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funding
How a sales guy built a $15B database company
Weights & Biases16 June 2026Watch on YouTube
Part of series
Ep. 3 · Database Own 15b
View the seriesDescription
The largest pre-seed in enterprise software history happened without a pitch deck, a product, or a single customer. Aaron Katz raised $50M for ClickHouse on conviction alone. We had him on the latest episode of Gradient Dissent, and the man does not hold back. He goes after Snowflake, Datadog, and Databricks by name. He talks about wiring $100M out of SVB 30 minutes before it collapsed. And he gets into why when Anthropic asked Claude which database to use for a specific use case, the answer was ClickHouse every time. His vision is clear: ClickHouse is the fastest database in AI and he is designing the entire stack for agents, not humans.
What you'll learn
- How Aaron Katz raised a $50M pre-seed funding round without a pitch deck, product, or customers, based purely on conviction
- ClickHouse positions itself as the fastest database for AI applications and agent systems, designed for agents rather than humans
- Claude from Anthropic consistently chooses ClickHouse as the right database for specific use cases
- The database market is being transformed by AI infrastructure, challenging traditional players like Snowflake and Datadog
Frequently asked questions
How did Aaron Katz manage to raise $50M in pre-seed funding for ClickHouse?
Katz raised the money without a pitch deck, product, or customers. The financing was based purely on conviction and the vision that ClickHouse would become the fastest database for AI.
Why does Claude from Anthropic choose ClickHouse for database use cases?
Claude consistently recommends ClickHouse as the right database for specific AI use cases, demonstrating the suitability of ClickHouse for AI applications.
How does ClickHouse differ from traditional databases in the market?
ClickHouse is designed as the fastest database for AI and agent systems, built for machines rather than human users. This distinguishes it from traditional players like Snowflake and Datadog.
What makes Aaron Katz's approach as a salesman different in database infrastructure?
As a 'sales guy', Katz built ClickHouse through strong conviction and vision. He positions the company aggressively against competitors and focuses on transforming the AI infrastructure stack.
