Building The Database That Can Do It All | Tobie Morgan Hitchcock, CEO of SurrealDB

The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck

In this episode, we sit down with Tobie Morgan Hitchcock, the founder of SurrealDB, to dive deep into the evolving world of databases and the future of data storage, querying, and real-time analytics. SurrealDB isn’t just another database — it’s a multi-model database that merges document, graph, and time-series data, making it easier for developers to consolidate their backend without sacrificing performance. You'll learn how SurrealDB separates storage from compute for scalability, its innovative take on graph databases, and the radical decision to rewrite the entire platform in Rust. Tobie also shares how SurrealDB is designed to handle real-time analytics and integrate AI/ML models directly inside the database. If you're curious about the future of databases, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss. SurrealDB Website - https://surrealdb.com Twitter - https://x.com/SurrealDB Tobie Morgan Hitchcock: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiemorganhitchcock Twitter - https://x.com/tobiemh FIRSTMARK Website - https://firstmark.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap Matt Turck (Managing Director) LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck

(00:00) Intro
(02:03) What is SurrealDB?
(02:53) How did SurrealDB get started?
(09:10) The Challenges of Building a Database from Scratch
(10:36) Why SurrealDB Chose Rust
(12:54) A Deep Dive into SurrealDB’s Unique Features
(19:30) Why Now?
(26:32) What Sets SurrealDB Apart from Other Databases
(30:01) SurrealDB’s Role in the Future of AI and Machine Learning
(32:45) Why Developers Are Choosing SurrealDB
(36:14) What’s New in SurrealDB 2.0?
(40:10) SurrealDB Cloud: Scalability Meets Simplicity
(42:21) How SurrealDB Fits into the Competitive Database Landscape
(45:37) Early Lessons from Building SurrealDB
(48:34) Co-Founding SurrealDB with His Brother