Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
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In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob Evans reviews Snowflake’s growth rates for FY23 and the previous quarter.
Highlights
00:48 — “There’s no question that the growth is moderating,” explains Bob Evans in relation to Snowflake’s growth rates. For FY23, Snowflake reported 70% growth in its product revenue, but guidance for Q1 — which runs Feb. 1 to April 30 — was only 44.5%.
01:20 — CEO Frank Slootman “chalked this up” to what he called reticence among certain segments of Snowflake’s customer base, calling out international and SMBs, before noting that its larger customers were much less reticent.
01:48 — Slootman added that Snowflake continues to be operating in a massive growth market and that buyers have “put the brakes on a little bit on some of the bigger contracts.”
02:03 — For Q4, product revenue was up 54% to $555 million. For the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, Snowflake came in at about $1.9 billion in total product revenue. The company’s remaining performance obligation (RPO) was up 38% to $3.7 billion.
02:32 — Slootman referenced Snowflake’s new expansion of its partnership with AWS. Over the next five years, Snowflake has committed to spending at least $2.5 billion with AWS, and the companies will join together in some go-to-market campaigns.
