Boosting the bootstrapped formula for success

Market domination may take time, but there are Google IT resources that startups can access right now

Sponsored Post Startups are often heralded as the lifeblood of any economy, famed for bringing fresh ideas, innovation and new revenue to the table. Making that first move into the market can be daunting though - statistics suggest as many as 10 percent of attempts fail in the first year. So budding entrepreneurs need all the help they can get in building a solid foundation for their business's future growth.

That's what the Google for Startups Cloud Program was designed to do. Its Start tier is specifically devised to smooth the path for companies at the very beginning of their journeys which have not yet received any equity funding from institutional investors, but have bankrolled the venture from their own pockets.

These are the type of small businesses which need multiple resources to turn their ideas into commercial reality, including IT services and the training and technical support required to make the most of them. The Google for Startups Cloud Program offers up to US$2000 in Google Cloud credits, valid for two years, which a fledgling firm can use to buy data storage capacity, compute time, SaaS licenses and more on the Google Cloud Platform.

One and two man operations have to juggle multiple roles within a startup, and IT skills are not necessarily top of the priority list. So Google also provides US$200 of Google Cloud Skills Boost credits that a company can use to gain the necessary expertise through online courses and hands-on labs. In addition, they can access the global Google Cloud Startup Community to get help and advice from other startups in the same boat.

The program also offers discounts on the cost of Google's flagship Workspace productivity suite and Domains name registration service to help get their website and email account up and running. That includes 12 months of Google Workspace Business Plus completely free, as well as US$200 use of Google Maps every month at no charge.

You can learn more about the Google for Startups Cloud Program here. Or if you've heard all you need and are ready to sign up, you can start your application by clicking here.

Sponsored by Google.