Are Acquisitions Making a Comeback?

We’re starting to see some hints that M&A activities might start heating up in the tech sector again. So what should you expect if a company gets acquired? What are some common scenarios and activities to be aware of?

SHOW: 908

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #908 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

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SHOW NOTES:

WHAT HAPPENS DURING AND AFTER AN ACQUISITION? 

• Who is acquiring and who is being acquired? Culture, Company Size, GTM approach, etc?
• Why are they being acquired? New market, adjacent market, integration (1+1=3)
• Front-end, back-end, integration, acquhire acquisition? 
• What are the benefits of the acquisition? New technology, key talent, new GTM approach
• Did the acquirer try to build it themselves first? Leftover perspective? Marketing understanding?
• Which group within the acquirer did the acquisition? Good alignment?
• Independence or Integration? What is the initial focus? 
• What is the learning curve for the new company? Culture, tools, skeletons in closets
• Retention of key people? Expectations of key people? How long do the leaders stay?

FEEDBACK?

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Migrating from Infrastructure as Code

Adam Jacob (@adamhjk, CEO/Founder @thesysteminit) talks about the evolution and intersection of DevOps 2.0, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and what’s next

SHOW: 907

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #907 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• Try Postman AI Agent Builder Today
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SHOW NOTES:

• System Initiative website
• Adam on The Cloudcast #729

Topic 1 - Welcome back to the show. We last spoke mid-2023. For those that missed that show, tell us about your background…

Topic 2 - When we last spoke, we talked about DevOps 2.0. Give everyone an update on the state of the industry. DevOps 2.0, IaC, etc. Where are we at in that journey? For instance, what’s broken with IaC in the existing approaches and why a new approach?

Topic 3 - One thing I’ve noticed in research for this topic is the move to visual and UI to conceptualize the environment and the corresponding actions. APIs and command lines will always have a place but what are your thoughts on this trend? I personally fall asleep every time someone gives a talk an industry conference and they pull up the command line for their demo. But, I’m also a visual learner.

Topic 4 - When I’ve thought about both DevOps and IaC in the past, my mind immediately jumps to both complexity and dependencies. What do developers today have to consider and have we made any advances here?

Topic 5 - Are there new metrics for success? With DevOps is was number of code commits, with IaC it was number of seamless deployments and actions. What do development teams look for today as the consider new platforms and tools?

Topic 6 - I can see this being an area that could be impacted by AI in a few ways: 1. the summarization of large amounts of data 2. Digital Twins and simulations and 3. Agentic AI performing tasks based on conditions. What are your thoughts on AI here?

Topic 7 - If anyone out there is interested, what’s the best way to get started?

FEEDBACK?

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Decoding Corporate Communications

How well does your company handle internal and external corporate communications? Are company town halls a nightmare? How should you engage with them and how can the company manage them better?

SHOW: 906

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #906 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

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SHOW NOTES:

INTERNAL, EXTERNAL AND TEAM COMMUNICATIONS - COULD IT BE BETTER HANDLED?

• Most internal corporate communications are bland—full of platitudes, at best boring, and at worst, demotivating. How can this be changed? Is any company doing this well?
• What’s the best way to deliver internal communications? AI-generated emails? Short videos? Live all-hands webinars? Smaller in-person meetings? Does any of this actually work?
• Southwest’s decision to end free checked bags is yet another example of corporate communication gone wrong.The CEO’s comments seem out of touch—maybe saying less is sometimes more? If you make an unpopular decision, should you avoid compounding the problem with excessive justification?
• How do you personally process internal communications? Do you listen to all-hands meetings while walking the dog? Limit your consumption? Read summaries? Meditate afterward? What hacks or best practices work?
• Are executive town halls doomed to fail? Leaders often seem to hold them out of obligation rather than genuine interest. Are we asking too much? Town halls aren’t great for deep discussions, but empty platitudes ring hollow. Is there a better way?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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AI Impacts Across Organizations & Startups

Jon Duren, Sr. Practice Manager, AI & Data @wwt_inc & Druce MacFarlane, Product @Infoblox talks about the intersection of AI, Startups, and Enterprise Trends.

