: Designing content specifically to help students pass AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud certifications.
Starting with just a single course on the Udemy platform, A Cloud Guru quickly grew into a standalone training empire. Kroonenburg’s teaching style was revolutionary for its time, focusing on: ryan kroonenburg
Beyond individual student success, Kroonenburg has been a vocal advocate for the "cross-certification" trend. He noted in 2020 that 64% of professionals in the field were already cross-certified, a number that continues to rise as companies demand versatile skill sets. Acquisition and Legacy : Designing content specifically to help students pass
: Offering training at a fraction of the cost of traditional classroom-based corporate courses. He noted in 2020 that 64% of professionals
His entry into the world of cloud computing was famously fueled by a rejection. After applying for a position at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and not getting the job, Kroonenburg noticed a significant gap in the market: AWS training was prohibitively expensive and often inaccessible to individual learners. Seeing an opportunity to lower these barriers, he and his brother, Sam Kroonenburg, founded A Cloud Guru in 2015. Founding A Cloud Guru
In 2021, A Cloud Guru was acquired by in one of the largest deals in the history of edtech, valued at approximately $2 billion . This acquisition integrated Kroonenburg’s specialized cloud labs and hands-on learning environments into Pluralsight’s broader technology skills platform.
By 2017, the startup had gained such traction that it raised $9 million in funding to expand its offerings. The company eventually acquired Linux Academy in 2019, cementing its position as a powerhouse in the cloud education space. Impact on the Tech Industry