With the amazing background and network provided by Develop Great Managers, we now have created a consulting arm. This experience together with Angel investing and consulting with numerous startup leaders has provided a very strong foundation. As a result, we are focused on consulting in is in two major areas:
Startup Leadership
We are working with leaders of startups to help them refine their strategy, develop more complete pricing models, improve product development, flush out go to market, flush out budgets, develop metrics, and look at ways to raise money.
The focus is very personal, primarily with the CEO. It has been our experience that most CEOs are string in a few areas but have gaps in others. They are also very busy and need some help focusing on aspects of the business that are impacting their success.
The model for these is to work together for a short period of time pro-bono. If the relationship is working, then we move into a work for ownership model.
Technology
- Private, hybrid, and multi-cloud platforms
- Cloud-native applications and related technology
- Product/engineering organization, process and metrics
- Advanced customer support technologies
First a Definition of Private, Hybrid and Multi-Cloud
Below is a good definition from the Storage Craft blog.
Public Cloud
When people think of the cloud, they’ll often have their minds on a public cloud. That’s because the big cloud providers are considered public clouds – think Microsoft Azure, G Suite, and Amazon Web Services. Basically, as the name suggests, these clouds are available for public use. Though often the first little bit of storage or signing up for an account is free, there is usually some form of subscription fee involved to unlock larger storage capacities.
From a security standpoint, public clouds come with advanced security features, but often, they’re not enough to really keep your data safe. Generally, enhanced encryption and security methods should still be used on top of public cloud securities.
Things to note:
- Low starting costs and fees over time
- Little to no maintenance, as it’s carried out by the provider
- Unlimited or almost unlimited scalability to increase storage capacity as you need
- Limited flexibility to meet specific business IT needs
- Added security is always recommended
Private Cloud
If your business has developed its own cloud services to use in-house, or a third-party provider has built one specifically for your business, you’re using private cloud technology. Private clouds are hosted on private servers which means users tend to have more control over security. Plus, meeting a business-specific IT requirement is an easier task with a private cloud, as you have total control over all the functionality.
Things to note:
- High start-up costs but low maintenance fees
- High flexibility to create personalized functionality and scalability to add or remove storage capacity as needed
- Potential for improved security, as you have control of security features from the get-go
Hybrid Cloud
As its name suggests, a hybrid cloud is a mix of private and public cloud resources to create a more varied cloud environment. By accessing in-house and public cloud technologies at the same time, users can reap the benefits of both. More vulnerable and private documents may be stored on the private cloud, for example, while documents with less privacy required may be kept on the public cloud. Generally, less secure, more high-volume tech needs like web-based email are hosted on the public cloud, whereas client files and the like are maintained on the private cloud.
Things to note:
- Higher costs than just using public but lower costs than only using a private cloud, as you have cheaper scalability with help from the public cloud
- High level of control with options for where you can store your data
- Easy to migrate as you can choose to transition gradually over time
Multi-Cloud
Though it sounds similar to hybrid clouds by name, a multi-cloud environment differs in that businesses are using a number of different public clouds to host their data, as opposed to combining the private and public clouds. However, a multi-cloud environment can utilize private clouds as well, although it doesn’t have to. Normally, this environment is used because a business has a variety of needs that one single cloud provider doesn’t offer.
Things to note:
- Cost-effective method of ticking off all your boxes for cloud needs
- Peace of mind — multi-cloud eliminates the feeling of dependency on one provider
- High scalability with the ability to branch out to different providers if new IT needs emerge
Private, Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Platforms
We have a great deal of experience with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, VMware, IBM, RedHat, and so on. Our experience is not only companies but technology.
Cloud-Native Applications and Related Technology
We are very knowledgeable of containers and Kubernetes, along with the many companies that are delivering these as PAAS.
We have deep knowledge of VMware and the transition that they have been making – from vSphere, VSAN, NSX, vRealize to VCF to Pivotal, Project Pacific (now in vSphere 7) and Tanzu.
We also have knowledge of a wide range of companies that participate in this space. Some of these include:
- Rancher Labs
- HashiCorp
- WeaveWorks
- Istio
- Zscaler
- CrowdStrike
- CloudFlare
- MongoDB
- DigitalOcean
- Twistlock
- CircleCl
- Atlasian
- Kative
- Prometheus
Product/engineering organization, process and metrics
With years of product definition, development, testing, and support – we have been consulting on all aspects of organization design, process and metrics.
Advanced Customer Support Technologies
We have had experience completely revamping customer support for high technology companies. Three examples.
Telemetry Data and Machine Learning
A key aspect of moving a company from a traditional break-fix model of support is to collect telemetry data on their customer environments, usage, etc. Then to apply machine learning to find patters that are problematic. This allows for a proactive approach to supporting customers, where you can reach out before they have had problems.
Omni Channel
This area is related to allowing customers to interact with you through the channels that make the most sense to them.
The way companies deliver this is to ignore the number of channels and only focus on the capabilities that they provide. The backend systems then can recognize as many channels as make sense in a very simple and consistent way.
Automation
This is a large area. It includes things like automating simple processes and using AI/ML to automate some repetitive aspects of support.
It also includes some more interesting topics, such as automating the really hard things. Like determining what is good and bad architecture.