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What happens when you stop trying to serve everyone, and start focusing on the right customers? In this episode, Corey Quinn sits down with Corey Quinn (yes, really) to talk about specialization, scaling service businesses, and the power of saying no. From growing a digital agency from $20M to $200M to escaping founder-led sales, this conversation dives into practical lessons for founders, marketers, and leaders looking to scale with intention. Show highlights:  (00:00) Specialization Mindset (00:21) Show Intro and Sponsor (01:18) Two Corey Quinns (02:39) Guest Background and Book (04:41) Scaling a Service Agency (06:28) Inbound Limits and Outbound Shift (10:21) Cookie Gifting Breakthrough (12:12) Making Gifting Work (19:09) Retention Through Specialization (25:20) Founder Bottlenecks and Wrap Up Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyquinn/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Just because you can build it doesn’t mean you should. In this episode, Ahmed Bebars, Principal Engineer at The New York Times, joins Corey Quinn to talk about real-world cloud decisions, Kubernetes complexity, and the constant trade-off between building your own solutions and buying existing ones. From home labs to enterprise architecture, they unpack what actually works, and what engineers often get wrong. Show Highlights: (00:19) Intro(01:09) From Imposter Syndrome(06:34) Honest Community Feedback(09:29) EKS Versus ECS Debate(21:32) Home Lab Reality Check(22:40) Build vs Buy Long Game(28:04) Focus on Core Business(34:35) Uptime Tradeoffs and Standards(39:41) Networking and IPv6 Debate(41:28) Wrap Up and Where to Find Links:Ahmed's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmedbebars Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

What happens when cloud economics meets the messy reality of business, AI, and human behavior? Corey and J.R. Storment unpack why cloud cost management is less about math and more about psychology, the real difference between FinOps for AI vs. AI for FinOps, and why automation still struggles with edge cases (despite all the hype). Along the way, they explore multi-cloud complexity, the rise of consumption-based pricing, and how businesses are navigating massive, unpredictable spend across cloud, SaaS, and AI platforms. If you’ve ever wondered why your cloud bill feels like chaos, or how to actually get value from it, this episode pulls back the curtain. Show Highlights:(00:00) FinOps Royalty Reunion (03:06) Origin Stories and Naming FinOps (06:32) AI for FinOps vs FinOps for AI (11:05) Automation Hype and Human Psychology (22:16) Contracts Multi Cloud and Commitments (24:26) Context Beats Optimization (26:06) Trust and Billing Clarity (28:14) Focus Standard Flywheel (30:11) SaaS Coverage and Conformance (34:06) Contracts Multi-cloud and Wrap Up Links: FinOps: https://www.finops.org/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

In this episode of Screaming in the Cloud, host Corey Quinn sits down with Roi Lipman, CTO and co-founder of Falco DB, to unpack the evolving role of graph databases in a world overflowing with data stores. Roi shares his journey from building RedisGraph at Redis to spinning it out into Falco DB, along with his enduring love of the C programming language (dad jokes included). The conversation explores why graph databases remain niche, but powerful, especially for pathfinding problems like supply chains and access management, how vector search became a feature rather than a standalone database, and what AI-assisted development means for modern engineering. Along the way, they tackle open source sustainability, Rust rewrites, AI-generated pull request chaos, and the looming question of where the next generation of senior engineers will come from. Highlights:  (00:00) C Language (00:27) Welcome (01:18) Database Landscape Overview (03:17) Why Graph Databases Matter (07:25) AI Built Apps and Data Choices (10:29) How FalcoDB Fits In (12:20) Vector Search as a Feature (16:48) FalcoDB Origin Story (19:54) Open Source Business and Rust Rewrite (25:23) Toy Graph Problems and Closing Thoughts Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

