Recently, Detroit Labs became a certified Google Cloud Partner, specializing in Application Development. It’s a nice milestone. But more importantly, it reflects years of learning—and a major shift in how we approach cloud for our clients.
We used to focus almost entirely on software delivery. But as time has gone on, so too did the stakes: rising cloud costs, long dev cycles, fragile systems, and unclear ROI on transformation efforts. These weren’t edge cases. This was becoming the norm.
That’s when we stepped back and asked: Are we helping clients get the most out of the cloud?
That question led us to Google Cloud. And to a new approach we now use across all our cloud work: Lean Cloud.
What’s Lean Cloud?
Lean Cloud is how we design cloud systems to be just the right size—today. Not overbuilt. Not expensive because “we might need that later.” Just focused, flexible, and built to evolve.
It’s about:
- Using managed services and serverless deployments whenever possible
- Avoiding unnecessary complexity that slows you down
- Aligning every part of the architecture to the actual goals of the product
- Making cost and scale transparent from day one
We’re not building for theoretical scale—we’re building for real teams with real needs, and making sure what we ship can scale if and when it needs to.
Why Google Cloud?
There are a lot of solid cloud platforms out there. But Google Cloud has been a great match for how we work.
- Cloud Run gives us fast, scalable deployment options without needing to stand up a ton of infrastructure
- reCAPTCHA Enterprise and Cloud Armor provide enterprise-grade security out of the box
- Google’s global network lets us deliver performance at scale without reinventing the wheel
- And when our apps do grow, tools like GKE let us scale seamlessly without rebuilding from scratch
It’s not just that these tools exist—it’s that they’re accessible, mature, and support a Lean Cloud model without forcing us to over-architect up front.
More Than a Badge
Becoming a Google Cloud partner means we’ve been through their technical and delivery reviews. But that’s not what makes it matter. What matters is that we’ve built real systems on GCP—for fast food brands, enterprise tools, automotive suppliers—and those systems are still running, scaling, and saving money. Our engineers aren’t just certified—they’re battle-tested. They know when to use a service, when to avoid it, and how to keep things running without unnecessary overhead.
A Bonus: Google-Funded Cloud Services
As a certified partner, we’re also able to help clients tap into Google-backed incentives—like Partner Consumption Packs.
That can mean:
- Google covering part of your migration or modernization cost
- Reduced infrastructure spend during new development
- Direct support to make cloud adoption less risky
We use these programs to help clients invest more in building smarter, not just spending more on infrastructure.
What This Means for You
If you’re:
- Staring down a painful cloud bill
- Struggling with delivery timelines
- Running an architecture that’s too rigid to evolve
- Or wondering why you’ve invested so much with so little to show for it…
Lean Cloud isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the strategy we’ve built to help teams move faster, spend smarter, and build systems that hold up as the business grows.
We’d love to show you what it could look like in your world.
