A post by Cack Wilhelm
There is a Silicon Valley maxim often shared with entrepreneurs entering their public debut: the IPO is not the conclusion. It is the start of life as a publicly-traded company.
My promotion to General Partner at IVP feels similar. It's every bit the culmination of my career to date, and the start of a new chapter.
I began my career in venture after working in enterprise sales roles at the data infrastructure companies Oracle and Cloudera. While my professional interests have expanded, my early affinity for investing in this sector has only deepened. As I look ahead, here are a few ideas I'm considering in the field of data infrastructure:
Best of Breed
AWS will take a page from Amazon (Retail): At a $71B+ run rate, AWS can't be the best at everything, a fact that even the company itself might concede. For instance, while AWS has both a Snowflake and a Databricks equivalent, it hasn't prevented either Snowflake or Databricks from growing into many-billions in enterprise value. AWS has already moved from what was once a competitive stance (where re:Invent announcements were feared), to one of co-opetition. I predict that AWS will continue in this direction as it moves toward a position that is outwardly cooperative. A perfect example of this is Amazon.com which started as a marketplace that sold first-party goods almost exclusively and today generates more than 50% of retail sales from third-party sellers.
It pays to fit-in: Outside of the big cloud platforms, each software vendor is increasingly required to integrate with ecosystem partners or adjacencies in order to reduce any friction to adopt. The value of intra-platform integration will decline as the possibility and prize for being best-of-breed increases. In my experience moving from a sales role at a company with a 13-page product sheet (Oracle) to one with a single SKU (Cloudera), I learned an appreciation for the broader ecosystem and the requirement to fit-in.
Web3 Infrastructure
Web3 infrastructure, or infra3, remains in its beginnings. The ecosystem still needs abstractions and modularity, specific and discrete building blocks atop the blockchain protocols, as well as the ability to connect each distinct block together.
Meeting with founders and researching companies in web3 and infra3 brings me back to my first days in venture circa 2013. Then, I knew a passable amount about data and data infrastructure from prior jobs. I remember leaving meetings with more questions than answers and obscure acronyms scribbled in the margins of my notepad for review.
I'm back there again today, only now, it's the margins of my Notion doc that are filled. This time, I'm better prepared: equipped with the knowledge from investing in data infrastructure over the past eight years. Crypto, after all, is just another type of database: a chain of blocks, a historical log, albeit of a different sort - one with a consensus protocol and a shared incentive structure.
As I find myself moving between the familiarity of web2 and the unfamiliar world of web3, I've come up with a few hypotheses:
Standardization will happen quickly. While there is plenty of Twitter debate regarding the future and efficacy of web3, it matters not for my purposes: if cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and web3 remain self-referential and exclusively focused on crypto use-cases, each application still requires underlying technology.
If Amazon Web Services offers more than 200 first-party services, the web3 ecosystem might have 20. Compute, storage, and wallets/identity are mostly resolved, but I predict near-term standardization around primitives for messaging, multi-chain wallets, oracles, monitoring, analytics, and security.
Building blocks will be built as byproducts. Just as Slack arose as a byproduct of the online game Glitch, I expect we'll see similar instances in the build out of web3. Web3 developers will set out to create games and dapps, only to realize that many of the dependencies have yet to be built. (Good examples of this are Dapper Labs or Immutable.)
Analytical capabilities: It still feels like we're in the early innings of web3's analytical capabilities. Blockchains store data and handle state but they are dissimilar from databases in not indexing the data, making it difficult to use as a result. We can query the blockchain, and we can reference others' work for analytics, but building up one's own analytical capabilities is still hard, especially for more complex queries. As more and more business cases become clear, solutions will likely follow.
Modern Data Stack
The Snowflake Effect: The demonstrable performance and enterprise value of Snowflake has reinforced data and cloud infrastructure's place on the map and resized the price (up). The extreme wealth generated for investors and employees alike re-cut the math, to where a 0.05% employee grant or a 4% investor stake seem worthwhile. Snowflake solves the question of where to store and process the data; I anticipate that we will see further innovation in moving data in, out, and between these data stores, and in software to observe and confirm that the data pipelines are accurate.
Persona sprawl: We will see a broadening of analytical infrastructure offerings, focused increasingly on data-driven business teams and software developers, on sub-second response times, and on production answers for end-users.
New(er) databases overcome inertia: Database evolution seems to take decades not years, but for a handful of emerging databases, those years are behind us. I anticipate that 2022 will be a break-through year for long-developed databases, whether they are time-series, serverless, NewSQL, or analytical. Having sold Oracle databases for a living, I remain partial to the Oracle database, but eve
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
A post by Cack Wilhelm
