Tristan Handy’s move to develop dbt Labs meant stepping away from steady consulting revenue to build a product. With support from an open-source community and interest from enterprise clients, dbt quickly found a growing user base. By 2019, it had become a go-to tool for data professionals looking to streamline workflows and prepare data for AI. Today, dbt Labs serves over 50,000 teams globally, with dbt Cloud helping organizations tackle modern analytics and AI needs through data transformation, observability, and orchestration. In this episode of Barrchives, Tristan discusses how dbt is adapting to support the evolving demands of today’s data ecosystems. He shares insights on how data teams can move beyond manual, repetitive tasks to create environments where data becomes a valuable, collaborative asset. From AI’s potential as an analytical “thought partner” to the emerging standards reshaping data access, Tristan explores the shifts making data infrastructure more adaptable and effective.