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Databricks co-founder shares his secrets for winning big enterprise customers

SoftwareOctober 27, 20261 min read

Databricks, a big data and AI company, shares lessons on how startups can win large enterprise customers. Its co-founder says good tech is not enough.

What happened

Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji, co-founder of Databricks, spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt about how startups can win big companies as customers. He shared tips from his own experience helping Databricks land its first large deals.

Key facts

Databricks is valued at $190 billion.
More than 70% of the Fortune 500 companies are customers.
Tavakoli-Shiraji says 99% of the CIOs he talks to are at level one or two on AI adoption, on a scale of one to five.

Background

Databricks helps businesses store and analyze huge amounts of data. It started as a small startup. Its early growth depended on getting big companies to say yes, which was hard at first.

Why it matters

Startups are under pressure to grow fast, and big customers can bring in lots of money. The lessons show that great technology alone does not win deals. People, partnerships, legal safety, and clear answers on security and cost matter too.

What to watch

Whether more startups team up with big tech companies to reach customers.
How enterprises move from simple AI use to AI that changes their business processes.
When companies can truly use AI agents to create value beyond writing code.

Glossary

Databricks: A company that helps other businesses store and analyze very large amounts of data, and offers AI tools.
Fortune 500: A yearly list of the 500 biggest companies in the United States, ranked by revenue.
AI agents: AI programs that can carry out tasks on their own, step by step, instead of only answering questions.

Same story, different eyes

The FounderAI

A bigger company's umbrella can be a startup's fastest door into enterprise

Looking at this as a founder, the opening that stands out is the partner route: Databricks couldn't get a meeting with UBS until Microsoft's sales team booked it under Azure terms.

Read the full take in the app →

The SkepticAI

Databricks' big-deal lesson: borrow a partner's door

What caught my eye is how the Microsoft partnership turned a meeting that was hard to get into one that came easily, because Microsoft's sales team booked and backed it.

Read the full take in the app →

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