Overview of opportunities for working with Microsoft for startups
Hello!
Everyone knows that Microsoft supports startups, but not many are aware of all the options and support options, especially since literally this summer these options have expanded significantly.
1. How to get software for free from Microsoft, including Azure resources for up to $ 27,000 per team.
2. How to use Azure resources for free at $ 120,000.
3. What is Microsoft's partner acceleration and what opportunities does it give to startups.
4. What opportunities for promoting start-up products on the market has Microsoft.
So, as a startup develops, Microsoft offers various opportunities for collaboration.
1. At the Idea stage (Preseed)
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When you just got the idea of a startup and you start developing by doing MVP, you can join the international startup support program Microsoft BizSpark. Participation in the program is free. The program will give you access to free software from Microsoft for development, including free Azure cloud resources in the amount of $ 150 for 5 developers of your startup (even more developers can be added after a year of participation in BizSpark).
This will allow you to get licensed free tools and the ability to make your MVP with minimal infrastructure investments, at the stage when a startup usually has no income and, accordingly, large resources for development.
Becoming a member of the program is in general quite simple if you meet its requirements, namely:
1. A start-up entrepreneur or a start-up company must develop a replicable software product or service based on software. This product or service is a key component of a business.
2. The company must be private.
3. The company should be founded no more than five years ago (legal registration of the company is not required).
4. The annual income of the company should not exceed 500 thousand US dollars.
If you meet all the requirements above, then go to the website www.bizspark.com and apply by clicking Join BizSpark. By the way, the application itself can be submitted in Russian, because check it passes locally. After that, if everything is OK and your startup meets the conditions of the program, in 3 days you will receive a response with confirmation of the application and access to all Microsoft resources for startups. If you have questions about your application, then you will be additionally contacted, also within 3 days.
Please note - in the application you need to try to describe the startup to the maximum so that it shows the compliance with the conditions of the program. Give all links to your product, and if it does not yet exist then on a business card site or presentation, for example, on slideshare.
If it happened that your startup was rejected (for example, if there was some inaccuracy in the application, which gave a reason to negatively decide on inclusion in the program), but you are sure that it complies with the conditions of the BizSpark program, please contact us at rustart @ microsoft. com - we will communicate again and maybe we will come to a positive decision, having received answers to our questions.
In addition to software from Microsoft, a number of special offers and benefits from program partners are a bonus to participation in BizSpark - these can be discounts on services, free bonuses, test periods for using services. Here you can see all the offers, including offers in different cities of Russia.
Also to the participants of BizSpark, Microsoft gives priority attention to upcoming events, gives promotional codes to participate in them, shares unique content. To get it all:
So, there is the idea of an IT startup - registering with BizSpark .
2. At the stage of finalizing the Prototype and starting the Hypothesis Test (Seed, Growth)
So, you've already done MVP and start testing your hypothesis - try to sell the product to the first users, modifying the features along the way. At this stage, Microsoft offers startups to participate in Affiliate Acceleration and the so-called Cloud Grant - Azure resources for $ 120,000.
We will not dwell on the question "Why acceleration?". Just say that this stage for startups is the most dangerous, according to world statistics, 60% to 90% of startups die at the hypothesis testing stage, also known as Death Valley, without receiving the necessary investments, failing to find their market, learning how to sell your product.
Therefore, at this stage, Microsoft with various partner accelerators work with start-ups within the framework of unique business and technological acceleration, helping start-ups to solve all the problems facing young businesses and simultaneously develop with the team the most reliable, scalable and fault-tolerant solution using the most modern technologies and attracting the best experts. Also, as part of acceleration, Microsoft gives startups a serious B2B expertise, which, thanks to the specifics of the business, the company's experts have in large numbers.
Along the way, startups participating in partner acceleration Microsoft offer the so-called Cloud grant - the Azure cloud platform resources for $ 120,000, which allows the startup to significantly save on infrastructure and make the product as ready as possible for scaling.
So, if you have almost completed your product and are now working on finding the right business model - wait for the start of accepting applications to partner accelerators, submit an application and indicate that you are interested in participating in acceleration with Microsoft.
Read more about partner acceleration (for example, acceleration with IIDF) here .
3. Finally, at the Expansion stage.
When your product is ready, the first sales are already underway, the number of users is growing, and your efforts are focused on scaling up the business and increasing revenue, Microsoft can help selected startups to promote their product in the market.
Possessing powerful marketing and PR channels and multiple entrances to the B2B and B2C markets, the company can develop, together with a startup, a unique plan for promoting its product using corporate channels. It can be:
Startups that can take advantage of such advantages in promoting to the market are usually selected from the number of participants in partner acceleration (see section 2), but there is an opportunity to get directly to this program. Read the details here .
For ease of visualization of what is described in this post, we attach a table that summarizes all the resources for startups from Microsoft that are available as the startup develops.
And now a few useful links for startups from Microsoft :
Useful:
Interesting:
Our social networks and newsletters:
Follow Microsoft news for startups on Vkontakte and Facebook
Subscribe to Microsoft's monthly start-up newsletter .
Everyone knows that Microsoft supports startups, but not many are aware of all the options and support options, especially since literally this summer these options have expanded significantly.
UPD February 14, 2018 Microsoft closed the BizSpark program and launched a new Microsoft For Startups. DetailsWe decided to collect in one post all the information and useful links for startups from Microsoft. In this post you will learn:
1. How to get software for free from Microsoft, including Azure resources for up to $ 27,000 per team.
2. How to use Azure resources for free at $ 120,000.
3. What is Microsoft's partner acceleration and what opportunities does it give to startups.
4. What opportunities for promoting start-up products on the market has Microsoft.
So, as a startup develops, Microsoft offers various opportunities for collaboration.
