My colleagues on the Microsoft Startup Evangelism team are throwing a Windows Azure App Challenge in both NYC and Philly during the month of May. I’ll be doing the “NJ Turnpike shuffle” to help out in both cities. Join us over 3 weeks to build your Azure app!
If you are looking to start a cloud business, port your app to the cloud, or extend an existing app – 30 to Launch is for you. From technical and business consulting time to daily tips to keep you on track, your cloud business you can really kick start things with this program.
You could go home with an Xbox 360+Kinect Bundle*! And you’ll learn how to develop applications for Windows Azure.
Location: Microsoft NYC Offices 1290 Ave Of The Americas, 6th Floor New York, NY 10104 Dates: 5/2/2012 – 12:00pm – 4:00pm 5/14/2012 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm 5/22/2012 – 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: SeedPhilly 1650 Arch Street, Suite 1906 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Dates: 5/3/2012 – 6:00pm – 10:00pm 5/17/2012 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm 5/23/2012 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Session 1. Getting Started with Windows Azure (food and drinks provided)
Discussion
Session 2: Get Coding!
Set up your Azure account and get started.
Speakers: Peter Laudati, Brian Johnson
Office Hours
Session 3: Come answer your questions on W8 (food and drinks provided)
Speaker: Brian Johnson, Peter Laudati, Dani Diaz
Pitch Day!
Session 4: Pitch your App and hear feedback from others (food and drinks provided) Speaker: Brian Johnson, Sumit Shukla
*No Purchase Necessary. Open only to hobbyists, professionals, or developers in the field of software tech who are legal residents of the 50 U.S. or D.C. 18+. Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible. Game ends 5/23/12. For more details, see the Official Rules.
Not from this area? Can’t make it to The Big Apple or City of Brotherly Love? You can participate in the online version of this challenge. See the 30 to Launch website for more details.
Looking forward to see what folks will build!
I did the WP7 challenge and wanted to sign up for the Azure one to move my app there, but the site (http://www.30tolaunch.com/) has been down with a 503 Service Unavailable message for the past 3-4 days. It looks like you work for Microsoft - what's going on?? I don't want to move my app to Azure if sites go down for days at a time.
This actually started working tonight, your blog must be lucky. I was able to save my information and sign up correctly!
Hi Shaw, Thanks for letting me know about the connectivity issues with the 30 to Launch site. I do work at Microsoft, but I do not own the site, so I won't speculate on what the cause of the issue was. However, I have passed word along to the site's owner.
If you are planning on attending the NYC or Philly events, you will want to register at the "REGISTER NYC" and "REGISTER PHILLY" links above in my post. The http://www.30tolaunch.com website is the online-only challenge. You can think of the NY & Philly events as localized versions of the challenge. -Peter
Peter, really liking your posts.
Ah well.. too bad there's not one near me, but the online version should be fun. :)
From what I have heard so far - Azure just doesn't cut it for startups. I understand the value proposition - that there is no sysadmin, and that alone saves a lot of money. However, I've read that the deployment story for development environments is very poor. I'll certainly keep an eye on Azure for the future, but is there any reason why turnaround time can't be as competitive as Heroku or AppHarbor?
Hi Chui, Curious as to why you don't think Azure "cuts it" for start ups? Have you had any experience with it, or are you going solely with what others have said?
I think Azure offers a lot of benefits for start ups. If you're in the NY or Philly area, would love to chat more with you about it. If not, feel free to shoot me a message via the "Email Author" link here. -Peter