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>> Good morning fellow cloud community nerds
and welcome back to theCube's live coverage
of AWS re:Invent, we're here in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.
You can tell by my sequence.
My name's Savannah Peterson
and I'm delighted to be here with theCUBE.
Joining me this morning is a packed house.
We have three fabulous guests
from AWS's global startup program.
Immediately to my right is Eric.
Eric, welcome to the show.
>> Thank you.
>> We've also got Jimmy and Jeff.
Before we get into the questions, how does it feel?
This is kind of a show off moment for you all.
Is it exciting to be back on the show floor?
>> Always, I mean, you live for this event, right?
I mean, we've got 50,000. >> You live for this?
>> Yeah, I mean, 50,000 customers.
Like we really appreciate the fact
that time, money and resources they spend to be here.
So, yeah, I love it.
>> Savanna: Yeah, fantastic.
>> Yeah, everyone in the same place at the same time,
energy is just pretty special, so, it's fun.
>> It is special.
And Jimmy, I know you joined the program
during the pandemic.
This is probably the largest scale event
you've been at with AWS.
>> First time at re:Invent. >> Welcome
>> (mumbles) Customers, massive.
And I love seeing some of the startups
that I partner with directly behind me
here from theCUBE set as well.
>> Yeah, it's fantastic.
First time on theCUBE, welcome.
>> Jimmy: Thank you.
>> We hope to have you back. >> Jimmy: Proud to be here.
>> Jimmy, I'm going to keep it on you to get us started.
So, just in case someone hasn't heard
of the global startup program with AWS.
Give us the lay of the land.
>> Sure, so flagship program at AWS.
We partner with venture backed,
product market fit B2B startups that are building on AWS.
So, we have three core pillars.
We help them co-built, co-market, and co-sell.
Really trying to help them accelerate their cloud journey
and get new customers build with best practices
while helping them grow.
>> Savanna: Yeah, Jeff, anything to add there?
>> Yeah, I would say we try our best
to find the best technology out there
that our customers are demanding today.
And basically, give them a fast track
to the top resources we have to offer
to help them grow their business.
>> Yeah, and not a casual offering there at AWS.
I just want to call out some stats
so everyone knows just how many amazing startups
and businesses that you touch.
We've talked a lot about unicorns here on the show,
and one of Adam's quotes from the keynote was,
"Of the 1200 global unicorns, 83% run on AWS."
So, at what stage are most companies
trying to come and partner with you?
And Eric we'll go to you for that.
>> Yeah, so I run the North American startup team
and our mission is to get and support startups
as early as inception as possible, right?
And so we've got kind of three,
think about three legs of stool.
We've got our business development team
who works really closely with everything from seed,
angel investors, incubators, accelerators, top tier VCs.
And then we've got a sales team,
we've got a BD team.
And so really, like we're even looking
before customers start even building or billing,
we want to find those stealth startups,
help them understand kind of product,
where they fit within AWS,
help them understand kind of how we can support them.
And then as they start to build,
then we've got a commercial team of solution architects
and sales professionals that work with them.
So, we actually match that life cycle all the way through.
>> That's awesome.
So, you are looking at seed, stealth.
So, if I'm a founder listening right now,
it doesn't matter what stage I'm at.
>> No, I mean, really we want to get,
and so we have credit programs, we have enablement programs,
focus everything from very beginning to hyper scale.
And that's kind of how we think about it.
>> That's pretty awesome.
So Jeff, what are the keys to success for a startup
in working with you all?
>> Yeah, good question.
Highly differentiated technology
is absolutely critical, right?
There's a lot of startups out there
but finding those that have differentiated technology
that meets the demands of AWS customers,
by far the biggest piece right there.
And then it's all about figuring out
how to lean into the partnership
and really embrace what Jimmy said.
How do you do the co build, the co-marketing, co-sell
to put the full package together
to make sure that your software's
going to have the greatest visibility
with our customers out there.
>> Yeah, I love that.
Jimmy, how do you charm them?
What do the startups see in working with AWS?
(indistinct)
>> But that aside, Jeff just alluded to it.
It's that better together story
and it takes a lot of buy-in
from the partner to get started.
It is what we say, a partner driven flywheel.
And the successful partners that I work with understand that
and they're committing the resources to the relationship
because we manage thousands and thousands of startups
and there's thousands listed on Marketplace.
And then within our co-sell ISV Accelerate program,
there's hundreds of startups.
So startups have to, one, differentiate themselves
with their technology, but then two,
be able to lean in to do the tactical engagement
that myself and my PDM peers help them manage.
>> Awesome, yeah.
So Eric. >> Yes.
>> Let's say I talk to a lot of founders because I do,
and how would I pitch an AWS partnership
through the global startup program to them?
>> Yeah, well, so this...
>> Give me my sound back.
>> Yeah, yeah, look for us,
like it's all about scaling your business, right?
And so my team, and we have a partnership.
I run the North American startup team,
they run the global startup program, okay?
So what my job is initially is to help them
build up their services and their programs and products.
