← CloudZero
CloudZero role-play cheat sheet
For the mock cold call at the end of most SDR interviews.
What they sell, in one line
Cloud cost intelligence software that shows engineering and finance teams exactly what their cloud spend is buying.
Who you'd be calling
VP Engineering, Head of Platform/DevOps, FinOps leads, and finance heads at software companies with big AWS, Azure or GCP bills.
Your opener
“Hi Sam, this is Alex from CloudZero. I know I'm calling out of the blue. Do you have 30 seconds to tell me if I should be talking to you or someone else about cloud costs?”
Problems you solve for them
- Cloud bills keep growing and nobody can say which product, team or customer is driving the cost
- Engineering and finance argue over numbers because they see different data
- Tagging is messy, so costs can't be split up accurately
- Surprise cost spikes are found weeks later, after the money is spent
Discovery questions to ask
- Who owns the cloud bill today, engineering or finance?
- If your cloud spend jumped 20% next month, how fast could you tell which team or feature caused it?
- How do you currently report cloud cost per customer or per product?
Objections they'll throw at you
“I'm busy right now.”
→ Totally fair, I'll be quick. Could I send one question and grab 15 minutes next week when it's calmer?
“We're not interested.”
→ Understood. Out of curiosity, is cloud cost just not a priority, or is it already under control? That helps me know whether to follow up.
“We already use something for cloud costs.”
→ Good, so you're taking it seriously. Does it show cost by product or customer, or mostly by account and service?
“Just send me an email.”
→ Happy to. So it's useful and not generic, what's the main thing you'd want to see: cost by team, by customer, or spikes?
Competitors worth knowing
Vantage, Apptio Cloudability, VMware CloudHealth
Interview tips for this company
- Learn the word FinOps: it means engineering, finance and business teams managing cloud spend together.
- Practice talking to two audiences: engineers care about not being slowed down, finance cares about predictability and margins.
- The role works closely with Account Executives, so be ready to talk about teamwork and how you hand off a good meeting.
Written from public information about CloudZero to help you practice. Ask an insider what their role play looked like; it's the best prep there is.