The Seeds of Revolution

Starburst, co-founded by Justin Borgman and the creators of Trino, is a company that has evolved from an open-source project into a venture-backed startup challenging traditional data warehouse models. Originally developed as Trino, a massively parallel processing analytic database, the company aimed to provide a versatile solution for running fast SQL, BI, and batch transformation workloads on distributed data. Starburst initially bootstrapped its operations, resisting venture capital until it partnered with Index Ventures, allowing it to expand its customer base to include major companies like Comcast and DoorDash. The company distinguishes itself by offering users the flexibility to query and analyze data across various sources, thereby challenging the industry norm of vendor lock-in and centralized data storage. By advocating for data decentralization, Starburst seeks to empower businesses to access and leverage diverse datasets, disrupting the traditional monopoly model of data management and improving decision-making capabilities.