 Okay, welcome back everyone. It's theCUBE's coverage here in San Francisco, California. We're live on the show floor of AWS Summit 2022. I'm John Furrier, host of theCUBE. And remember, AWS Summit in New York City coming up this summer, we'll be there as well. And of course, reinvent at the end of the year for all the CUBE coverage on cloud computing and AWS. The two great guests here from the APN, global APN, Serge Shuchenko and Jeff Grimes, leader, Jeff and Serge is doing partnerships, global APN. AWS Global Startup Program. Okay, say that again. AWS Global Startup Program. That's the official name. Yeah, I love it. Too long, too long for me. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, of course. I appreciate it. So tell us about what's going on with you guys. How has you guys organized? You guys, we're obviously we're in San Francisco, Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Zillions of startups here in New York. It's got another one we're going to be at. Tons of startups, a lot of them getting funded, big growth in cloud, big growth in data, security, hot in all sectors. Absolutely. So maybe we could just start with the global startup program. It's essentially a white glove service that we provide to startups that are built on AWS. And the intention there is to help identify use cases that are being built on top of AWS. And for these startups, we want to provide white glove support in co-building products together, co-marketing and co-selling. Essentially, the use cases that our customers need solved that either they don't want to build themselves or are perhaps more innovative. So the AWS global startup program provides white glove support, dedicated headcount for each one of those pillars. And within our program, we've also provided incentives, programs, go to market activities, like the AWS startup showcase that we've built for these startups. Yeah, by the way, AWS startups.com is the URL, check it out. Okay, so partnerships are key. Jeff, what's your role? Yeah, so I'm responsible for leading the overall effort for the AWS global startup program. So I've got a team of partner managers that are located throughout the U.S., managing a few hundred startup ISPs right now. Yeah, you got a lot. We've got a lot. There's a lot out there. All right, so I got to ask a tough question. Okay, I'm a startup founder. I got a team. I just got my Series A. We're growing. I'm trying to hire people. I'm super busy. What's in it for me? Yeah. What do you guys bring to the table? I don't have a closed service, but translate that. What's in it for you? What do I get out of it? What's the story? It's a good question. Focus, I think. Because we get to see a lot of partners building their businesses on AWS. So from our perspective, helping these partners focus on what do we truly need to build by working backwards from customer feedback? How do we effectively go to market? Because we've seen startups do various things through trial and error. And also just messaging. Because oftentimes partners or rather startups try to boil the ocean with many different use cases. So we really help them laser focus on what are you really good at and how can we bring that to the customer as quickly as possible? Yeah, I mean, it's truly about helping that founder accelerate the growth of their company. And there's a lot that you can do with AWS, but focus is truly the key word there. Because they're going to be able to find their little piece of real estate and absolutely deliver incredible outcomes for our customers. And then they can start their growth curve there. What are some of the coolest things you've seen with the APN that you can share publicly? I know you've got a lot going on there, a lot of confidentiality. But we're here, a lot of great partners on the floor here and glad we're back at events. A lot of stuff going on digitally with virtual stuff and hybrid. What are some of the cool things you guys have seen in the APN that you can point to? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I can point to a few, you can take them. So I think what's been fun over the years for me personally, I came from a startup, ran sales at an early stage startup and I went through the whole thing. So I have a deep appreciation for what these guys are going through. And what's been interesting to see from me is taking some of these early stage guys, watching them progress, go public, get acquired and see that big day. And being able to point to very specific items that we helped them to get to that point. And it's just a really fun journey to watch. Yeah, and part of the reason why I really love working at the AWS Global Startup Program is working with passionate founders. I just met with a founder today that he's going to build a very big business one day and watching them grow through these stages and supporting that growth. I like to think of our program as a catalyst for enterprise sort of scale. And through that, we provide visibility, credibility and growth opportunities. Yeah, a lot of partners too, what I found, talking to founders is when they have that milestone that works so hard for it whether it's a B round, C round, or public, or get bought, then they take a deep breath and they look back