
Google Startup Launch - ishener
https://developers.google.com/startups/
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jqueryin
It's tough to say what their intent is regarding this program. My initial
inclination is that they have multiple possible motives for providing this
service:

1\. To bring more awareness to their developer services and offerings in the
small business sector. They've recently stated that SMBs are of huge interest
to them. For example, check out "Google My Business", a recent play of theirs:

[http://www.google.com/business/](http://www.google.com/business/)

2\. To potentially fuel early stage acquisitions and/or funding opportunities
via Google Ventures. What a wise play to see how startups are using your
offerings to vet them before acqui-hiring or offering funding.

What are everyone else's feelings on this play?

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rwhitman
I think the basic idea is that if Google helps high growth companies launch,
using entirely their infrastructure, that will pay dividends down the road, in
many areas across the company. Startups built and scaled on Google products
will stay loyal and have vendor lock in.

Also the emphasis on UX assistance and Play store priority sounds like they
really want to improve the Android ecosystem.

~~~
joeyspn
> vendor lock in.

I think this is the final goal

~~~
duaneb
Nah, I don't think that's the final goal. Individually luring in startups
doesn't scale well at all. I suspect they are trying to get a much higher 3rd-
party throughput through their services to seed the community with use.

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lifeisstillgood
This looks like a simple case of Google follows BizSpark.

Next up, Larry Page dances across the stage shouting "Developers, developers,
developers, developers"

I am (slightly) serious though. Google seems to slowly be following Steve
Yegges advice to become a platform - and this is the best way to give that
platform a workout. Without developers building on GAE / ApIs it's never going
to break out of the current hole of being a few great API Islands in a sea of
otherwise invisible underwater services.

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bfwi
How much of Google's cloud stack are you required to use to apply for this
program? If they require you to use GAE for your backend for example, I think
it's going to be a dealbreaker for a lot of startups.

~~~
skj
GCE is a more generic/flexible backend service. Run whatever you want on
there.

~~~
rlpb
> Run whatever you want on there.

"Supported distros include Debian and CentOS."

Apparently not. This seems quite limited.

~~~
icebraining
"Include" is not "limited to":
[https://developers.google.com/compute/docs/operating-
systems](https://developers.google.com/compute/docs/operating-systems)

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Killah911
Not quite clear on this program. It it more of a biz spark type thing from
google? Are they planning to fund some early stage startups?

~~~
mvd366
It would seem that they are attempting to promote the use of their platforms
for new startups in exchange for personalized feedback, networking, and free
promotion. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up funding some of the
resultant projects down the road but currently it appears that they're just
testing a new method of connecting their developer relations teams with
promising startups.

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avighnay
We had applied to this initiative a few days back. Not sure what is going to
come of it. We use Google Cloud for our public cloud (mowbly.com), but we have
kept the product deployable across any other J2EE capable environment like
EC2, Azure etc.

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mey
The
[https://developers.google.com/startups/develop](https://developers.google.com/startups/develop)
section reminds me of
[http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/](http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/)

This may also be a way for Google to get eyes on early promising individuals
or companies for acquisition or funding (think
[http://www.intelcapital.com/](http://www.intelcapital.com/) maybe)

Edit: Clicking the apply button has a survey that includes how you will be
working w/ Google Tech

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pskittle
Anyone know what the eligibility criteria for this is? is this open to people
from all over the world or restricted to a particular demographic?

~~~
Shizka
From what I can see in the application form it looks like you can apply from
every country. I also can't find any other information that conflicts with
this.

It looks like the eligibility criteria are pretty lax, but they are probably
going to receive tons of applications and do some heavy filtering. It wouldn't
be unthinkable that the country plays a role in that filtering, but that is
only speculation.

~~~
pskittle
yeah i saw that, but they also mentioned this is a beta program and they're
giving preferential treatment to teams nominated by their own developers.
Might make sense to just wait it out.

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frik
Google icons:

 _we will release these icons later this summer through our design guidelines
available for use on Android and web_ :

\--
[http://youtu.be/isYZXwaP3Q4?t=12m21s](http://youtu.be/isYZXwaP3Q4?t=12m21s)

presumably soon there:
[https://www.google.com/design/spec/style/icons.html](https://www.google.com/design/spec/style/icons.html)

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youssifa
This could be a good content marketing play as well for qualified lead gen
outreach on other platforms -- offer clear value to developers in exchange for
their e-mail addresses and accompanying data points about those developers.

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waitingkuo
Got no idea about the eligibility criteria for applying this. I'm curious
about whether people currently using Google Compute Engine and applying
material design get the higher priority or not

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aagha
My prototype is deployed on AWS. Would I be ruled out?

Also, having not use their stack, how hard would it be for me to move over to
their stack which, I'm guessing, would be a requirement.

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webmaven
Does anyone know if there is a deadline or time limit to apply?

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ctb_mg
I would also see this as an opportunity for Google to increase the quality of
apps entering the Android ecosystem.

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MeoMix420
Exciting! :D I submitted my project. Hopefully the response is promising and
not just a marketing scheme.

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mkbrody
Does this package include priority SEO placement?

That would be a real value add ;)

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inglor
Is this BizSpark for Google products?

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lauradhamilton
Too bad "get your new website out of our organic search sandbox with manual
approval" is not one of the features provided.

