Amazon Web Services will bring its best practices to the Reaktor Program
Amazon have successfully grown to over 541,900 people present in 197 countries. Jose Manuel Rodriguez is one of them and currently Startup Business Development Manager for Amazon Web Services for the Benelux and Iberia markets in EMEA. He will be in Belgium for the new acceleration program Reaktor, on the 13th of March 2017, to share best practices and help Reaktor startups. .
1 ) Could you introduce yourself in a few words?
My name is Jose Manuel Rodriguez , I’m responsible for Business Development in the Startup ecosystem in the Benelux EMEA area for Amazon Web Services. My role is to help Startups to bring their ideas to life by using the AWS Cloud efficiently and in a secured way. We also support Startups by building bridges between government, universities, incubators, co-working spaces, accelerators, business angles, VC’s and enterprises to make sure they have the tools and connections to meet success.
2) What is your personal experience with startups?
I have been an entrepreneur myself so I understand the challenges met by Startups. I am here to help them grow using AWS best practices and technology. In Belgium we have great examples like Sentiance, Showpad, Teamleader or Apptweak; whom I’ve work personally with.
3) During the accelerator program Reaktor, you will position yourself as an expert inyou will talk about the “Business Model Design & Technological Architecture”. What will be your key message to the participants?
AWS Cloud gives businesses of any size access to storage, compute, database and many other technologiques on a pay-as-you-go- basis from anywhere in the world. Anyone with some basic knowledge of IT, an idea and a credit card can get access to near infinite amounts of compute and storage on demand and they only pay for what they use over the internet.
After this session, the Startups will have the necessary understanding on how to use AWS resources to launch and manage services at scale.
“All we care about is the value we bring to our customers”
4) At what stage of the startup’s development is technological architecture the most important?
At the very beginning, I would say. Because technological architecture would define the time-to-market and the feasibility of the product in terms of costs. AWS gives to Startups the possibility to grow quickly and go global, all while only paying for what they use. This has leveled the playing field as it gives smaller companies access to resources to compete in ways that were very expensive and often cost prohibitive in the past. The great thing about the cloud is getting started easy. Startups are looking to get started with cloud computing can get going for free. Amazon Web Services has programs built specifically for Startups like AWS Activate. This is a program design to provide Startups the resources they need to get started in the cloud and gives free access to technical training, technical support and help from technical professionals.
5) As an experienced entrepreneur, what would be your 3 tips for a startup that is preparing for growth?
The main piece of advice is to stay focused on the value you are creating for your customers. The cloud offers the possibility to do it. With the cloud, entrepreneurs and Startups are able to gain the resources they need to put their ideas to work. As there’s no up-front investment it means if an idea fails a business is not left with wasted technology investments and they can easily start again with a new idea and innovate to offer a great experience to their end users. This also means that if the Startup idea succeeds, the cloud help the company grow quickly and go global.
6) Briefly, could you explain how AWS could help startups?
AWS is supporting Startups in many different ways and, as a result, some of the most successful Startups in Europe are using AWS to build and rapidly expand their businesses across the country, throughout Europe, and around the world. Companies such as Klarna, WeTransfer, TransferWise or Showpad, and many more have embraced AWS as the infrastructure that is powering their businesses.
In 2013, we launched AWS Activate. This program gives access to guidance and time with AWS experts, as well as web-based training, self-paced labs, customer support, third party offers, and up to $100,000 in AWS service credits — all at no charge. AWS also has teams of Startup community developers and solutions architects helping young businesses as they begin to grow.
We look forward to seeing many more startups in Benelux flourish in the coming years thanks to cloud technologies.
APPLY TO THE REAKTOR (until February 16th) : https://startupreaktor.net/
