August 20, 2026
August 20, 2026
Eszter Szikora has spent nearly a decade shaping communications at Snowflake, operating in one of enterprise tech's most fiercely competitive markets. She led the PR strategy for Snowflake’s historic IPO in 2020—the biggest software IPO to date—and continues to translate product execution into market-moving narratives.
Eszter joined us recently to share her insights on building effective leadership platforms, what it takes to navigate a public offering, and why great B2B storytelling starts with the customer.
Our conversation has been edited for this format.
What does good storytelling look like for Snowflake?
We don’t put ourselves at the center of the story. The customer is always at the center, and our role is to help bring their stories to life. Increasingly, we’re focusing on business outcomes. There’s still a lot of conversation about what AI can do, and that remains important, but what people really want to hear about is tangible results and real impact.
It’s important to tell a consistent story. No matter where the market goes, no matter what's in the news, we have a long-term vision and we always reinforce that north star.
No matter where the market goes, no matter what's in the news, we have a long-term vision and we always reinforce that north star.
Who else is modeling good B2B storytelling?
I’m drawn to companies that connect technology to human impact. NVIDIA, for instance, does this really well. They don’t just talk about GPUs. They tell stories about science, healthcare, and the innovation their technology makes possible. That’s what we strive for at Snowflake as well: telling the bigger human story behind what our technology enables.
Can you share insights into how you bring the customer along and co-create great customer stories?
When I first joined Snowflake, it was harder to get customers to share their stories because we were still a smaller brand. The cloud was also in its early days, and there was still a lot of hesitation around it. Getting a bank, for example, to talk publicly about what they were doing was difficult. As Snowflake grew and our brand became more established, we were able to earn that trust and tell bigger, more impactful customer stories.
Timing matters a lot. You don’t approach a customer when they’re brand new. You wait until they have proven results and a meaningful story to tell. It’s important to think about where they are in the customer lifecycle and set your expectations accordingly, based on both the size of your company and the strength of your brand.
A couple years ago, after former CEO Frank Slootman’s departure, some were questioning Snowflake's AI strategy and new leadership. Since then, you've proven why Snowflake deserves the position you're in. Last year, Fortune dubbed Snowflake the number one company on its coveted Future 50 list. Can you talk about the mindset and execution it took to shift the market perception?
I love that you used the word execution because that's the key word. We didn't look at this as a reputation challenge; it was an execution challenge.
We as communicators cannot manufacture market confidence. You need the innovation and the business results. We executed on the things that mattered and launched a number of great AI products. Cortex Code, for example, has seen the fastest adoption of any product we’ve ever launched.
We as communicators cannot manufacture market confidence. You need the innovation and the business results. We executed on the things that mattered and launched a number of great AI products. Cortex Code, for example, has seen the fastest adoption of any product we’ve ever launched.
Then customers started talking about the strength of the products, and the numbers began to shift. That’s where communications comes in: reinforcing the message and helping the media and the market understand the why and the how behind that momentum. Our role was to extend and amplify it, but the execution had to come first.
There’s an expectation for CEOs to show up in a way that’s interesting and sometimes even provocative. You’ve done a great job with [CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy] at striking the balance between being interesting and being authentic. Can you talk about your approach with his platform?
We never tried to invent a persona for Sridhar. We look at who he is as a person and amplify the traits that come naturally to him. People can sense if you’re trying to make somebody something they’re not.
Sridhar has a humility that was striking from the beginning, along with deep product and AI expertise, a natural curiosity, and a genuine focus on customers. Our role is to amplify those qualities that already come naturally to him.
We also make sure that, no matter the audience, he shows up as the same person with the same voice. The level of technical detail might change depending on whether he’s speaking to developers, investors, or employees, but he always stays true to who he is.
We were able to build such a strong brand around him because every interaction—whether it’s a podcast, an interview, or an employee email—feels authentic to him. There’s a clear consistency in how he shows up, which allows the audience to understand not just what he stands for, but who he is as a person.
How are you thinking about LinkedIn versus some of the other platforms?
When it comes to social, we optimize for signal over volume. We make sure that when Sridhar says something, it adds something new to the conversation or helps shape the market in a way that reflects his leadership. It’s not about how many times he posts each week. It’s about making sure that when he does, it matters.
Sridhar is one of those CEOs who genuinely enjoys social media. He sees the value in it and engages in a way that feels natural and authentic. LinkedIn is his primary channel, but he’s also very comfortable with new media, from podcasts to Substacks. He actively flags the platforms and conversations he wants to be part of, so he plays a very hands-on role in shaping his social presence.
It's been a little more than five years since Snowflake's historic IPO, and we expect some big IPOs coming up this year. Can you share any insights from the comms strategy you ran that would be helpful for companies eyeing an IPO today?
My most important advice is that the IPO is not the story. You have to go into it knowing who you are as a company, with your north star narrative nailed. The IPO is a proof point to your larger story.
The IPO is not the story. You have to go into it knowing who you are as a company, with your north star narrative nailed.
We made sure that when we went into presentations, [then-CEO] Frank Slootman had three or four north star messages about what Snowflake brings to the market. That comes from who you are as a company; it can’t be manufactured for the IPO. What problem are you solving for your customers? This is what makes an IPO successful—having this clarity and being able to communicate it to an investor audience.
The other important thing to remember is that the IPO isn’t the final chapter. It’s the beginning of a longer, more complex journey as a public company. It’s a different ballgame. What works as a private company doesn’t necessarily work once you’re public, and as you grow, the stakes change. You have to plan for that evolution. The planning shouldn’t end with IPO day.
I’d love to get your perspective, and any practical insights, on your own AI journey and your team's AI journey at Snowflake.
Over the last couple of months, we’ve shifted from simply prompting AI to actually building with it. We’re starting to automate workflows, and that’s been a significant change for my team.
We use AI in every part of communication, from the operational side to media relations. For example, we launched an agentic tool that streamlines our review process for partner press releases. It used to be a very manual process that could take days. Now, the release comes in, the AI reviews it against our messaging, creates the review cycle, sends Slack messages to the reviewers, and automates the email back to the customer. It went from a not-very-exciting job for a communications person to being 90% automated.
Eszter Szikora is vice president, external communications at Snowflake. This interview is part of Signalmakers, a Mission North series exploring how modern communicators blend curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity to lead in an AI-driven world.
