When Sridhar Ramaswamy took the helm of Snowflake in February 2024, the 43billionAIcompanywasatacrossroads.Despiteitsgroundbreakinginitialpublicoffering(IPO)in2020,Snowflake’sstockhadbeeninfreefallsincelate2021.Fastforwardtotoday,andthecompanyisexperiencingaremarkableresurgence,withitssharesskyrocketing32196 billion AI market.
The War Room: A Cross-Functional Powerhouse
At the heart of Snowflake’s revival is a weekly war room—a high-stakes, cross-functional meeting that brings together engineers, product managers, marketing teams, and sales professionals. Ramaswamy, a 58-year-old ex-Google veteran, describes these sessions as a startup-like environment where the company’s top talent collaborates to push the boundaries of innovation.
“We said, ‘We’re going to meet every week, we’re going to identify a set of customers that we want to push [products] to, and we’re going to learn,’” Ramaswamy explained in an interview with LinkedIn at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Even the CEO himself pitches ideas alongside his head of product, fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability.
This approach has paid off in spades. Since Ramaswamy took over, Snowflake has not only stabilized but thrived, earning glowing reports from analysts at Jefferies, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank. One Wall Street analyst even predicts that Snowflake’s stock will soar to $235, a testament to the company’s renewed momentum.
Clarifying Priorities: Building Great Products and Driving Volume
When Ramaswamy assumed leadership, Snowflake was already a frontrunner in the AI industry. However, he recognized the need to refine the company’s strategy to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market. His vision centered on four key priorities: building great products, ensuring the world knows about them, popularizing the Snowflake brand, and driving volume.
“One of the biggest changes is how we get to be a more iterative company,” Ramaswamy said. “That doesn’t mean release half-baked products, that means pay extra attention to what are the components we need to build right now, release, get feedback on, make sure they are rock-solid before we build the next one.”
This iterative approach has allowed Snowflake to deliver innovative solutions while maintaining the quality and reliability that customers expect. By focusing on execution and feedback, the company has been able to adapt quickly to market demands and stay ahead of the curve.
A Culture of Excellence and Ambition
Ramaswamy’s leadership style is deeply influenced by his 15-year tenure at Google, where he led the engineering, ads, and commerce teams. He brought with him a philosophy that has become a cornerstone of Snowflake’s culture: “Strategy without execution means nothing.”
At Snowflake, employees are held to the same high standards as Ramaswamy’s former team at Google. “Excellence is a way of living, it’s not some milestone that you get to,” he said. “And in a competitive market, you always have to drive yourself to excel.”
This relentless pursuit of excellence often leads to what Ramaswamy calls “squabbles” with his teams. “I routinely have squabbles with teams about whether something is ambitious or not,” he admitted. “You gotta play the game of averages—if you try enough ambitious things, a bunch of them will work out.”
These debates are not just tolerated but encouraged, as they push teams to think bigger and innovate faster. It’s this culture of ambition and accountability that has propelled Snowflake to new heights.
War Rooms in the AI Industry: A Growing Trend
Snowflake is not alone in leveraging war rooms to stay competitive in the AI industry. Meta, for instance, established several command centers after being rattled by the success of Deepseek, a Chinese AI underdog. Deepseek’s AI chatbot, R1, rivals top models like ChatGPT but was developed at a fraction of the cost, prompting Meta to invest $65 billion in AI-related products for 2025.
War rooms have also proven effective in other high-stakes industries. During the 2008 financial crisis, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon held daily meetings with his risk committee, often strategizing until the early hours of the morning. These sessions were critical in navigating the economic downturn and making “battlefield decisions” that saved the company.
The Future of Snowflake
As Snowflake continues to dominate the AI race, Ramaswamy’s leadership and the company’s war room strategy will remain central to its success. By fostering a culture of collaboration, excellence, and ambition, Snowflake has not only won back Wall Street’s confidence but also positioned itself as a powerhouse in the AI industry.
Looking ahead, Ramaswamy is focused on maintaining this momentum. “We need to prove our credibility, we need to become a powerhouse,” he said. With its weekly war room and relentless drive for innovation, Snowflake is well on its way to achieving that goal.
For businesses navigating the complexities of the AI market, Snowflake’s story offers a powerful lesson: success lies not just in strategy but in execution, collaboration, and a willingness to push the boundaries of what’s possible. As Ramaswamy and his team continue to lead the charge, the future of Snowflake—and the AI industry—looks brighter than ever.
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