This week on Screaming in the Cloud, Corey sits down with Chris Hill, CEO of Humble Pod, to talk about the messy, nuanced reality of AI in media. From secretly cloning Corey’s voice for an ad using ElevenLabs (and almost getting away with it) to the growing tension between polished production and authentic content, they unpack what AI can actually do versus what it claims to do. They explore the shifting economics of podcasting, the rise of video-first formats, Netflix’s entrance into the space, and why “good enough” production often beats expensive studio perfection. It’s a candid conversation about trust, automation, creative integrity, and why sometimes the most dangerous AI use case is the one no one notices. Show Highlights: (00:00) The AI Voice Clone Ad Nobody Noticed (00:44) 700 Episodes In: Catching Up with Humble Pod’s Chris Hill (01:16) New Studio, New Vibes: Building a Podcast Space in Tennessee (01:51) AI in Podcasting Workflows: Riverside, Editing Promises & Human Judgment (07:50) Authenticity vs Production Value + Duckbill Hiring & Product Shift (14:05) Renewals, churn, and why point solutions fail (14:15) The Doc Tools saga: building the wrong thing (and Disney lawyers) (15:15) Bahamas studio build: consulting where quality really matters (16:34) Gear talk & pro tips: teleprompters, cameras, and looking at the lens (18:50) Podcasting goes video-first: clips, discovery, TikTok, and the wrap-up About Chris Hill: Chris Hill is a Knoxville, TN native and founder of Humble Pod, where he helps brands, startups, and thought leaders develop, launch, and grow podcasts across the U.S. and beyond. He works with clients ranging from local Knoxville businesses to entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and around the world. Chris is the co-host and producer of Our Humble Beer Podcast and lectures on podcasting and marketing at the University of Tennessee. He earned his undergraduate degree in Marketing & Entrepreneurship from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and later received his MBA from King University. He currently serves as President of the American Marketing Association Knoxville chapter and enjoys supporting the local craft beer community, traveling internationally, and exploring the outdoors. Links: Humblepod: https://www.humblepod.com/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Eric Anderson, partner at VC firm Scale, talks about why coding agents changed software forever and why the AI bubble can't be avoided. Eric worked on Spot Instances at AWS and data products at Google before becoming a VC. He explains how companies can still compete against Anthropic and OpenAI by staying laser-focused instead of fighting on every front. Corey and Eric discuss why AWS didn’t kill all startups even when they launched competing products, why the AI bubble can't be avoided when companies go from $1 billion to $7 billion in revenue in one year, and why the best AI products don't scream “AI” everywhere in their marketing. Show Highlights: (02:30) Building Spot Instances at AWS (07:41) Why Coding Agents Changed Everything (10:35) Agents Doing Code Review Now (13:53) Competing with Frontier Labs (17:05) Why AWS Didn’t Kill All Startups (19:01) Finding the Right Front to Fight On (22:20) Why the Bubble Is Inevitable (23:36) AI Pricing Will Eventually Crash (26:33) Honeycomb’s AI Done Right (28:04) Where to Find Eric Links: Scale: https://www.scalevp.com/ Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmand/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Chase Douglas, CEO at Archodex, talks about AI security problems and why re:Invent has become a nightmare. Chase helps companies capture every AI interaction so they don't get in trouble with compliance. Corey and Chase discuss Shadow AI, why Corey runs Claude Code in an account called “Superfund,” and how re:Invent put metal spikes on benches so people couldn't sit down. They also talk about why AWS released fewer announcement than before, and why Chase is finally optimistic about AI coding tools after months of frustration. Show Highlights:  (01:51) What Archodex Does (07:00) The Superfund Account for AI (08:19) Shadow AI Problem (11:41) What Happened at re:Invent  (14:59) Sponsorship Costs at re:Invent (17:00) Metal Spikes on Benches (21:39) AWS Releases Declining  (25:24) Why Chase Is Finally Optimistic About AI Coding (27:13) Code Review Changed with AI (31:22) Where to Find Chase Links: Archodex: https://archodex.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasedouglas/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Alyss Noland, who works on Cloud Dev Ecosystem at Nvidia, is back on the show to talk about building software with AI when you're not a real developer. Alyss runs a program that gives AI startups access to Nvidia GPUs and uses AI tools herself to build production software at Nvidia. Corey and Alyss discuss using AI to help curate newsletters without actually writing them, why humans still need to check everything, and the weird reality of people developing relationships with chatbots.  Show Highlights:  (01:34) What Alyss Does at Nvidia (05:44) When AI First Worked for Corey (07:34) Building Internal Tools vs Using AI (10:39) Using AI to Help Write Last Week in AWS  (13:43) DGX Cloud Innovation Lab  (17:11) Building Production Software with AI  (20:48) The Future of SEO  (25:24) Using AI as a Writing Assistant  (29:51) closing remarks Links: Alyss’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssnoland/ Alyss’s Personal Website: https://dev.to/preciselyalyss Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Mike McQuaid, Project Leader of Homebrew, joins Corey Quinn to share how a package manager conceived in a London pub became essential for 10 million Mac users. Homebrew lets you install software with one command instead of downloading files and clicking through installers, maintained by just 30 people who each get $300 a month.Mike shares the origin story from a drunken conversation about package management, explains how Homebrew Bundle can set up a new Mac with one command, and why Homebrew refuses to package software with fake open source licenses like Terraform's new versions. Show Highlights: (01:44) Why Homebrew Works on Linux (04:02) The Curl Bash Security Problem (05:02) Homebrew Was Conceived in a London Pub (06:42) Apps That Auto-Update Four Times a Day (08:43) Brew Bundle (14:00) Why Homebrew Auto-Updates Itself (18:18) Homebrew Maintainers Get $300 a Month (22:19) The Brew Doctor Command (29:10) Why Homebrew Doesn't Package Fake Open Source (32:05) Open Source Is Not a Career (35:27) When Someone Blamed Homebrew for Breaking Their Business (37:39) Auto-Update Options for Homebrew (39:40) Where to Find Mike Links: Website: https://mikemcquaid.com Homebrew: https://brew.sh GitHub: https://github.com/homebrew Sponsored by:  duckbillhq.com