1. At the Idea stage (Preseed)
')
When you just got the idea of a startup and you start developing by doing MVP, you can join the international startup support program Microsoft BizSpark. Participation in the program is free. The program will give you access to free software from Microsoft for development, including free Azure cloud resources in the amount of $ 150 for 5 developers of your startup (even more developers can be added after a year of participation in BizSpark).
This will allow you to get licensed free tools and the ability to make your MVP with minimal infrastructure investments, at the stage when a startup usually has no income and, accordingly, large resources for development.
Becoming a member of the program is in general quite simple if you meet its requirements, namely:
1. A start-up entrepreneur or a start-up company must develop a replicable software product or service based on software. This product or service is a key component of a business.
2. The company must be private.
3. The company should be founded no more than five years ago (legal registration of the company is not required).
4. The annual income of the company should not exceed 500 thousand US dollars.
If you meet all the requirements above, then go to the website www.bizspark.com and apply by clicking Join BizSpark. By the way, the application itself can be submitted in Russian, because check it passes locally. After that, if everything is OK and your startup meets the conditions of the program, in 3 days you will receive a response with confirmation of the application and access to all Microsoft resources for startups. If you have questions about your application, then you will be additionally contacted, also within 3 days.
Please note - in the application you need to try to describe the startup to the maximum so that it shows the compliance with the conditions of the program. Give all links to your product, and if it does not yet exist then on a business card site or presentation, for example, on slideshare.
If it happened that your startup was rejected (for example, if there was some inaccuracy in the application, which gave a reason to negatively decide on inclusion in the program), but you are sure that it complies with the conditions of the BizSpark program, please contact us at rustart @ microsoft. com - we will communicate again and maybe we will come to a positive decision, having received answers to our questions.
In addition to software from Microsoft, a number of special offers and benefits from program partners are a bonus to participation in BizSpark - these can be discounts on services, free bonuses, test periods for using services. Here you can see all the offers, including offers in different cities of Russia.
Also to the participants of BizSpark, Microsoft gives priority attention to upcoming events, gives promotional codes to participate in them, shares unique content. To get it all:
- Go to Microsoft for startups
- Follow Microsoft news for startups on Vkontakte and Facebook
- Subscribe to Microsoft's monthly start-up newsletter .
So, there is the idea of an IT startup - registering with BizSpark .
2. At the stage of finalizing the Prototype and starting the Hypothesis Test (Seed, Growth)
So, you've already done MVP and start testing your hypothesis - try to sell the product to the first users, modifying the features along the way. At this stage, Microsoft offers startups to participate in Affiliate Acceleration and the so-called Cloud Grant - Azure resources for $ 120,000.
We will not dwell on the question "Why acceleration?". Just say that this stage for startups is the most dangerous, according to world statistics, 60% to 90% of startups die at the hypothesis testing stage, also known as Death Valley, without receiving the necessary investments, failing to find their market, learning how to sell your product.
Therefore, at this stage, Microsoft with various partner accelerators work with start-ups within the framework of unique business and technological acceleration, helping start-ups to solve all the problems facing young businesses and simultaneously develop with the team the most reliable, scalable and fault-tolerant solution using the most modern technologies and attracting the best experts. Also, as part of acceleration, Microsoft gives startups a serious B2B expertise, which, thanks to the specifics of the business, the company's experts have in large numbers.
Along the way, startups participating in partner acceleration Microsoft offer the so-called Cloud grant - the Azure cloud platform resources for $ 120,000, which allows the startup to significantly save on infrastructure and make the product as ready as possible for scaling.
So, if you have almost completed your product and are now working on finding the right business model - wait for the start of accepting applications to partner accelerators, submit an application and indicate that you are interested in participating in acceleration with Microsoft.
Read more about partner acceleration (for example, acceleration with IIDF) here .
3. Finally, at the Expansion stage.
When your product is ready, the first sales are already underway, the number of users is growing, and your efforts are focused on scaling up the business and increasing revenue, Microsoft can help selected startups to promote their product in the market.
Possessing powerful marketing and PR channels and multiple entrances to the B2B and B2C markets, the company can develop, together with a startup, a unique plan for promoting its product using corporate channels. It can be:
- Joint promotion / promotion of the developed services / applications
- Promotion in social. networks through Microsoft channels
- Free participation in Microsoft events (speakers, exhibits, guests)
- Joint PR and quotes from MS in press releases
- Support in Russia and globally
- Exclusive events with key customers
- Exhibitions / Expositions at Microsoft for key customers
Startups that can take advantage of such advantages in promoting to the market are usually selected from the number of participants in partner acceleration (see section 2), but there is an opportunity to get directly to this program. Read the details here .
For ease of visualization of what is described in this post, we attach a table that summarizes all the resources for startups from Microsoft that are available as the startup develops.
And now a few useful links for startups from Microsoft :
Useful:
- www.bizspark.ru - a site where you can learn about support for startups
- FAQ on participation in the BizSpark program (there are already a lot of answers to the questions that many have asked before you)
- Link to instructions on how to activate Azure for startups
- rustart@microsoft.com - write on all your questions regarding cooperation with Microsoft
Interesting:
- Resource with news, successful start-ups, interesting videos: https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/BizSpark-StartUp-Stories
- Startup Stories: https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/Microsoft-Innovation-Centers
- A resource where you can find interesting cases of using Microsoft technologies by startups: https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/codechat
Our social networks and newsletters:
Follow Microsoft news for startups on Vkontakte and Facebook
Subscribe to Microsoft's monthly start-up newsletter .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/267289/
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