SHOW: 905

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #905 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" 

SHOW SPONSORS:

• Try Postman AI Agent Builder Today
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SHOW NOTES:

• WWT website
• WWT AI Proving Ground
• Infoblox website
• Startup Lantern Podcast

Topic 1 - Jon and Druce welcome to the show. Give everyone a quick introduction…

Topic 1a - You also have a podcast, tell everyone about that…

Topic 2 - AI has thrown the world of cybersecurity a curveball..   Druce, how are you seeing AI impact the typical conversations you are involved in?

Topic 3 - How is AI affecting start-up companies, thinking beyond all the AI-specific startups, how is AI going to impact the entrepreneur who’s trying to launch a non-AI company?  What should they know and think about AI when starting a new company?

Topic 4 - You both talk to a lot of customers about AI, especially to Enterprise customers. Let’s separate the hype from the practical. Where are organizations typically in their AI journey in early 2025? Have we moved beyond the chatbot yet

Topic 5 - I see several organizations considering AI but struggling with ROI. What are you seeing, and how do you help organizations overcome this hurdle? How long is ROI measured with AI projects? It’s not 3-5 years anymore.

Topic 6 - Is the industry moving too fast? Jon and I have had conversations in the past where organizations just can’t absorb the changes in hardware and models (just a few examples). How can an organization commit to a path that we know will change in 12 months

Topic 7 - Tell everyone where they can find your podcast. Also, If anyone is interested, what’s the best way to get started on their AI journey?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Five Things I Did This Week

Does your management chain know what you’re doing to bring value to your company, your group or just your role? How do you communicate value for accountability, visibility, and promotability?

SHOW: 904

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #904 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• Try Postman AI Agent Builder Today
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SHOW NOTES:

• Jeff Bezos’ API Mandate, and 5 Rules surrounding it
• Jensen Huang’s NVIDIA “Top 5 Things” email

DO YOU PROVIDE STATUS, ACCOUNTABILITY, OR DIRECTION ON YOUR WORK ACTIVITIES?

• Lots of things could be perceived as negative, but how are you finding the positive? 
• How do you keep track of your work? How do you communicate your work? Are they well aligned to company goals?
• In tough job markets, accountability is a valuable asset to have
• How is your management chain communicating the group’s work upward and to other teams? 
• Do you ask what shouldn’t be done, where something else could occupy that time? 
• Does management use it as a way to educate others about functions of the business? (cross-team efforts)

FEEDBACK?

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Cloud & AI News Trends for February 2025

Brian Gracely and Brandon Whichard discuss the top stories in Cloud and AI from February 2025 including NVIDIA’s earnings,  Hashicorp, Intel’s CEO trio, Developer Co-Pilots, and RIP Skype.

SHOW: 903

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #903 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:  http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• Try Postman AI Agent Builder Today
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SHOW NOTES:

• Link to February 2025 news and articles

SEGMENTS COVERED IN THE SHOW:

• Good Old Fashioned Cloud News
• The AI Innovation Continues 

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Bathing in the Confusion around GenAI

Right now the news around GenAI seems scattered, all of the place, and confusing. Let’s dig into what’s working, what’s not, and where some future trends are heading. 

SHOW: 902

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #902 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• Try Postman AI Agent Builder Today
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SHOW NOTES:

• Most AI Investments Will Lose Money as Market Enters ‘Greed’ Cycle (Vinod Khasla, VC)
• My LLM CodeGen workflow (Harper Reed)
• "Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?" (Goldman Sachs) 
• Microsoft cancels leases on Data Centers for AI
• NVIDIA announces Q4 earnings 
• An interview about AI unknowns (Stratechery)

IF YOU’RE CONFUSED ABOUT AI, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. 

• There is a ton of AI out there, but it’s not always simple
• There’s a ton of AI out there, but it’s not always affordable
• There’s a ton of AI out there, and sometimes it blows our mind
• There’s a ton of AI out there, and open source is starting to be disruptive (again)
• There’s a ton of AI out there, and people are trying to forecast a future that changing too fast
• There’s a ton of AI out there, and people are struggling with technology and politics overlapping so much

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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