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Before becoming CEO at Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian worked at Oracle for over two decades, and was even at one point rumored to be the database giant's next CEO.
There's been talk about how he plans to drive changes at Google Cloud, which is seen as lagging behind its rivals at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. Some are speculating how he'll use his years of experience at Oracle to lead Google Cloud, and many say he will likely make aggressive acquisitions.
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Already, Kurian has announced that he plans to expand the sales team and have them go after specific, more traditional verticals like retail and finance - a very Oracle-like playbook.
And at Google Cloud's annual conference, the company made big waves by launching Anthos, which allows customers to run their work not only on Google Cloud and their own data centers, but also any other cloud they want - including AWS and Microsoft Azure.
What's more, under Kurian's leadership, Google Cloud announced major partnerships with seven open source software based startups, some of which have their own beef with AWS.
Last November, Business Insider spoke with various executives at other companies on what they thought about Kurian becoming Google Cloud's new CEO, and many echoed the same sentiments: that he has his work cut out for him.
Now that Kurian has been CEO for about three months, here's what startup executives - and the Googlers who work under him - are saying about the direction he's headed so far.
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Tigera CEO Ratan Tipirneni: 'The partner go-to-market was nonexistent at Google'
"In my previous role, I got to work with all the cloud providers. I got to work with Oracle Cloud. That's when I got to know Thomas Kurian personally. I'm pretty bullish about Thomas Kurian. He's very hands-on, very detailed oriented and he is very enterprise savvy.
Google's technology is probably several years ahead. The gap they had was go-to-market...A lot of go-to-market people were told what to sell and pitch. Enterprises tell you what to do and you build what they want. I didn't think Google was doing it. Their pitch was focused on speeds and feeds. Enterprise customers don't care about that. They have to flip around and say what problem are you trying to solve? How can we solve that? The partner go-to-market was nonexistent at Google. They were not giving their partners due respect, and enterprise problems are complex. I think he's likely to drive the organization to cultural changes in working with partners."
Solo.io CEO and founder Idit Levine: 'Until now, they were losing the war'
"Google is stepping up and saying we are going to win this war and need to fight. At the end of the day, everyone has an agenda. Until now, they were losing the war. The way Google is playing, they're saying, this is the community company. They're branding themselves better and going multi-cloud. I feel [Kurian is] going to bring them to enterprise."
Eric Brewer, vice president of infrastructure and fellow at Google: 'I think we've known for a while we need a bigger sales team and customer support'
"The core strategy predates Thomas and he's a strong supporter. His big addition has been to make sure we don't do it strategically but have a vertical by vertical focus, as in how do you customize for retail and financial services? It helps you be more clear on what customers actually need and want.
Sales has been comparatively small in the industry...We have tons of leads. How do you convert those leads into dollars? That's where Thomas Kurian has direct experience and credibility. I think we've known for a while we need a bigger sales team and customer support."
DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth: 'Exactly what we'd hope for from a big cloud provider'
"Our early experiences with Kurian is exactly what we'd hope for from a big cloud provider. He exhibited a clear understanding of open source benefits and the commercial reality. That's good for everyone when all those can be satisfied together."
Cockroach Labs CEO and co-founder Spencer Kimball: 'Google's really pushing multi-cloud'
"I'm not surprised they hired Thomas Kurian. Google's really pushing multi-cloud. I heard Thomas Kurian wanted to do that at Oracle, but Larry Ellison wanted to do their own private cloud...This aligns with his strategic vision."
Chen Goldberg, director of engineering at Google: 'This has been in Google's culture always -- putting users and focusing on what users need or want to be successful'
"I think Thomas is really talking about customers. This has been in Google's culture always -- putting users and focusing on what users need or want to be successful. He's passionate about that. I find that this is a great fit for Google."
Kit Merker, vice president of business development at JFrog: 'You have to look at the ways enterprises want to buy'
"The opening keynote felt like there was a more enterprise focus. They wore suits and brought in customers who were legitimate representations…You have to look at the ways enterprises want to buy. I think Thomas Kurian brings that experience."
Ed Anuff, director of product management at Google: 'He's the strongest strategist I've worked with'
"I think Thomas is an extremely strong enterprise strategist. The cloud has evolved. What we saw over the last three to four years, the question was could you figure out how you dealt with cloud infrastructure at scale? The question has been, how does the enterprise market evolve. He's the strongest strategist I've worked with. It's not an overnight thing. It's continuous."
Robert DiLoreto, vice president of sales at MicroEJ: 'How [does Google] become the de facto standard? That's what Thomas Kurian can bring to the table'
"What Thomas brings to the table is some of that enterprise experience. He's saying, 'we need to go out and hunt whales, as in large enterprises.' Over time, how [does Google] become the de facto standard? That's what Thomas Kurian can bring to the table."
