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Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

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Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#41

Post by _delirium »

abritishguy wrote: post #33
_delirium wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining bitcoins on a cloud platform is a net loss even if the CPU time is free: it'll take you more labor time to set up than you'll gain. If you burn $100k in Google Cloud compute time on mining across hundreds of machines, you'll net something like $30.

Your calculations are horrifically wrong.

Have you taken a look at what CPU mining pays recently? It's a rounding error from zero. A modern Xeon does around 5-10 Mhash/core/s, while ASIC mining is measured in Ghash/s. Leave it on for a year and you'll mine an upper bound of 0.00004-0.00008 BTC/core, according to https://alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator (that's even discounting future difficulty increases, so is an optimistic estimate). That's 2-4 cents/core/year. If you have 1000 such cores going full-stop for the year, you'll net... $20-$40.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#42

Post by mrcwinn »

calgaryeng wrote: post #8

> This offer is available to startups that meet the following criteria: > - In an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund Why is this a thing? Not everyone wants to build their startup through venture capital, or an accelerator. This just reinforces the existing "permission-based" startup ecosystem.

For what it's worth, folks with their own unfunded startup are free to use services from other places. For people in an accelerator or funded by a VC, this is a meaningful service that could extend their runway a bit.

Of course, it also locks them into Google's ecosystem (practically) when they do hit it big - but I think that's obvious upfront. Why should Google, a for-profit company, gain nothing for its $100,000 (at most)? If you are in one of those accelerators and have a concern about being tied to Google, you're, again, free to go elsewhere.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#43

Post by meowface »

idlewords wrote: post #24
calgaryeng wrote: post #8

> This offer is available to startups that meet the following criteria: > - In an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund Why is this a thing? Not everyone wants to build their startup through venture capital, or an accelerator. This just reinforces the existing "permission-based" startup ecosystem.

I really enjoy the dissonance between startup mythology (bold innovators who play by nobody's rules) and the very conservative reality, as expressed in eligibility criteria like this. Think different, in one of the approved ways. Why this part of our industry is exempt from disruption, while everything else is fair game, is a source of constant wonder to me.

This is just Google's form of semi-automatic due diligence. Instead of them having to carefully vet each startup, determine that they're actually getting work done and are a real company and have at least some tiny bit of potential, they'll just defer to the accelerators and incubators to decide on that.

Remember they're giving away $100,000 of credit for free, so they have to make sure it's not being squandered.

I also agree that incubators and accelerators should never be seen as necessary to create a successful startup, and I don't think Google is claiming that either. This is just how they're handling risk. Remember this is a new platform for Google to make money, they're not just giving it away as charity.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#44

Post by simonswords82 »

calgaryeng wrote: post #8

> This offer is available to startups that meet the following criteria: > - In an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund Why is this a thing? Not everyone wants to build their startup through venture capital, or an accelerator. This just reinforces the existing "permission-based" startup ecosystem.

Yep, I got really excited about this for our bootstrapped app www.staffsquared.com only to read the small print and realise we couldn't use this as we're not VC backed. Very frustrating.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#45

Post by meowface »

xedarius wrote: post #10
calgaryeng wrote: post #8

> This offer is available to startups that meet the following criteria: > - In an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund Why is this a thing? Not everyone wants to build their startup through venture capital, or an accelerator. This just reinforces the existing "permission-based" startup ecosystem.

Couldn't agree more, I even go as far to say Google seem a little out of touch here. Would this offer have helped Google become Google, probably not.

It's how they're handling risk, so that they can give away the $100,000 in credit without having to spend a lot of time doing due diligence and confirming that a certain startup company is at least somewhat feasible.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#46

Post by erik123 »

swalsh wrote: post #28

Maybe it's different for the cloud platform, but while I love Google, and Google products, i'd never trust them to support my business. Support matters a lot, and Google hasn't established a good reputation there. Azure is my choice for the moment.

I wonder what would be wrong with a few Digital Ocean or Kimsufi VPS or microserver systems? If managing your own server daemons is too hard, I wonder what that person is doing in the field of computing?

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#47

Post by idlewords »

Gmo wrote: post #32
idlewords wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, did they change the name of their thing again? I am really leery of these various clouds. They are like architectural catnip-using them requires you to use an order of magnitude greater resources than you would on a single server, but it's really fun to assemble the moving parts. I feel like some people don't fully recognize how much you can do on a single tiny machine in 2014 if you don't have 29 abstraction la…

BizSpark is called BizSpark since a long time. BizSpark is not their cloud offering, it's simply their program for giving away software licenses to startups

Ah, thank you!

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#48

Post by meowface »

abritishguy wrote: post #33
_delirium wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining bitcoins on a cloud platform is a net loss even if the CPU time is free: it'll take you more labor time to set up than you'll gain. If you burn $100k in Google Cloud compute time on mining across hundreds of machines, you'll net something like $30.

Your calculations are horrifically wrong.

I think his calculations are off, but his general point is pretty accurate. If you're doing pure CPU mining, even $100k worth of hardware won't generate you that much money per week.

As a pure guess I'm going to assume the actual return you'd see is a few hundred dollars per week.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#49

Post by ryandvm »

tkubacki wrote: post #36
patio11 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel obligated to point out that Microsoft Bizspark will give you free software/services for 3 years and it is "one guy working from his kitchen table"-friendly. If you're building things, they will give you stuff. Bonus: You can help support underdog upstarts like Microsoft against uncaring tech titans like Google.

Bonus 2: you can support MS monopoly on desktop by using their blessed Windows-only tooling (VS.NET)

I think with Apple and Google's competition, we're well past the point of caring about Microsoft's shrinking desktop monopoly.

Re: Google Launches Cloud Platform for Startups

#50

Post by Goranek »

erik123 wrote: post #46
swalsh wrote: post #28

Maybe it's different for the cloud platform, but while I love Google, and Google products, i'd never trust them to support my business. Support matters a lot, and Google hasn't established a good reputation there. Azure is my choice for the moment.

I wonder what would be wrong with a few Digital Ocean or Kimsufi VPS or microserver systems? If managing your own server daemons is too hard, I wonder what that person is doing in the field of computing?

Trusting cheap vps company to host your business apps isn't a smart idea. Btw what makes you capable of deciding who should or shouldn't work in the field of computing?
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