And then as they get to product market fit,
and we see synergy with selling with Amazon,
the whole idea is to lead them
into the go-to market programs, right?
And so really for us, that pitch is this,
simply put, we're going to help you extend your reach, right?
We're going to take what you know about your service
and having product market fit
understanding your sales cycle, understanding your customer
and your value, and then we're going to amplify that voice.
>> Sounds good to me, I'm sold.
I like that, I mean, I doubt there's too many companies
with as much reach as you have.
Let's dig in there a little bit.
So, how much is the concentration of the portfolio
in North America versus globally?
I know you've got your fingers all over the place.
>> Jimmy: Yeah.
>> Go for it, Jeff.
>> Jimmy: Well, yeah, you start and I'll...
>> On the partnership side, it's pretty balanced
between North America and AMEA and APJ, et cetera,
but the type of partners is very different, right?
So North America, we have a high focus
on infrastructure led partners, right?
Where that might be a little different
in other regions internationally.
>> Yeah, so I have North America,
I have a peer that has AMEA,
a peer that has Latin America and a peer that has APJ.
And so, we have the startup team which is global,
and we break it up regionally,
and then the global startup program,
which is partnership around APN, Amazon Partner Network,
is also global.
So like, we work in concert,
they have folks married up to our team in each region.
>> Savannah, what I'm hearing is
you want do a global startup showcase?
>> Yeah.
(indistinct)
>> We're happy to sponsor.
>> Are you reading my mind?
We are very aligned, Jimmy.
>> I love it, awesome.
>> I'm going to ask you a question,
since you obviously are in sync with me all ready.
You guys see what you mentioned,
50,000 startups in the program?
100, 000, how many?
>> Well you're talking about for the global startup program,
the ISV side?
>> Sure, yeah, let's do both the stats actually.
>> So, the global startup program's a lot smaller
than that, right?
So globally, there might be around 1,000 startups
that are in the program.
>> Savanna: Very elite little spot.
>> Now, a lot bigger world on Eric's side.
>> Eric: Yeah, globally over 200,000.
>> Savanna: Whoa.
>> Yeah, I mean, you think about,
so just think about the...
>> To keep track, those all in your head?
>> Yeah, I can't keep track.
North America's quite large.
Yeah, no, because look,
startups are getting created every day, right?
And then there's positive exits and negative exits, right?
And so, yeah, I mean, it's impressive.
And particularly over the last two years,
over the last two years are a little bit crazy,
bonkers with the money coming.
(mumbles)
And yet the creation that's going to happen right now
in the market disruption is going to mirror
what happened in 2008, 2009.
And so, the creation is not going to slow down.
>> Savanna: No, hopefully not. >> No.
>> No, and our momentum,
I mean everyone's doing things faster, more data,
it's all that we're talking about,
do more and make it easier for everybody
in the same central location.
Jimmy, of those thousand global startups
that you're working with,
can you tell us some of the trends?
>> Yeah, so I think one of the big things,
especially, I cover data analytics startups specifically.
So, one moving from batch to real time analytics.
So, whether that's IOT, gaming, leader boards,
querying data where it sits in an AWS data,
like companies need to make operational decisions now
and not based off of historic data from a week ago
or last night or a month ago.
So, that's one.
And then I'm going to steal one of John's lines,
is data is code.
That is becoming that base layer
that a lot of startups are building off of
and operationalizing.
So, I think those are the two big things I'm seeing,
but would love...
>> Curious to both,
Jeff, let's go to you next, I'm curious, yeah.
>> Yeah, totally.
I think from a broader perspective,
the days of completely free money
and infinite resources are coming to a close,
if not already closed.
>> We all work with startups,
we can go ahead and just talk about all the well
is just a little (indistinct)...
>> So, I think it's closed,
and so because of that, it's how do you deal with a lot?
How do you produce the results on the go to market side
with fewer resources, right?
And so it's incumbent on our team to figure out
how to make it an easier, simpler process to partner
with AWS, knowing those constraints are very real now.
>> Savanna: Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah, and to build on that.
I think mid stage, it's all about cash preservation, right?
And it's in that runway... >> Especially right now.
>> Yeah, and so part of that
is getting into the right infrastructure,
when you had a lot of people,
suddenly you don't have as many people
moving into managed services,
making sure that you can scale at a cost efficient way
versus at any cost.
That's kind of the latter stage.
Now what's really been fascinating
more at the at the early stages,
I call it the rise of the AIML native.
And so, where you say three years ago,
you saw customers bolting on AI,
now they're building AI from the start, right?
And that's pervasive across every industry,
whether it's in FinTech, life sciences, healthcare,
climate tech, you're starting to see it
all the way across the board.
And then of course the other thing is,
yeah, the other one is just the rise
of just large language models, right?
And just, I think there's the hype
and there's the promise, but you know, over time,
like the amount of customers big and small,
whom are used in large language models
is pretty fascinating.
>> Yeah, you must have fascinating jobs.
I mean, genuinely, it's so cool
to get to not only see and have your finger on the pulse
of what's coming next, essentially that's what startups are,
but also be able to support them
and to collaborate with them.
