You thought you were building a data stack. What you’re really building is a black hole — and it’s pulling everything in.
Who’s on the show
Veronika Durgin, VP of Data at Saks
What we’re covering:
Chris Tabb’s Platform Gravity thesis takes center stage in this episode — the idea that data ecosystems are naturally consolidating. Your team, tooling, governance, and business logic are all being pulled toward a center of gravity — whether that’s Snowflake, Databricks, or your own platform play.
Veronika brings hands-on experience navigating this shift at scale, from building leaner teams to rationalizing tooling across business units.
Topics you’ll hear:
* What is Data Platform Gravity and how do you know it’s happening?
* How Saks evolved its data ecosystem around a unifying platform
* The myth of “flexibility” and why consolidation drives performance
* The hidden tax of multi-tool data stacks
* Why fewer tools, deeper integrations, and tighter governance = business value
* Veronika’s take on platform-led architecture vs best-of-breed chaos
💣 Truth Bomb
“If your data platform has gravity, your ecosystem will consolidate around it. You can lead that shift, or get crushed by it.”