Positioning with April Dunford

Bruno Aziza (Google, CapitalG) Shares How He Helped Reach Scale At Startups and Big Tech

Oct 12, 2023

Bruno Aziza, with an incredible background in data and technology, talks about starting with first principles, competing at the service level for customers, his time as Head of Data & Analytics at Google Cloud, and approaching workplace confrontation. He also discusses his role at CapitalG.

42:58

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Episode guests

Bruno Aziza

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Quick takeaways

Starting with first principles is crucial for defining your product's identity and core design.

Being customer-centric and focusing on addressing pain points leads to better alignment between teams and delivers more value to the customer.

Deep dives

Bruno Aziza's Career Background

Bruno Aziza has had a diverse career working in both small startups and large companies. He started his career at a startup in Silicon Valley, then moved to work at Business Objects, a small French data company that became successful after going public. After Business Objects, Bruno joined Microsoft in various transformation projects. He then transitioned back to the startup world, became a Chief Disruption Officer at AtScale, and eventually joined Google Cloud as the Head of Data and Analytics. Now, Bruno has transitioned to his current role at Capital G, Alphabet's independent growth-stage fund.

The Importance of Managing Expectations and Context in Sales Conversations

00:36

Quality Guests Bring Value

00:38

Focus on Relevance and Target Audience

00:30

Introduction

2min

Transitioning from Big Tech to Startups

17min

Role and Experience at a Tech Company: Chief Disruption Officer

3min

Understanding the Market and Customer Pain

6min

The Power of Small Companies and Creative Partnerships

10min

Managing High-Value Customers in B2B and Understanding the Buying Committee

2min

Discussing the Role and Opportunities at Capital G

4min

Today, I’m joined by Bruno Aziza, who has an incredible background in data and technology and is a dear friend of mine. He has held previous positions at Google, Oracle, Microsoft, and AtScale. He’s currently a Partner at CapitalG, which is Alphabet's independent growth fund.

In today’s episode, we cover:

The importance of starting with first principles. This means defining your set of beliefs, particular identity, and your core center of design for your product.
Why you should be competing at the service level for your customers, not the feature level.
The biggest learning from Bruno’s time as the Head of Data & Analytics at Google Cloud.
How to approach confrontation in the workplace.

I’m very excited for you to listen.

And by the way, my book has officially launched!

You can order a copy of Sales Pitch by going to https://www.aprildunford.com/books

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If You Want To Skip Ahead:

(00:00) Meet my guest Bruno Aziza

(01:50) Transitioning from a big company to a startup

(06:59) Bruno’s big takeaways from his time at a successful startup

(14:20) How Bruno applies the “center of design” concept to his thinking

(21:00) Connecting with customer pain points

(27:59) Lessons from leading Data & Analytics at Google Cloud

(33:01) Handling workplace confrontation