When your website stops working at 3 AM, you need to answer one question fast: Is it my code or is a big cloud provider having problems? Omri Sass from Datadog explains updog.ai, a tool that monitors whether major services like AWS, CloudFlare, and others are actually working. Instead of asking people to report problems like Down Detector does, updog uses real data from thousands of computers to detect when services go down. Omri shares why this took 6 years to build, how they process massive amounts of data with machine learning, and why cloud providers have been strangely upset about these tools existing. About Omri:  Omri Sass is a Director of Product Management at Datadog, where he leads and supports a team of 25+ product managers driving initiatives across Bits AI SRE, Data Observability, Service Management, and most recently, the launch of updog.ai. Outside of work, Omri is an avid sci-fi reader, a dedicated yoga practitioner, and happily outmatched by his cat. Show Highlights: (02:12) What is Updog and How Does It Work (03:38) Why Knowing If It's a Global Problem Matters (04:01) The Problem With Testing Every Endpoint Yourself (05:52) How Datadog Discovered EC2 Outages From Their Own Systems (10:38) When AWS Regions Go Down and Cascade Failures (13:13) What Happens When Services Rebuild Completely(16:29) The Most Important Learning During a 3 AM Incident(20:11) Why This Took So Long to Build(23:40) When Datadog Going Down Isn't Critical Path(25:22) How They Picked Which AWS Services to Monitor(27:07) What Comes Next for Updog(30:11) Where to Find Omri and Updog Links:  Datadog: datadoghq.com Omir’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omri-sass-65632a14/ Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Hunter Leath, CEO of Archil, spent 8 years building Amazon's EFS file storage system, learning exactly why making cloud storage act like a hard drive always fails. Old programs need hard drives, but cloud storage doesn't work like hard drives—a problem that's existed for 20 years. Now Hunter's building Archil, which puts super-fast storage between programs and S3 so they can finally work together. Your programs think they're talking to a regular disk while your data lives safely in the cloud. Hunter explains how they're doing what others couldn't, why it costs less than Amazon's own solutions, and why file systems suddenly matter again in the AI era. Show Highlights: (01:37) What Archil Does and Why It Exists (02:26) Why Mounting S3 as a File System Has Always Failed (03:07) What Building EFS Taught Hunter (06:55) Using Fast SSDs as a Cache Layer for S3 (09:45) Attaching Archil to Your Existing S3 Buckets (15:08) Why Archil Costs Less Than EBS When You Do the Math (17:56) What Happens If Amazon Builds This Feature (19:20) Competing With EBS Performance on GP3 Volumes (21:43) Raising $6.7 Million Without an AI Pitch (23:46) What Customers Get Wrong About Archil (28:07) Accessing Data Stored in Glacier Deep Archive (29:24) The Plan to Get Into the Linux Kernel  (30:51) Where to Find Hunter About Hunter Leath:  Hunter is the founder and CEO of Archil, which transforms S3 buckets into infinite, local file systems that provide instant access to massive data sets. Prior to Archill, Hunter spent the last ten years in the cloud storage industry, including 8 years building Amazon's Elastic File System product and one year on Netflix's core storage team. Links:Hunter Leath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hleath/ Hunter Leath on X: https://x.com/jhleath/ Archil’s Website: https://archil.com Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

