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How Entrepreneur Stephen Garden Took the Cloud Industry to Prominence

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Stephen Garden

This story may provide inspiration and guidance for those who reject the 9-5 work routine and want to go on their own but are still wary of taking that step towards independence. As the work paradigm has been shifting lately in favor of more freedom and deriving more satisfaction from one’s job, the trend toward entrepreneurship has been gaining traction among the younger demographics. Though there are enough new jobs in the U.S., the new generation often prefers entrepreneurship as a viable career path. However, not all budding entrepreneurs are equipped to launch themselves into the deep end of the job pool. Going on one’s own requires a specific skill set to navigate the sea of opportunity.

Stephen Garden, a U.K. national, found his lifetime opportunity in the U.S. But long before settling down in America, he experienced the first tingling of the entrepreneurial itch early on. In 2000 at the tender age of 16, Garden set up a “pirate” radio station as his first business project that survived for three years before the U.K. government closed it down for violating the 1909 UK Wireless Telegraphy Act. The allure of independence must have stayed with Stephen since that time, through the college years and his first paid job in technology with a Japanese firm in their London office.

At the age of 27, he felt he needed a break from the work routine and decided to take an MBA course at the London Business School, ranked as one of the world’s best business schools, where among other useful subjects, he spent endless unforgettable hours listening to the successful people’s stories about building great companies. The decision to get an MBA turned out to be quite the right one for Stephen’s mindset.

Stephen Garden

Recent studies suggest that over 85 percent of MBA graduates favor entrepreneurial careers, and Garden was among them. Having completed his MBA program in 2013, he launched a specialist consulting company in the promising cloud technology field the following year. By focusing on a fast-growing era of expertise (Amazon Web Services Cloud Platform), his company—Onica—was able to scale rapidly. The new company was founded after Garden’s move to Los Angeles. He came to the U.S. to attend a semester at Berkely on a student visa, fell in love with the U.S., the free entrepreneurial spirit, and decided to call it home.

Having settled in the U.S. and obtained the coveted green card under the EB1A extraordinary ability program, Garden attracted investors to fund Onica that he named after the city where it was founded — Santa Monica. The new cloud computing business turned into a success. In only six years, it grew to 350 employees in 14 offices in four countries, becoming one of largest Amazon’s partners. Having raised Private Equity funding and made two acquisitions, Onica was then acquired by Rackspace prior to their IPO in 2020.

With the invaluable experience gained during the six years of building, growing, and managing Onica, and having stepped down from Rackspace, Garden decided to take a respite from the six stressful years of grit and self-deprivation of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster. Garden has set himself a goal to seed invest in over a hundred world-changing startups. His expertise also makes him a great business advisor who is best qualified and is willing to share his invaluable experience with up-and-coming entrepreneurs, especially in the field of cloud computing and data analytics.

Written in partnership with Darby Jones

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