Welcome to Daco

Managing data products across teams and infrastructure is complex. Right now, most teams spend more time wrestling with infrastructure and "alignment" than actually delivering value.

We’ve lived this struggle firsthand, and it’s why we’re building Daco.

The "Meeting Hell" of Data Alignment

Daco started with two engineers—Giuseppe Grieco and Guðmundur Orri Pálsson—who spent years working side-by-side as data engineers. Coming from software engineering backgrounds, we couldn't shake a recurring frustration: Why is data so much harder to manage than code?

In the software world, you have standards. In the data world, we found ourselves stuck in:

• Endless meetings just to agree on what a column name meant.
• Manual repetition, where the same data definition had to be rewritten for SQL warehouses, Databricks, dbt models, and Pydantic schemas.
• The "Translation Tax", where every time a tool changed, we had to rebuild the bridge to every other system.

You either accepted this wasted time as "part of the job," or you spent months building a custom, internal tool to manage these definitions. We realized that if we were going to build a system to solve this, we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. Everyone deserves better tools.

What is Daco?

Daco is our answer to the fragmentation of the modern data stack. Our goal is to provide a unified way to:

• Define data product schemas in one place.
• Manage data contracts that actually stick.
• Translate those definitions automatically into the tools you already use (dbt, SQL, Python, etc.).

Instead of building a "walled garden," we’re building a Data Product Interface (OpenDPI). Think of it like OpenAPI, but for the data world.

Built by a Community Without Borders

From the very first line of code, we knew Daco had to be open source.

When we reached out to the community, we learned something important: everyone has an opinion. And honestly? That’s great. Data is used differently by everyone—analysts, software engineers, and data scientists all see the world through a different lens.

Daco isn't just a company; it’s a community. While we’re based in Amsterdam, Daco is a project without borders. We want a seat at the table for everyone who believes in a shared single source of truth.

Join Us

We are just getting started, and we want to build the tools you actually love to use. Whether you’re a seasoned architect or just getting started with your first pipeline, we’d love for you to be part of the conversation.

• Check out our GitHub: Daco Labs
• Join the discussion: dacolabs.com

Let’s stop repeating ourselves and start building together.

✨ The Daco Team