In today’s business world, we see that corporate-startup collaboration has emerged as a popular way to innovate. This partnership is a good illustration of the win-win situation – startup becomes a valuable source to foster innovation by providing their product to the corporate while the corporate becomes a startup’s greatest growth hack. Oracle – one of the best-known IT companies is shaking hands with startups and helps them to supercharge their journey towards scaling in the enterprise world. Andrius Skunčikas – Oracle’s Country Manager in the Baltics is sharing his thoughts on why the cooperation with startups is worthwhile for both sides and advises what to consider when choosing a technical/ infrastructure partner.

Lots of corporates are still struggling to work with startups and do not cooperate due to various reasons. We see that Oracle is very active in reaching towards startups. Why did you decide to partner with startups as B2B partners?

Startups – especially enterprise-focused ventures – recognize that Oracle has the cloud technology, business-building resources, and the customer base they want. And Oracle’s customers are ready for that engagement. 

With our startup program we are creating a virtuous cycle of innovation by blending startup ingenuity with enterprise resources to deliver transformative solutions to customers—a winning formula for all (startups, customers and Oracle). This means Oracle stays at the competitive edge of innovation with solutions that complement its technology stack while driving startups’ business and solving pain points for our global customers.

Why it is worthwhile for startups to partner with big companies like Oracle?

Startups who want to sell into the enterprise need to be ready (from infrastructure as well as business perspective) to scale fast and handle bigger-than-expected workloads.

Oracle for Startups not only provides startups with access to Oracle’s technology (ensuring lower costs, better performance, and security standards) but also dedicated technical support and 1:1 mentorship from experienced industry leaders. Arguably no one sells better to the enterprise than Oracle. We are using that expertise to benefit startups.

Plus, by partnering with Oracle, which has more than 40 years of enterprise expertise, startups gain that additional level of credibility when talking to prospects and working with customers. 

How does the collaboration between Oracle and startups usually begin? Are there any hints for the startups to prepare?

Startups can sign up at oracle.com/startup to receive free cloud and 70% discount from day one. From there, they gain access to a members-only portal, which offers detailed descriptions about the program’s services, hands-on development labs, and other how-to assistance for migrating an existing instance or spinning up new ones.

Startups will also discover what we call our ‘Market Connect’ section of the Startup Portal, which is where they can validate their readiness for benefits. Qualifications include submitting a customer reference and accompanying reference architecture, uploading a pitch video, and finalizing their Startup Portal profile. Startups can complete this part of the portal at any time but we recommend doing this as soon as possible as this unlocks the full benefits of the program such as marketing and events exposure, customer engagements and meetings and VC introductions.

What is important to consider when choosing a technical / infrastructure partner?

Today’s startups are born in the cloud. That means their choice of cloud provider is of the utmost importance. Value, performance, and security are some of the most crucial factors.

In terms of value can your cloud provider help you save money by avoiding spending on unused infrastructure? The cloud allows companies to scale up or down to meet fluctuating customer demand, paying only for the resources they use. Startups on Oracle Cloud can do so reliably, with performance, availability, and manageability backed by enterprise service-level agreements, saving them money which they can reinvest back into their business.

The cloud also allows startups to compete against large enterprises in fields that involve the storage, processing, and analysis of massive amounts of data. Think biomedical research, video streaming, and advanced engineering. But not all clouds are equal when it comes to HPC. Startups in the Oracle for Startups program, such as analytics platform provider Kinetica, which joined in August 2019, have chosen Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to meet their heavy HPC demands.

And finally, as you know modern developers rely on a variety of platforms, languages, and services to build their applications. If their cloud of choice doesn’t support their tools of choice, it can cause major headaches. Openness and open source support are important factors for startups that have migrated to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

What benefits and opportunities can Oracle provide to a startup?

Oracle for Startups enables mutually beneficial business-building partnerships for startups, our customers, and Oracle.  Without taking equity, we offer access to a complete stack of Oracle 

Cloud solutions, marketing and mentoring resources, and access to a global base of customers.

• No equity taken
• Free cloud credits and 70% discount for 2 years
• Marketing and events resources
• PR/media and analyst engagements
• Access to Oracle’ global customer base
• VC engagements

Why is Oracle team is interested in fintech startups and how they can support them?

Oracle’s expertise and relationships across financial services provide rich opportunities for fintechs joining Oracle for Startups.

Oracle Cloud, combined with Oracle Banking Open APIs, provides the perfect ecosystem for Fintechs and Oracle customers, combined with the added benefits of the program.

We recently ran an online event specifically for the Fintech community in the Baltics, if you are interested, why not Watch the replay? The Oracle for Startups team shared their top growth hacks for fintechs, plus there was a great discussion between the global Oracle team, ModularBank, and NOIA Network on how to supercharge your fintech’s growth.