And it's clear, the commitment to community
and to the customers that you're serving.
Last question for each of you,
and then we're talking about your DJing.
>> Oh yeah, I definitely, I want to see that.
>> No, we're going to close with that as a little pitch
for everyone watching this show.
So, we make sure the crowd's just packed for that.
This is your show, as you said, you live for this show,
love that. >> Yeah.
>> Give us your 30 second hot take,
most important soundbites,
think of this as your thought leadership shining moment.
What's the biggest takeaway from the show?
Biggest trend, thing that has you most excited?
>> Oh, that's a difficult one.
There's a lot going on.
>> There is a lot going on.
I mean, you can say a couple things.
I'll allow you more than 30 seconds if you want.
>> No, I mean, look, I just think the,
well, what's fascinating to me
in having this is my third or fourth re:Invent
is just the volume of new announcements that come out.
It's impressive, right?
I mean it's impressive in terms of number of services,
but then the depth of those services and the building on,
I think it's just really amazing.
I think that the trend you're going to continue to see
and there's going to be more keynotes tomorrow,
so, I can't let anything out.
But just the AI, ML, real excited about that,
analytic space, serverless,
just continue to see the maturation of that space,
particularly for startups.
I think that to me is what's really exciting.
And just seeing folks come together, start exchanging ideas,
and I think the last piece I'll do
is a pitch for my own team,
like we have like 18 different sessions
from the North American startup team.
And so, I mean, shout out to our solution architects
putting those sessions together,
geared towards startups for startups,
and so, that's probably what I'm most excited about.
>> Casual, that was good,
and you pitched it in time.
I think that was great.
>> There you go.
>> All right, Jeff, you just had a little practice time
while he was going.
Let's (indistinct).
>> No, so it's just exciting to see all the partners
that we support here,
so many of them have booths here
and are showcasing their technology.
And being able to connect them with customers
to show how advanced their capabilities are
that they're bringing to the table
to supplement and compliment all the new capabilities
that AWS is launching.
So, to be able to see all of that
in the same place at the same time
and really hear what they need
from a partnership perspective,
that's what's special for us.
>> Savanna: This is special.
All right, Jimmy.
>> My thoughts on re:Invent or?
>> Not DJ yet. >> Not DJ.
Not DJ, but I mean, your first re:Invent.
Probably your first time getting to interact
with a lot of the people that you chat with face to face.
How does it feel?
What's your hot take?
Your look through the crystal ball,
if you want to take it farther out in front.
>> I think it's finally getting FaceTime
with some of the relationships that I've built
purely over Chime and virtual calls
over the past two years has been incredible.
And then secondly, to the technical enablement piece,
I can announce this 'cause it was already announced earlier,
is AWS Security Lake, one of my partners, Cribl,
was actually a launch partner for that service.
So, a little too to the Horn for Global Startup program,
one of the coolest things at the tactical level
as a PDM is working with them throughout the year
and my partner solution architect
finding these unique alignment opportunities
with native AWS services
and then seeing it build all the way through fruition
at the finish line, announced at re:Invent,
their logo up on screen,
like that's, I can sleep well tonight.
>> Job well done.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> That's pretty cool.
>> That is cool.
>> So, I've already told you before you even got here
that you're a DJ and you happen to be DJing at re:Invent.
Where can we all go dance and see you?
>> So, shout out to Mission Cloud,
who has sponsored Tao, Day Beach Club on Wednesday evening.
So yes, I do DJ,
I appreciate AWS's flexibility work life balance.
So, I'll give that plug right here as well.
But no, it's something I picked up during COVID,
it's a creative outlet for me.
And then again, to be able to do it here
is just an incredible opportunity.
So, Wednesday night I hope to see all theCUBE
and everyone that...
>> We will definitely be there,
be careful what you wish for. >> What's your stage name?
>> Oh, stage name, DJ Hot Hands,
so, find me on SoundCloud.
>> DJ Hot Hands.
>> All right, so check out DJ Hot Hands on SoundCloud.
And if folks want to learn more
about the Global Startup program, where do they go?
>> AWS Global Startup Program.
We have a website you can easily connect with.
All our startups are listed on AWS Marketplace.
>> Most of them are Marketplace,
you can go to our website,
(mumbles) global startup program and yeah, find us there.
>> Fantastic.
Well, Jeff, Jimmy, Eric,
it was an absolute pleasure starting the day.
We got startups for breakfast.
I love that.
And I can't wait to go dance to you tomorrow night
or tonight actually.
I'm here for the fist bumps.
This is awesome.
And you all are great.
Hope to have you back on theCUBE again very soon
and we'll have to coordinate
on that global Startup Showcase.
>> Jimmy: All right.
>> I think it's happening, 2023, get ready folks.
>> Jimmy: Here we go.
>> Get ready.
All right, well, this was our first session
here at AWS re:Invent.
We are live from Las Vegas, Nevada.
My name is Savannah Peterson,
we're theCUBE, the leader in high tech reporting.
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