Nowadays, starting a technology business is very different to many years ago, or even just to 10 or 15 years ago. Normally, when you start a business, there are a lot of concerns about how I should finance the startup. Should I pour some equity into the startup to cover the initial costs? Should I raise money from investors? Should I apply to some startup accelerator? In case you are in that stage debating how to start, you can read our article on how to finance your startup here. In the old days, starting a technology business was extremely expensive. Imagine starting a business for which you need to first get an office, then, build all the servers and infrastructure, buy equipment, and so on and so on. It sounds like something impossible. Some of those tech founders from the past deserve all the credits. Today instead, starting a business is a complete different story, it is way cheaper than before. Thanks to remote work, you don’t need an office to start any more, thanks to internet, you can interact with your colleagues from any part in the world with real time communication tools like Zoom, Microsoft 365 teams, slack, whatsapp, and you can save all the infrastructure costs of building servers, thanks to all the cloud services offered by most of the cloud providers. In fact, all the main players such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services, have startup programs that grant credits to promising startups to cover all these infrastructure costs during the first two years.

The program we are discussing today in this article is Google for Startups, sponsored by Google. This program is very similar in objectives to the programs offered by its competitors Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. You may be wondering, what is Google for Startups and how can it help my startup on my first days? If you want to learn more about this program, how to apply and its advantages, keep reading this article.

Google for Startups is a Google program that is on a mission to support thriving, diverse, and inclusive startup communities around the world. Google for Startups connects startups with the right people, products, and best practices to help the startup grow. Google for Startups has partnered with over 70 top startup organizations to support the world’s most innovative startups, helping founders turn big ideas into successful businesses by providing them access to technology credits, support, and connecting entrepreneurs to startup communities and helpful organizations.

As a member of the Google for Startups program, your company will receive Google Cloud credits, Google Cloud training, business and technical support, and Google-wide offers to help you grow.

Google Cloud Credits

Google for startups offers your startup Google Cloud credits over the next 2 years. Your first year of Google Cloud and Firebase usage is covered up to $100,000 USD. In year two, you will get 20% of your usage costs covered, up to an additional $100,000 USD in credits.

Initially, an initial $10,000 USD in credits is now in your account. Each month, google for startups issues additional credits based on your prior month’s usage.

Credits can be used for Firebase and Google Cloud Platform Services such as BigQuery and Cloud Run as well as Select Google Cloud Offerings like Looker. You can view your credits balance and track usage in the Google Cloud console.

Google Cloud Training and Tech Support

Your company also benefits from $500 USD Google Cloud Skills Boost credits to learn how to build on Google Cloud through online courses and hands-on labs. For this you need to apply separately through the Google Cloud Console, but it is covered.

You also get unlimited access to Technical Support from the Cloud Customer Care services, covered by your Google Cloud credits, offering expertise from a wide set of Google Cloud technologies. Be sure to sign up for a support plan so you can receive technical support throughout your time in the program.

Google also, offers a couple of resources to help you get started:

• Cloud Setup Checklist
• Google Cloud Startup Community
• Google Cloud Platform Documentation
• Google Cloud Technical Guides for Startups

Business Support and Offers

You also get dedicated support from a Startup Success Manager to help you with business resources and navigate all the benefits Google has to offer. As a Google for Startups Cloud Program member, you are also eligible for:

Google Workspace discounts. Up to 10 free Business Starter seats for new domains, and upgrade discounts for existing domains (25% discount for Business upgrades; 30% discount for Enterprise upgrades), for 12 months.

Google Maps Platform credits. $600 monthly credits for 12 consecutive months, on top of the $200 monthly credits you receive as a Google Maps Platform customer. That’s $800, or 114,000 map loads, per month for your startup’s geospatial intelligence needs.

Lastly, it’s a good practice to sign up to the recurrent reminders about the credit consumption and to receive important updates from the Google for Startups Cloud Program Team.

You can apply to the program at any stage. Google Startups program is stage agnostic, so no matter what stage your startup is on you can access a different level of benefits for your startup.

The different programs in the Google for startups program are the following:

• Start: This phase is ideal for founders and startups that are starting out and validating the MVP.
• Build: This phase is ideal for startups in a stage a bit more advanced than the previous one, meant for companies and teams that are building out products as they take them to market.
• Grow: This last phase is ideal for startups or companies that have already found product market fit and these companies, also referred to as scaleups, are building new products to meet demands of new customers or new markets.

Applying for Google for startups is a very fast process. The application probably takes no more than 5 minutes. The Google for startups process is also a bit simpler that the application process for Microsoft, as it doesn’t require to send a video or demo of the website and the platform. Also, the application is not run through the Linkedin account. You will submit a form with the typical information about the company, link to the website, funding and investors information amongst others. You will also have to connect the application with your google account so that once accepted, your account will automatically be recognized as past of the Google for startup s program and will get access immediately to all the credits and benefits offered by the program.

Once the application process is completed, you just need to wait some days for the application to be processed. Google will process the application in about seven to ten business, and will contact you within days if the application has been approved or declined in each corresponding case.

Once accepted, a contact person from Google for Startups will be in touch with you and will become your point of contact. It will send you a form or questionnaire to check what are your initial needs, in order to put you in touch with the right person with experience and expertise in the matters that you request help for.

Nowadays, due to the Covid pandemic, the program is not yet running at full capacity. In the past, they used to provide access to the Google campuses around the world, however, most of the facilities now are closed and not available for the entrepreneurs, which is a quite a substantial inconvenience.

Snab, as an emerging company, was also accepted as part of the Google for startups program. Remember that Snab has been accepted at all programs, Google for Startups, Microsoft Founders Hub, and Amazon Web Services Activate. Google is helping us to achieve our goals by allowing us to use services such as Google Email, Several Google cloud suite tools that we use for Snab, Google Meet amongst others. All of them are key programs that we use at Snab so having credits to use these services is great.

Snab is a cloud-based platform, which allows businesses to automate the receipt and record of invoices received, digitizing the process and having a real-time control of all transactions, due to the connection with all bank accounts in addition to giving your business accurate information of all accounts payable/receivable. Request a demo with us.