For seven and a half years, Ryan Kiskis helped lead Amazon Web Services' startup strategy, helping the cloud giant work with venture firms and startup incubators to get young companies to build their businesses on its cloud.
Meanwhile, he remember being struck by how Google Cloud was increasingly competing with AWS to win over startups. Sometimes, existing AWS customers would even make the switch over to Google: He pinpoints ad firm CitrusAd, health tech firm Augmedix, and banking app Step as all opting to jump ship to Google.
So, when the company contacted him about a job last year, it caught his attention.
Kiskis ended up joining Google Cloud in August as its startup ecosystem director to lead the company's January relaunch of its own startup program.
Google Cloud has been laser-focused on winning over large business customers in the last two years, but it's now trying to light a fire under its focus on startups. It wants to expand beyond giving young companies credits (essentially, free money) to get them to build on Google Cloud to adding other forms of support for founders, including sales help and webinars.
"I saw enthusiasm from the Google team to do more for startups," Kiskis told Insider. "It's a unique opportunity now. I have a huge amount of respect for the teams here."
Typically, cloud programs for startups "throw credits" at young companies, Kiskis said, or have one-size-fits-all model where startups all receive the same benefits, regardless of their actual needs.
Google itself had fallen into that trap and tasked Kiskis with completely revamping its program.
Google Cloud's new initiative not only provides at least $2,000 in financial support, but also gives firms technical guidance, mentorship, sales support, and connections with experts in the community.
More than 30,000 firms have passed through the program since 2016 and the idea is that as they grow they can become bigger customers for Google Cloud.
"We really want this to be the entry point for startups to engage in Google Cloud," Kiskis said. "Also, by opening that relationship and having these touchpoints with us, it helps us continue to work with them."
The program has also committed to ensuring that more than 10% of the startups it works with have a social impact mission or founders of color and it works with the Black Founders Fund, accelerators for female founders, and external funds to do this.
The startup Switchboard went through Google Cloud's startup program
Startups in the program receive financial, business, and technology support, including access to events and a community of experts, sales opportunities, technical training resources, and credits for other Google services, like Maps or Workspace.
One company that went through the program recently is Switchboard, which makes it easy to publish live streaming content to platforms like Twitter, Twitch, and LinkedIn. Switchboard initially used Microsoft Azure for its public cloud needs, but migrated mostly to Google Cloud in 2018 because it's in the livestreaming space and wanted to have "close proximity" to YouTube, cofounder and CEO Rudy J. Ellis told Insider.
It connected with Google Cloud's startup program in September 2019 through American Underground, a community and resource hub for startups based in the South.
The credits are great, Ellis said, but that the real value in the program is that it teaches you how to best leverage them. He's connected with cloud architects and other Google product experts on how to most effectively power and scale Switchboard's product.
The firm also attended a seven day conference focused on branding, pricing, and other resources for founders.
"Being able to reach out to connections in the network has been a game changer," Ellis told Insider.
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