'Watch your check engine light': Google Cloud's AI VP
Darren Mowry, Google Cloud's global startups VP, has a simple message for new AI founders: watch your "check engine light."
On the TechCrunch Equity podcast, he urged startups to notice early warning signs—like bills outpacing revenue or tech headaches—before they hit a "financial cliff" (early on).
He pointed out that free credits can mask real costs, and if you don't find product-market fit or fresh funding soon enough, you might face tough choices.
Mowry's advice on startup growth and tech choices
Mowry suggests it's smarter to keep an eye on how things are running (monitoring) than just racing ahead with speed.
He says building something scalable matters more than obsessing over hardware like TPUs or GPUs early on.
With years at AWS and Microsoft behind him, Mowry now leads Google Cloud's startup efforts across DeepMind and Alphabet, focusing on areas like biotech, climate tech, and developer tools such as Replit and Cursor.