I hosted a BizSpark Startup Community roundtable in Connecticut today.  Attendees represented investors, associations, and of course BizSpark startups.  Each shared a resource they thought was valuable to them and we had a lively discussion about how to best position startups to investors.  I explained the following startup-related resources available from Microsoft:

Software

· BizSpark MSDN access (www.microsoft.com/bizspark): $100 at exit (3 year program, annual renewal survey)

· Azure Cloud Services (www.microsoft.com/azure): available for development now

· Microsoft Empower (www.microsoft.com/partner/empower): $375 for 5 internal use software licenses including Office 2007/Windows 7

Support

· Business resources on Microsoft Startup Zone (http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/Resources)

· MSDN support incidents and managed forums (msdn.microsoft.com)

       - Startups should add developers as “additional members” so they have their own MSDN access

· Developer training (www.msdev.com)

· Developer information (http://channel9.msdn.com)

· Incubation Week: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/

· ISV Developer Community blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/usisvde/

· Metro (www.discovermetro.net): must be nominated by MS employee

· Discounts to PDC (pdc09@ustechs.com): $1K discount if in Metro, $500 if in BizSpark alone

Visibility

· Microsoft Startup Zone BizSparkDB (www.microsoftstartupzone.com)

· East Region Startup Evangelist (http://blogs.msdn.com/brianjo): Brian Johnson

· Microsoft Ambassadors (Patrick.Foley @microsoft.com)

· Windows 7 Enablement and Ready to Go Marketing (www.msdev.com/frontrunner)

· Microsoft BizSpark Logo (http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/Startup/DownloadLogos.aspx)

 

On a related note, one of the startups from last week’s BizSpark Incubation Week in Boston published a very nice music video that tells their story.  You can check it out here.