Cloud Stocks: The PaaS Landscape

At the end of 2019, I had published Cloud Stocks: Top 20 for 2020 with a summary of which SaaS companies are succeeding on the basis of a strong PaaS strategy, AI, and robust developer ecosystems. I now want to focus on how the PaaS landscape is evolving: who are the established giants, the top mature players, the promising players, and the potentials.

Cloud Stocks are doing exceptionally well through the pandemic. If you’re wondering which ones are likely to go further, please pay attention to their PaaS strategies. PaaS creates exit barriers, deep moats, excellent pipelines for new products, acquisition prospects, and overall multipliers that strong SaaS companies should all consider. Over time, I expect hundreds of PaaS eco-systems to develop, each spawning a thousand smaller companies.

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Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Cylynt CEO Ted Miracco (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I’ve done quite a lot of work in EDA. I worked very closely with Joe as well. I’ve heard his perspective about what you were talking about. I understand what you are saying, but from your point of view, you are trying to sell software, so you need segments that can buy your software to be able to grow your business.

This brings me to the next question. Could you describe architecturally how you do the anti-piracy solution in the context of a SaaS product? 

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Today’s 507th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable For Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, October 29 at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/4 p.m. CET/8:30 p.m. India IST. Click here to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Cloud Stocks: Microsoft’s Partnership with Tom Siebel’s C3 AI is Intriguing

Earlier this week, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) reported its first quarter results that continued to surpass all market expectations. Its focus on Azure offerings is helping Microsoft gain a bigger market share within cloud services. Analysts believe that the current pandemic conditions are driving spending on cloud services, and Microsoft is making sure it taps into this opportunity.

Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Stuart Nisbet, Chief Data Scientist, Cadient Talent (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What else is interesting in your technology?

Stuart Nisbet: If you are researching AI in general, I think this will go well beyond what we’ve talked about today. The trust and explainability of what an AI algorithm does is a trend in the industry and is one of the things that I address the most. It’s quite interesting because it’s one of the strengths of the technology, but it is also regarded as one of the weakest points of the technology.

Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Cylynt CEO Ted Miracco (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: If your primary target is on-premise software, could you comment on what percentage of software is on-premise? The world is categorically shifting to cloud-based software. If your target audience is on-premise, how does that align with the current market trend?

Ted Miracco: That’s a great question. We have technology that works for on-premise and SaaS. It’s a fallacy to believe that on-premise software is going away.

PluralSight Acquires During Pandemic

A recent Research and Markets report forecasts that the global e-learning market will grow to $325 billion by the year 2025. Besides individual consumers who are flocking to the digital learning resources during the pandemic, organizations are also relying on these technologies to help upskill their globally dispersed employee base. Cedar Valley, Utah-based Pluralsight (Nasdaq: PS) is an e-learning player that recently reported a strong second quarter.

Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Stuart Nisbet, Chief Data Scientist, Cadient Talent (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Going back to my question about the dataset upon which you are applying your algorithm, are you working on résumés? Where are you getting all these data from? 

Stuart Nisbet: If we went out to apply for a job at a local retailer, they use an online system where they create a profile, enter their name, address, email, and other information.