E123 - Sam Kroonenburg, A Cloud Guru

Sam Kroonenburg is the CEO and Founder of A Cloud Guru, a disruptive online learning platform for cloud certification and training. A Cloud Guru has recently been acquired by Pluralsight, a US company, in the largest-ever acquisition of an Australian software company. The story of A Cloud Guru is an amazing example of product-market fit and successfully getting the product into the hands of the customers who need it most. Sam has an extensive background in software development; he spent years at Microsoft as a Software Design Engineer. Sam also spent time honing his software development skills at Kiandra IT, where he worked as a Software Development Lead and a Software Development Manager. During their chat, Ian & Sam discuss… Sam’s extensive background in software development Working in an ever-changing industry Engaging customers through education The natural progression of adding B2B services The process of negotiations that led to the acquisition by Pluralsight The unique set of challenges A Cloud Guru faced in raising funds and hiring Creating consistency through shared values among employees ...and more! Quickfire Recommendations Book: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari Podcast: Lex Fridman podcast News source: Ars Technica, The Age, The Washington Post, WSJ Tech CEO: Elon Musk (Tesla) App: Calm Productivity tool: Superhuman Email TV show: The West Wing Ted Talk Topic: “The future of education and work” or “the biggest and most exciting ideas in physics” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.