What does it really take to build a modern data architecture from the ground up?

In our very first episode of The Data Playbook, host Kris Peeters, founder and CEO of Dataminded, sits down with Thorsten Foltz, seasoned data architect and engineer, to unpack what works (and what doesn’t) when designing scalable, future-proof data platforms.

With a focus on real-world tradeoffs, this episode explores:

• Cloud vs on-prem vs hybrid: how to choose the right infrastructure

• The rise of Data Mesh and when it actually makes sense

• Why fake news isn’t just a media problem—it’s a data problem inside companies too

• Vendor lock-in, cloud sovereignty, and the growing relevance of European alternatives

• The balance between open source and managed services: cost, control, and complexity

• Why team culture and communication often make or break your data strategy

• What engineers can really expect from LLMs in the data stack (spoiler: they're not replacing data modeling any time soon)

Whether you're a data engineer, architect, analyst, or tech leader, this conversation goes far beyond buzzwords. You’ll hear practical lessons, hard-earned insights, and a few uncomfortable truths about how companies actually manage data today—and how they should rethink it for tomorrow.