As you well know by now, the cloud is about shifting IT labor to more strategic initiatives. Or as Andy Jassy laid out years ago - removing the undifferentiated heavy lifting associated with deploying and managing IT infrastructure. Cloud is also about changing the operating model and rapidly scaling a business or operation. Often overlooked with cloud, however, is the innovation piece of the puzzle. A main source of that innovation is venture funded startup companies with brilliant technologists who have a vision to solve hard problems and enter large markets at scale.