How Dr. Vanja Went from Building at Pinterest and Airbnb to Revolutionizing AI at Kumo.AI

Key Moments:

• Data as a Core Enterprise Asset (6:04): Dr. Vanja defines what it means to be a “data-forward organization,” emphasizing that data shouldn’t be an afterthought—it must sit at the heart of how a company operates, makes decisions, and serves customers.
• Relational Foundation Models for Predictive AI (16:26): Dr. Vanja explains how Kumo uses transformer architectures on raw relational data to eliminate 95% of traditional ML tasks like feature engineering—bringing pre-trained, multi-purpose prediction models into the structured data world.
• Integration Speed as a Competitive Edge (27:03): It's no longer just about who builds the fastest—but who integrates the fastest. Dr. Vanja shares how companies that can quickly adopt and scale best-in-class third-party tools will define the next generation of winners.
• The Case for Rebuilding at 10x Advantage (29:02): Dr. Vanja urges leaders to rethink old systems if a new approach offers a 10x cost or performance improvement. Sticking with outdated architectures out of fear or inertia risks falling behind during pivotal transitions.

Key Quotes: 

 

The key asset is the data that you have… You need to build the whole enterprise around this data. It’s not an afterthought — it’s at the center of the organization and how it functions. - Dr. Vanja

Companies that integrate the fastest — not just build the fastest — will win. - Dr. Vanja

If you really value your data, you need to stay in the cloud… If the cost is your only driver, then do what you want — but you’ll miss out on the majority of new technologies. - Dr. Vanja

Mentions: 

• The New Cloud Era of Data Platform Hosted Apps
• Build AI Models for Relational Data
• Kumo unveils world's first Relational Foundation Model (RFM) for instant predictions on enterprise data

Bio: 

Dr. Vanja Josifovski is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kumo. Prior to Kumo, Vanja was the CTO at Airbnb & Pinterest. Here, Vanja led an organization that included horizontal groups such as Homes Engineering and Homes Data Science, as well as GM groups such as Marketplace, Relevance and Personalization, and Regulatory Frameworks.

Before Airbnb, Vanja was the CTO & VP Eng at Pinterest, responsible for the overall technical vision and strategy of the company and communicating that to leadership and the teams; hiring and development of technical talent. As the head of Engineering, he managed some core engineering teams. Vanja has also served as an advisor and investor for multiple startups and was the founder for Kosei, which was acquired by Pinterest.