Databricks co-founder shares his secrets for winning big enterprises customers

Databricks co-founder Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji shared his strategies for winning big enterprise customers at TechCrunch Disrupt. While startups face immense pressure to grow rapidly, securing large enterprise deals can be challenging. Tavakoli-Shiraji warns that startups often mistakenly believe their technology will sell itself; instead, people and processes matter most.

He recounted early struggles with securing meetings and deals, including learning that a prospect had already signed a significant contract with a competitor. Partnering with a larger tech company, such as Microsoft, proved invaluable. By becoming an Azure cloud partner, Databricks gained access to Microsoft's sales team and distribution network, facilitating introductions to potential enterprise customers.

Databricks now collaborates with startups like Hightouch, Addepar, and Tecton, providing them with its infrastructure and cybersecurity setup. When pitching AI solutions to enterprises, Tavakoli-Shiraji advises focusing on the "four Cs": context, choice, cost, and control. Context entails AI systems that learn a company's terminology, processes, and priorities.

Choice allows enterprises to switch AI models. Cost involves managing expenses related to AI usage, and control safeguards AI behavior and protects sensitive data. Many enterprises are still at a basic level of AI adoption, with only a small percentage having fully integrated AI into their operations. Startups can capitalize on this by modernizing legacy systems—often plagued by outdated technology like IBM AS/400 and mainframes—that lack modern interfaces or have been abandoned.

AI agents can help understand and overhaul these legacy systems, potentially replacing them altogether. Tavakoli-Shiraji also shared insights from his early days, recounting how he pretended to be a lawyer to land a big enterprise contract, emphasizing the importance of legal and contractual preparedness.