Microsoft Startup Accelerator is a special program for innovative early-stage startups that are a strategic fit for Microsoft. The Emerging Business Team, the group I work for at Microsoft, is leading the program. There are currently over 50 companies in the program with a goal of reaching 100 companies worldwide.
Several of the startups I work with are part of the Startup Accelerator program including; Lijit, Me.dium, Xobni, Clarizen, and RingCentral.
Me.dium is a web browser plug-in that turns web browsing into a social experience. It gives you a personalized map of the Internet showing you what web sites your friends are visiting in real time. You can use it to discover new people and places that are relevant just to you. It also allows you to surf with friends in real-time. It's just like hanging out in the real world, but online.
Listen to what David Mandell, VP at Me.dium has to say about the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program;
Getting direct connections to developers within Microsoft speeded our own internal development time significantly, I would estimate about a 50% velocity increase. In addition, gaining exposure to some of the Microsoft MVP’s gave us critical product feedback that we simply didn’t have the manpower to gain on our own. Getting on the Windows Marketplace site quickly took our customer mix from almost completely Firefox users, to a ratio of 75% IE to 25% Firefox, all through new customer acquisition.
The Emerging Business Team and The Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program have truly turned into an invaluable resource for Me.dium. We would never have imagined that a company as large as Microsoft would have the desire to focus on a small startup such as Me.dium, but we were completely blown away by the attention and access to people that we were given and owe much or our current success to that relationship.
Microsoft is committed to serving as a valuable technology and business partner for emerging startups and investors. The Microsoft Emerging Business Team (EBT) has been working with the startup community since 1999, and today engages with hundreds of technology startups each year to identify those with the strongest potential to succeed in the market, shape the industry’s future, and enhance the overall value of Microsoft products and services for customers.
The team looks at a number of criteria, including marketability, growth potential, funding, management and management history, platform decisions, and strategic importance to Microsoft. The Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program has local implementation in France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Interested startups can apply via the process outlined at the Microsoft Startup Zone at http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com.
