| New Portal Goes Live, Go Daddy and startups.ro Featured, Robotics and CCR & DSS Toolkit Available, and More
From signing up more than 12,000 Startups in just six months, to launching the new BizSpark portal to the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, this newsletter features success stories and best practices, news and events, and ways to further engage your Startup. For even more, visit our website: www.MicrosoftStartupZone.com/BizSpark.
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| 6 Million+ Customers: Go Daddy — Go
With 35 million+ domains under management and as one of the world's dominant hosting providers, The Go Daddy Group, Inc. offers a complete product line including comprehensive hosting solutions, Web site creation tools, SSL certificates, personalized email with spam and anti-phishing filtering, e-commerce tools and much more. Network Partner and Hosting Partner Go Daddy works with more than six million customers around the world. Here is our conversation with Yong Lee, Director of Business Development at GoDaddy.com. Read more. | | | 
| Romanian Hub for Startups
Cristina Alexandru, a former BusinessWeek Romania journalist, founded startups.ro — the only independent online publishing platform for entrepreneurs in Romania. Since launching the site in November 2008, she has signed up 500 entrepreneurs, Startups, and investors. Read more. | |
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| A New, More Intuitive BizSpark Portal — It’s LIVE
We’ve listened to your feedback and incorporated it into the newest release of the Microsoft BizSpark portal (www.microsoft.com/bizspark). It is easier to use, and more intuitive than ever before. You now have faster access to a Microsoft Champ to answer your questions, customized messages from your Microsoft country Champ, and much more. | | 12,000+ Startups Served
Since Microsoft BizSpark debuted just six months ago, we’ve signed up more than 12,000 Startup companies — that comes out to more than 65 new companies every day. Available in 82 countries, enrollments have been particularly strong in the US and UK as well as emerging countries like Brazil, Russia, China, and India. Our 12,000 BizSpark companies span a variety of industries, including social networks, SaaS, healthcare, education, mobility, entertainment, finance and more. Read more, and read what people are tweeting about BizSpark.
Ballmer Shares Optimism for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
In early May, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked to a packed house of more than 1,700 students and others at Stanford University as part of its Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Lecture Series. He shared his optimism for emerging innovation in the midst of economic turmoil, and the story of his own entrepreneurial path. Says Ballmer, “Entrepreneurs who invent, who create, who really add to the level of innovation, the productivity in the economy, will change the world, will create economic value, will drive jobs, and will have a heck of a lot of fun doing it.” Read his speech here.
WPC 2009
July 13 - 16, 2009
New Orleans, Louisiana
Registration is now open! When you attend the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2009 in New Orleans, you’ll gain exclusive access to the latest information and insights about upcoming Microsoft strategies, cutting edge technologies, and programs — directly from Microsoft executives, including Steve Ballmer, Kevin Turner, and Allison Watson. Register here.
Local Events — United States
Launch: Silicon Valley 2009
June 9, 2009
Mountain View, California
Co-presented by Microsoft, SVASE, and Garage Technology Ventures, you are invited to hear up to 30 exciting young companies pitch their products. Join in on the networking opportunity with an audience of several hundred of the most influential people in the Valley. For more information or to register, go here.
SparkStart
June 12, 2009
Microsoft Technology Center
Dallas, Texas
SparkStart is a daylong ‘Startup Boot Camp’ that provides your Startup with business and technology discussions (open format), networking, and many other learning opportunities. Even if you’re a prospective BizSpark Startup, a new Startup, or are already enrolled in the program, this event is for you. It provides ways for you to learn more about key strategies for success — funding, marketing, and production to technology topics such as RIA and Cloud Development. For more. Register here.
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| | Robotics Developer Studio 2008 and CCR & DSS Toolkit Now Available — Separately
As a BizSpark Startup, you can now go to MSDN and download the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) 2008 OR the Microsoft CCR & DSS Toolkit Standard Edition. Microsoft RDS is the newest version of Microsoft’s robotics programming platform that includes support for 64-bit operating systems, new samples showing how to use the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight, greatly improved documentation, enhanced Project Wizards, runtime optimizations, and many other new features.
The Microsoft CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 can be used in non-robotics applications where concurrency and distributed processing are required — enabling your developers to better address some of the challenges of today’s application development.
Get Windows 7 Online Developer Training
Your developers can now get online training for Windows 7 — “A Developer's First Look at Windows 7”. This on-demand series introduces Windows 7 with an emphasis on new and interesting features. It consists of: two introductory sessions, one focusing on the new user interface, and one on behind-the-scenes features; two hour-long sessions that cover compatibility and security issues; and six shorter sessions that focus on coding for a single new feature. You can access these webcasts anywhere in the world with no need to login or fill out any forms.
Get Your Windows Mobile Applications in Front of Millions
Windows® Marketplace for Mobile is a new offering from Microsoft with Windows Mobile 6.5, which launches this fall. With Microsoft distributing your Windows Mobile 6.5 applications, you will earn a 70% revenue share. For more information, and to take advantage of a limited time offer, click here. The new Windows Mobile 6.5 delivers a new user experience — a touch screen interface, dashboard items for new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar, and much more. Windows Mobile for Developers.
Promote Your Startup on BizSparkDB
Add a short profile on your company by going to the “Add Your Startup” tab on the BizSparkDB at microsoftstartupzone.com, fill out a short profile and we’ll do the rest. It’s so easy. More than 1,700 Startups have profiled themselves on the BizSparkDB. Each week, we select a new Startup to showcase — we recently featured ColdLight, Sparus, Tweba, Ecovadis, and Qbox.com.
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