Microsoft for Startups Blog

Get Deployment Right on Day 1

Thursday, April 11, 2019 By James Turnbull

Deployment gets the code you and your team have written out into the world. Any system you've written that isn't deployed, and in front of a user, isn't generating value. It's also not giving you feedback about your product and how it helps your users. Hence getting deployment going is one of the first things most engineering teams (even if that's just you on day 1!) do when they start to build a product.

Getting the Most out of Conferences, Events, and Meetups for Your Startup

Wednesday, April 10, 2019 By Tor Tsuk

Conferences Networking

One of the most important elements of growing a startup, is developing and nurturing potential partnerships and professional relationships that can help your company succeed. In today’s world, there are numerous ways to pursue relationships ... yet there is no substitute for real-world interactions with people. That’s where networking events come in. Whether these are meetups, conferences, or any other type of event, there is no better way to maximize your networking potential.

Four Accessibility Principles Every Startup Can Follow

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 By Annie Parker

Startups accessibility

Meeting Microsoft's Chief Accessibility Officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, and watching Microsoft's Super Bowl ad for its Xbox adaptive controller, provided me with incredible examples of putting accessibility at the top of our priorities ... These examples, and others, have inspired me to share some of the core principles I have learned with startup founders. Specifically, I want to encourage all founders to build inclusively so that their solutions work for everyone on the planet.

From Austin to Abu Dhabi – Microsoft for Startups Ecosystem Update: March 2019

Thursday, March 28, 2019 By Jeana Jorgensen

Ecosystem Update Startups Events Advocacy

The following is the second post in an ongoing series celebrating startups around the world and the ways we are working to support them. You will find startup success stories, updates on our partnerships with organizations who support startups along their growth cycle, as well as new content including on-demand webinars and upcoming events.

Microsoft Boosts Innovation Protection for Startups

Thursday, March 28, 2019 By Ted Roduner

Azure IP Advantage Innovation Startup IP Microsoft for Startups

Today we announced an expansion to Azure IP Advantage opening up ways for startups using Azure to protect their innovative technologies from lawsuits.

Leading Startups Join Microsoft at Hannover Messe 2019

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 By Microsoft for Startups

Hannover Messe Startups Manufacturing Conferences Startup Showcase

At Microsoft for Startups our goal is to connect innovative co-sell ready startups with our top enterprise and industrial customers and our broader partner ecosystem. As part of our engagement with…

Announcing the Create Startups Tour

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 By Duncan Davidson

Create Events

We are excited to introduce the inaugural Create Startups Tour: a series of free, one-day events aimed at supporting growing startups.

Hub71 Launches to Spark Startup Innovation in the Middle East

Monday, March 25, 2019 By Jeana Jorgensen

Hub71 Microsoft for Startups Middle East

Earlier today, the government of Abu Dhabi announced; the launch of Hub71, a new technology hub designed to spur innovation and development in the Middle East. Based in Abu Dhabi, Hub71’s…

Growing your People

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 By Penina Weiss

leadership growth learning

As engineers, there are several ways to grow our skills. The most common ones are on-the-job experience and training, meaning learning by doing and executing on new tasks, learning from interactions with others, and formal education such as courses and training. In our experience, job experience and training have the most impact on developing your people. In this post, I would like to share with you three methodologies I have used to maximize and deepen the learning achieved from day-to-day tasks.

Building Product Roadmaps

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 By James Turnbull

product roadmap engineering planning

You have an amazing idea. You’ve taken the core concepts of your idea and turned them into a prototype, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The prototype is the first pass. It’s not pretty, nor complete, and often not tested. Frank Robinson said when he coined the MVP term: "... think big for the long term but small for the short term. Think big enough that the first product is a sound launching pad for it and its next generation and the road map that follows, but not so small that you leave room for a competitor to get the jump on you." Once you have your prototype and you know that it’s viable, how do you turn it into a fully-fledged product and how do you get there? Enter the product road map.