at, wow, what a journey it's been. So it's kind of emotional for sure. But still it's a grind, right? I mean, when you get funding, it's still day one, you don't stop, you don't celebrate, you got a big round or valuation, you still got to execute. And look, it's hyper competitive and it's brutally difficult. And our job is to try to make that a little less difficult and navigate those waters, right? Where everyone's going after similar things. Yeah, I think as a group element too, I'd observe that startups that I meet through the APN has been interesting because they feel part of AWS as a group, a community, as a vibe there. I know they're hustling and they're trying to make things happen, but at the same time, Amazon throws a huge halo effect. I mean, that's a huge factor. I mean, you guys are the number one cloud in the business, the growth in every sector is booming and if you're a startup, you don't have that luxury yet and look at companies like Snowflake that built on top of AWS. I mean, people are winning by building on AWS. Yeah, our program really validates their technology first. So we have what's called a foundation's technical review that we put all of our startups through before we go to market so that when enterprise customers are looking at startup technology, they know that it's already been vetted. And to take that a step further and help these partners differentiate, we use programs like the competency programs, the DevOps competencies, the security competency, which continues to help provide sort of a platform for these startups, help them differentiate and also there's go-to-market benefits that are associated with that. Okay, so let me ask the question that's probably on everyone's mind who's watching. Actually, I asked this a lot. There's a lot of companies' startups out there. Who makes the cut? Is there a criteria? Not a cut, it's not like it's sports team or anything, but like sure, like there's Activate program which is like there's hundreds of thousands of startups out there. Not everyone is at the APN. All right, correct. So ISVs, again, that's a whole nother. That's a more mature partner that might have huge market cap or growth. How do you guys focus? How do you guys focus? I mean, you got a good question. A thousand flowers blooming all the time. Is there a new way you guys are looking at? I know there's been some talk about restructure or new focus, what's the focus? Yeah, it's definitely not an easy task, by any means. But I recently took over this role and we're really trying to establish focus areas, right? So obviously a lot of the ISVs that we look after are infrastructure ISVs, that's what we do. And so we have very specific pods that look after different type of partners. So we've got a security pod, we've got a DevOps pod, we've got core infrastructure, et cetera. And really we're trying to find these ISVs that can solve really interesting AWS customer challenges. Do you guys have a deliberate focus on these pillars? So infrastructure? Security, DevOps and data and analytics, and then line of business. Line of business, line of business like marketing solutions. Okay, business owner type thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So solutions there, more solutions. And other ones are like hardcore. So infrastructure as well, like storage, backup, ransomware, kind of stuff. Yeah, storage, networking. Okay, yeah, the classic. Database, et cetera, right. And so there's teams on each pillar. Yep, so I think what's fascinating for the startups that we cover is that they truly have support from a build market sell perspective, right? So you've got someone who's technical to really help them get the technology figured out. Someone to help them get the marketing message dialed and spread. And then someone to actually do the co-sell day-to-day activities to help them get in front of customers. Brother, the number one request that we always ask for Amazon is, can we request that soccer report? Oh, download it on a console, which we use all the time. Yeah, exactly. But security is a big deal. I mean, you know, SREs are evolving that role of DevOps is taking on DevSecOps. I can see a lot of customers having that need for a relationship to move things faster. Do you guys provide like escalation or is that a part of a service or not part of? Yeah. So the partner development manager can be an escalation port, absolutely. Think of them as an extension of your business inside of AWS. Right, and you guys, how is that partner managers measured? On those three pillars, right? Are we building valuable use cases? So product development, go to market. So go to market activities. Think blog posts, webinars, case studies, so on and so forth. And then co-sell. Not only are we helping these partners win their current opportunities that they are sourcing, but can we also help them source net new deals? Yeah. Right, that's very important. I mean, top-ass from the partners is get me in front of customers, right? Not an easy task, but that's a huge goal of ours to help them grow their top line, right? In fact, we had some interviews here on theCUBE earlier talking about that dynamic of how enterprise customers are buying. And it's interesting, a lot more POCs. I have