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Google Cloud vs AWS Onboarding Comparison

As part of YCW21, Dendron was eligible for significant credits from all major cloud providers. This articles goes over my experience redeeming credits in two in particular: AWS and Google Cloud.

  • DISCLAIMER: I used to work at AWS and have both conscious and unconscious biases towards my former employer 😅

AWS

  • reach out to dedicated YC email
  • response within an hour
  • scheduling a call a few days out
    • talked to AWS Startup Rep, a team comprised of former startup founders
    • talk about my use case and also got connected with team leads of folks in respective AWS services where I had questions
    • got all credits applied immediately after the call
  • access to AWS YC slack as well as free business support

Google Cloud

  • enroll in a google cloud for startup program
  • book an appointment with a sales rep
    • sales rep wanted to know how much money I would spend with google cloud and repeatedly came back to that question (even though we were a pre-revenue startup with no pricing model at this point)
    • told rep about infrastructure we were thinking of using but they needed a dollar monthly amount since they were in sales and didn't have an understanding of the infrastructure
    • after some hypothetical numbers, got forwarded to a google cloud partner, a third party consulting firm that would help get me credits
  • first available slot for partner was three weeks out
  • got a small chunk of google cloud credit with terms that more would be added if these credits ran out

Comparison

  • aws process
    • completed in under a week
    • got all credits and perks right away
    • access to first party support from AWS
  • google process
    • process is still ongoing (its been three weeks now)
    • get credits in chunks and still not sure what the terms are and when they renew
    • first point of contact was a sales rep, now talking to a third party partner

Takeaways

We used to have a joke at Amazon that if someone didn't make it pass the interview loop, then they were once again upgraded to the position of a customer. While I personally loved my time there, it is awesome being at the other end of the customer obsessed machine.

As for google, I'm wondering at this point if I'll even get to talk to a google account manager. The initial onboarding call was entirely about how much money I was planning on spending with google (as opposed to the Amazon call where they wanted to help me architect my service). Google Cloud has really nice ergonomics and world class engineers but an awful reputation for customer support. My anecdotal experience seems to support this.

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