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The a16z Show

AI Agents and the Fight for Customer Data

The a16z Show

a16z

Culture, Business, Science, Disruption, Technology, Software Eating The World, Entrepreneurship, Innovation

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Martin Casado speaks with George Fraser, cofounder and CEO of Fivetran, about the future of data infrastructure in the age of AI. The conversation covers Fivetran’s merger with dbt, the changing role of data platforms, and why Fraser believes many companies are overestimating the threat AI poses to enterprise software. They discuss open data access, the backlash against AI agents accessing systems of record, and why businesses still need centralized data foundations even as agent-based workflows become more common. Along the way, Fraser shares his views on data gravity, coding agents, enterprise AI adoption, and how AI is changing the way software companies build and operate products.

Transcript

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0:00.0

There is a new reason to have all your data in one place, which is AI agents need context.

0:05.0

If you don't do that, then it's sort of like using chatGB from before chat gbt was connected to the internet.

0:11.0

Postgres, contrary to popular belief, is very old technology.

0:15.0

It is not a good database simply because it was written a long time ago.

0:18.0

It has a lot of technical debt.

0:20.0

Satya has said that there's going to be the collapse of SAS. Do you think the

0:23.9

SaaSpocalypse is a thing and we're going to see a massive shift?

0:26.8

The bigger threat is that AI-native companies will just zoom and catch up to the established

0:32.8

incumbents and maybe be better. Like, we'll actually have an HR, and that HR team will onboard AIs as they come.

0:40.4

They'll be part of teams, they'll join the Slack.

0:42.2

And in that world, these aren't software.

0:43.8

That's actually more seats, more consumption of software.

0:46.5

And so do you think that for enterprise agents,

0:49.4

we're moving more to these, you treat them like humans?

0:51.9

Or do you think that that's too far?

1:00.0

For years, companies built data infrastructure to answer questions about the business. Now, they're building it for AI.

1:03.0

As agents become more capable, the challenge is no longer collecting data.

1:08.0

It's making sure the right systems can access the right context at the right time.

1:12.6

That shift is forcing companies to rethink everything from data platforms and APIs to enterprise software and systems of record.

1:20.6

Martine Casado speaks with 5Tran co-founder and CEO George Frazier about AI data infrastructure and why the next wave of enterprise

1:29.4

software may look very different from the last.

1:35.4

So our guest today is George Frazier, who is the CEO of FiveTran.

...

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