Vector Databases Explained in 30 Minutes

Hosted by Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana

Wed, Jul 15, 2026

9:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

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AI Engineering Bootcamp & Certificate
Aki Wijesundara, PhD and Manu Jayawardana
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What you'll learn

See what actually gets stored

Understand that a vector database holds embeddings plus metadata, and what each part is doing.

Run your first similarity search

Query the database with a vector and get back the nearest matches, live.

Know when you even need one

Tell the difference between cases that call for a vector database and ones a simple list handles fine.

Why this topic matters

Everyone says to put your embeddings in a vector database, but it stays a mystery box until you see what it actually stores and how it finds neighbors fast. In this free 30 minute session you load real embeddings into a vector database, run a similarity search, and watch what happens when it returns the closest matches in milliseconds. You see what an index is, why approximate search trades a little accuracy for big speed, and when a plain list would do instead. You leave knowing what a vector database is for and how to query one with confidence.

You'll learn from

Aki Wijesundara

AI Advisor | Educator | Google AI Accelerator Alum

Aki Wijesundara is an AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and extensive experience mentoring startups at Google’s AI Accelerator. With a career spanning both research and applied AI, Aki has taught 5,000+ students worldwide how to design and deploy production-ready AI systems.

He has worked across cutting-edge areas of applied AI, from LangChain and RAG pipelines to observability and large-scale deployment. As a researcher and educator, Aki bridges the gap between theory and practice, making complex systems approachable and actionable for engineers, founders, and product leaders.

Aki is also a frequent speaker and advisor to organizations adopting AI, helping them transition from experimentation to production at scale.

Manu Jayawardana

AI Founder | Co-Founder & CEO at Krybe | Co-Founder of Snapdrum

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur with multiple AI startup successes.

He is also the Co-Founder of Snapdrum, an AI consultancy helping companies integrate and automate their businesses using AI. Through Snapdrum, Manu has worked with top startups and enterprises across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, advising on automation, product development, and AI strategy.

Currently, Manu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent startup in London transforming how businesses automate customer interactions. His experience spans fundraising, scaling products, and leading teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions adopted globally.

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