Investing in Nuon
Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) for everyone.
Every major shift in enterprise software starts with a simple truth that becomes obvious in retrospect. For BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud), it's this: Moving applications is now cheaper than moving data.
The standard SaaS playbook - build it, host it, sell access - is breaking down for three reasons:
Data gravity has become real. Companies have accumulated petabytes in their cloud accounts. They won't move it. More importantly, they shouldn't have to.
AI has changed the game. LLMs need direct access to proprietary data. Running them through external APIs creates unnecessary complexity and security risks. The models need to live where the data lives.
Compliance requirements have shifted dramatically. Even Series A startups now face enterprise-grade data sovereignty requirements. The old "we'll add security features later" approach doesn't work anymore.
Founders are realizing that BYOC isn't just an enterprise feature - it's a fundamental business advantage. Companies like Databricks and Retool proved this early. Deploy in the customer's cloud, manage it remotely, keep data local. Simple concept, powerful implications. The pushback is always about complexity. "BYOC is too hard to build." That's changing fast. The tooling is catching up. More importantly, the alternatives (complex data movement, security reviews, compliance audits) are becoming even harder. Counterintuitively, BYOC can actually reduce complexity. When your software runs in the customer's environment, you inherit their security controls, network policies, and data governance. You don't build parallel systems - you plug into existing ones. With platforms like Nuon, you can even build this directly into your signup flow.
The next generation of enterprise software will be BYOC-first. Not because it's trendy, but because it's the only model that makes sense for how modern companies operate. The cloud made software accessible. BYOC will make it native.
I’m so excited to announce my seed investment into Nuon. Emerging from stealth mode, Nuon has raised $16.5M from some of the best investors in this space; M12 Ventures, Redpoint, Uncork Capital, Mantis, and Alumni Ventures.
In 2022, I reached out to the founder, Jon. We quickly hopped on a call and within an hour I was sold on the vision.
