very widely to include many aspects of metadata, including data catalog, security and privacy.

Since going independent, I have helped with elevating many new categories, like data observability, DataFinOps, data products and DataOps. My new passion, quite predictably, is generative AI and how to harness the tremendous benefits of foundation models on enterprise data.

So far in 2023, I have published about 100 public papers, videos and press interviews. Stay tuned for more content!

Events

In 2023, I had an opportunity to run a virtual event and an in-person unconference. The virtual event, called Modern Data Quality Summit, was in collaboration with DQ Labs. It was so well received that we are now preparing for its fall edition.

The in-person unconference was sponsored by MongoDB and held at its New York event in June 2023 in the gigantic Javits Center. The topic was Generative AI for Data. The event came to an end when the Javits staff started turning the lights off.

The next physical event will be in conjunction with Big Data London in September 2023 which is The Ravit Show and I are co-organizing.

Conferences

Speaking at conferences gives me an opportunity to interact with the audience and learn from their experiences. My goal is to impart practical advice via examples that simplify and demystify some of the ill-defined new technology paradigms.

A rising star in my speaking circuit is now SiliconAngle theCUBE. At many conferences, I join their esteemed panels to analyze keynotes and new announcements. Our collaboration is increasing as we partner on multiple new initiatives.

Conclusion

This community of founders, technologists, investors, journalists, and creators inspires me every day to keep doing what I do at SanjMo. Together, we are making a difference in the data space and it is a privilege to build alongside each of you. Looking forward to a fantastic 3rd year together where we investigate new trends and technologies and devise creative use cases to improve our businesses.