When AWS has a major outage, what actually happens behind the scenes? Ben Hartshorne, a principal engineer at Honeycomb, joins Corey Quinn to discuss a recent AWS outage and how they kept customer data safe even when their systems couldn't fully work. Ben explains why building services that expect things to break is the only way to survive these outages. Ben also shares how Honeycomb used its own tools to cut their AWS Lambda costs in half by tracking five different things in a spreadsheet and making small changes to all of them. About Ben Hartshorne:  Ben has spent much of his career setting up monitoring systems for startups and now is thrilled to help the industry see a better way. He is always eager to find the right graph to understand a service and will look for every excuse to include a whiteboard in the discussion. Show highlights:  (02:41)Two Stories About Cost Optimization (04:20) Cutting Lambda Costs by 50% (08:01) Surviving the AWS Outage (09:20) Preserving Customer Data During the Outage (13:08) Should You Leave AWS After an Outage? (15:09) Multi-Region Costs 10x More (18:10) Vendor Dependencies (22:06) How LaunchDarkly's SDK Handles Outages (24:40) Rate Limiting Yourself (29:00) How Much Instrumentation Is Too Much? (34:28) Where to Find Ben Links:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhartshorne/ GitHub: https://github.com/maplebed Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

R. Tyler Croy, a principal engineer at Scribd, joins Corey Quinn to explain what happens when simple tasks cost $100,000. Checking if files are damaged? $100K. Using newer S3 tools? Way too expensive. Normal solutions don't work anymore. Tyler shares how with this much data, you can't just throw money at the problem, but rather you have to engineer your way out. About R. Tyler:  R. Tyler Croy leads infrastructure architecture at Scribd and has been an open source developer for over 14 years. His work spans the FreeBSD, Python, Ruby, Puppet, Jenkins, and Delta Lake communities. Under his leadership, Scribd’s Infrastructure Engineering team built Delta Lake for Rust to support a wide variety of high performance data processing systems. That experience led to Tyler developing the next big iteration of storage architecture to power large-scale fulltext compute challenges facing the organization. Show Highlights:01:48 Scribd's 18-Year History 04:00 One Document Becomes Billions of Files 05:47 When Normal Physics Stop Working 08:02 Why S3 Metadata Costs Too Much 10:50 How AI Made Old Documents Valuable 13:30 From 100 Billion to 100 Million Objects 15:05 The Curse of Retail Pricing  19:17 How Data Scientists Create Growth 21:18 De-Normalizing Data Problems 25:29 Evolving Old Systems 27:45 Billions Added Since Summer 29:29 Underused S3 Features 31:48 Where to Find Tyler Links:  Scribd: https://tech.scribd.comMastodon:  https://hacky.town/@rtylerGitHub: https://github.com/rtyler Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Corey Quinn sits down with Avery Pennarun, co-founder and CEO of Tailscale, for a deep dive into how the company is reinventing networking for the modern era. From finally making VPNs behave the way they should to tackling AI security with zero-click authentication, Avery shares candid insights on building infrastructure people actually love using, and love talking about. They get into everything: surviving 100% year-over-year growth, why running on two tailnets at once is pure chaos, and how Tailscale makes “secure by default” feel effortless. Plus, they dig into why FreeBSD firewalls needed some tough love, the uncomfortable truth behind POCs, and even the surprisingly useful trick of turning your Apple TV into an exit node. About Avery: Avery Pennarun is the co-founder and CEO of Tailscale, where he’s redefining secure networking with a simple, Zero Trust approach. A veteran software engineer with experience ranging from startups to Google, he’s known for turning complex systems into approachable, user-friendly tools. His contributions to projects like wvdial, bup, and sshuttle reflect his belief that great technology should be both powerful and easy to use. With a mix of technical depth and dry humor, Avery shares insights on modern networking, internet evolution, and the realities of scaling a startup. Highlights:(0:00) Introduction to Tailscale and Security (00:52) Sponsorship and Personal Experiences (02:07) Technical Deep Dive into Tail Scale (06:10) Challenges and Future of Tail Scale (22:45) Building the Tail Net's API (23:54) Connecting Cloud Providers with Tailscale (25:22) Tailscale as a Security Solution (26:44) Innovations and Future of Tailscale Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com

Most open source companies do the same thing. They take investor money, lock their best features behind paywalls, sell the company, and disappoint everyone. Grokability did something different. Jeremy Price, VP of Technology at Grokability talks with Corey Quinn about how they built a business that makes enough money without chasing endless growth. From why they use simple technology to how they run thousands of separate installations for customers, Jeremy explains what happens when you care more about making a good product than explosive growth. Show Highlights: (00:51) Welcoming Jeremy Price from Grokability (03:34) How Snipe-IT Started With a Bet (05:30) Paying for Software Can Change Everything (07:40) When AWS Competes With Open Source (10:10) Boring Businesses Make Money (15:30) Balancing Hosting Needs and Product Quality (18:00) Pricing That Avoids Big Customer Problems (21:06) Better Than a Google Sheet (27:02) The Psychology of Buying (29:33) Where to Find Jeremy and Grokability Links:  https://jermops.com/about/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygprice/ https://snipeitapp.com/company Sponsored by: duckbillhq.com