one partner here that you guys work with on observability. They got a huge POC with Capital One. And enterprises are engaging the startups and bringing them in. So the combination of open source software, enterprises are leaning into that hard and bringing young growing startups in. So I could see that as a huge service that you guys can bring people in. Right, and they're bringing massively differentiated technology to the table. The challenge is they just might not have the brand recognition that the big guys have. And so that's our job, is how do you get that great tech in front of the right situations? Okay, so my next question is about the show here and then we'll talk globally. So here in San Francisco, you know, Silicon Valley Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area, a lot of startups, a lot of VCs, a lot of action. So probably a big marker for you guys. So what's exciting here in SF? And then outside of SF, you guys have a global program. You see any trends that are geography-based? Or is it areas more mature? Are there certain regions that are better? I mean, I just interviewed a company here that's doing AWS Edge really well. In these cases, yeah. It's interesting that these, the partners are filling a lot of holes and gaps in the opportunities with AWS. So what's exciting here? And then what's the global perspective? Yeah, totally. So obviously a ton of partners from the Bay Area that we support. But we're seeing a lot of really interesting technology coming out of EMEA specifically. And making a lot of noise here in the United States, which is great. And so, you know, we definitely have that global presence in starting to see super differentiated technology come out of those regions. Yeah, especially Tel Aviv. Yeah. EMEA real quick before you get in this surge, it's interesting. The VC market in Europe is hot. They've got a lot of unicorns coming in. We've seen a lot of companies coming in. They're kind of rattling their own cage right now. Hey, look at us. Let's see if they crash. But we don't see that happening. I mean, people have been predicting a crash now in the startup ecosystem for at least a year. It's not crashing. In fact, fundings up. Yeah, the pandemic was hard on a lot of startups for sure. But what we've seen is many of these startups, they as quickly as they can grow, they can also pivot as well. And so, I've actually seen many of our startups grow through the pandemic because their use cases are helping customers either save money, become more operationally efficient and provide value to leadership teams that need more visibility into their infrastructure during a pandemic. That's an interesting point. I talked to Andy, Jazzy, and Adam Sileski, both say the same thing during the pandemic. Necessity is the mother of all invention. And startups can move fast. So with that, you guys are there to assist. If I'm a startup and I got a pivot, because remember, iterate and pivot, iterate and pivot so you get your economics. That's the playbook of the ventures and the models. How do you guys help me do that? Give me an example of walk me through, pretend I'm a startup. Hey, I'm on the cloud. Oh my God, pandemic. They need video conferencing. Hey, Cube, what do I need? Serge, what do I do? That's a good question. First thing is just listen. I think what we have to do is a really good job of listening to the partner. What are their needs? What is their problem statement? Where do they want to go at the end of the day? And oftentimes, because we've worked with so many successful startups that have come out of our program, we have either through intuition or a playbook determine what is going to be the best path forward and how do we get these partners to stop focusing on things that will eventually just be a waste of time and or not provide or bring any fruit to the table, which is essentially revenue. Well, we love startups here in theCUBE because one, they have good stories, they're only cutting edge, always pushing the envelope, and they're kind of disrupting someone else. And so they usually have an opinion that don't mind sharing on camera. So, love talking to startups. We love working with you guys on our startup showcase, adiperstardups.com. Check out awsstartups.com and check out the showcases. Final word, I'll give you guys the last word. What's the bottom line? Bumper sticker for AP, global APN program. Summarize the opportunity for startups. What do you guys bring to the table and we'll close it out. Jeff, we'll start with you. Yeah, I think the AWS Global Startup Program is here to help companies truly accelerate their business. Full stop, right? And that's what we're here for. I love it. It's a good way to put it. It's a good way to put it. Ditto. Yeah. All right, Sarah, Jeff, thanks for coming on. Thanks, Sean. Great to see you. Love working with you guys. Hey, startups need help in the growing and huge market opportunities. The shift, cloud scale, data engineering, security, infrastructure. All the markets are exploding in growth because of the digital transformation through realities here, open source and cloud. All making it happen here. And theCUBE in San Francisco, California, I'm John Furrier, your host. Thanks for watching. Let's go, John.