6 ms·

Announcing Microsoft Ventures for startups

73 points by Lightning 13y ago

kozhevnikov 13y ago
I wonder if rounds A, B and C would cover the licencing cost of a SQL Server cluster? But in all seriousness I hope this would result in more interesting .NET based apps and will give Microsoft more reason to support Mono, new open source frameworks and middleware and better integrations/bindings with existing ones.
anujabro 13y ago
Not sure, but this looks like the first major global approach by an in-house tech VC fund - 5 accelerators around the globe.
- beat 13y ago
  I noticed that too. It looks like MS is taking advantage of their global reach to get the benefits of accelerators to places that the mainstream "startup" community isn't going. It's their chance to be firstest with the mostest, when they're coming into this venture accelerator thingy late in the game.
samspenc 13y ago
WHAT??? Anyway, good news for the startup scene, as long as they don't force everyone to code in .NET. ;)
- dvmmh 13y ago
  You only have to code in .Net if you don't agree to put in an NSA back door.
  - potatolicious 13y ago
    I know yours is just a pithy joke, but I think a lot of this community has extreme NSA-fatigue, including myself. It's not enough that 50-90% of the stories on the front page are all related to the NSA scandal, but it also has to infest completely unrelated posts like this one. I'd like to pretend that we're still a forum about technology and startups, as opposed to an ever so slightly higher-level form of /r/politics.
    - sliverstorm 13y ago
      There there, it isn't good to lie to yourself like that.
- kryten 13y ago
  Don't laugh - they probably will.
- outside1234 13y ago
  You should check out the Windows Azure website, .NET is but one column among 5-6 open languages / platforms. Microsoft realizes that it needs to be where the developers are, which is a broader world than .NET. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/ http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/ I'm using node.js on Azure and it is impressively good product.
- Pxtl 13y ago
  But I actually like .NET. I have my misgivings about a lot of other MS products, but C# is just plain nice.
MWil 13y ago
As a Bizspark member I'm a little perplexed at not having received an email first...
chasing 13y ago
Microsoft Ventures' site -- http://www.microsoftventures.com/ http://www.microsoftventures.com/ -- has this nugget right at the top, in large lettering: "You have an idea so brilliant it burns. You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. You just have to make it happen—now." There have been plenty of posts on Hacker News about entrepreneurs and hackers being bad at work-life balance and/or trying to create better work-life balance with varying degrees of success. It's a real issue, and I think the common consensus is that entrepreneurs with poor work-life balance are more likely to experience burn-out (or other problems like alcohol or drug issues -- or depression) which will ultimately make them less effective at whatever they're doing. So I wonder two things: 1) How much of this "work at the expense of all else" mentality is, in fact, driven by marketing like this on the Microsoft Ventures site? (Edit: Not that it's Microsoft's fault, but that this attitude is common in marketing relating to start-ups and entrepreneurship.) 2) Should having this kind of "work at the expense of all else" language in the most prominent position on the Microsoft Ventures site make me conclude that they actually kind of don't "get it" as far as start-up entrepreneurship goes? Or, at least, that they are trying to take some "cool" stance and "appeal to the kids" with some slightly more sophisticated form of the "EXTREME" everything marketing aimed at teens and twenty-somethings about a decade ago? Because it makes the site feel more like an ad for Mountain Dew or Red Bull than an advertisement for an organization that really cares to understand how start-up culture should work. Which, I guess it is, since the end-game for Microsoft is most likely to get more cool new companies to use their (otherwise struggling?) software platforms. I understand I'm judging based on one throwaway tag-line, but it's literally the only non-menu-item piece of text on the screen when I visit their site. So I feel I have to give it a fair amount of weight.
- counterpointer 13y ago
  You could apply the same logic to almost any passion that a person can have. Tennis, racing, singing, pick your choice. I was up till 1am last weekend playing tennis under lights. Overdo anything, and you're likely to get messed up. I think you're reading too much into it. It's just a pitch, effective or not and I think it relates more to deciding to go for the idea and the "Eureka!" moment rather than the weeks and months working on it after doing so.
kryten 13y ago
No way. I'd take dirty cash from Larry Ellison before I signed up to anything related to them these days. This is after 20 years of working with Microsoft on large enterprise products, some of which were built in partnership with them. If you've ever been on the end of a partner agreement, which is what this probably amounts to with much more lock-in (as they're channeling cash to you as well), then you'll understand what I mean. It's overbearing and you're treated like a criminal after about 3 months if you don't spend, spend, spend. Also, I worked for a startup which was spun up in conjunction with them (no funding but support, advice and endorsement). It was quite successful circa 2005. We switched out to Python/PostgreSQL as to be honest it was getting expensive throwing SQL boxes out and the time to market for ASP.Net was high. The moment this happened, everything was off the table and we had the license police on our arses, even though we were in compliance and they knew it. You know the film: The Firm? Not far off it from experience.
- ethomson 13y ago
  That's interesting. I had the exact opposite experience. I was part of a small startup that received exactly what you describe as "support, advice and endorsement" (like you, we did not receive funding) for developer tools. We developed Java software using Eclipse. Most of our team used Linux or Mac OS, only one of our developers used Windows. We shipped software for HP-UX on HP-PA RISC and IBM mainframes. Our web site was written in Ruby on Rails and backed by PostgreSQL. Microsoft liked this arrangement enough that they acquired us. (Full disclosure, I remain a Microsoft employee.)
  - ibdknox 13y ago
    Out of curiosity, what was the name of your company?
    - ethomson 13y ago
      Teamprise was the name of the company. (To be pedantic, it was not my company in that I was not a founder; I was an employee.) I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not certain that I know the new name of the product. Microsoft product names can get a little, em, verbose when you start talking about small parts of bigger products that are also small parts of still bigger products. I think that the name, officially, is "Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Server Team Explorer Everywhere". While the acquisition was better for the product (more resources!) and better for customers of it (it's free!), the new name is regrettable.
levesque 13y ago
I think this is a smart move. Microsoft has a lot of cash and doesn't seem to know where/how to spend it. I mean their latest product launches have met pretty cold receptions. Curious to see how this will play out.
xradionut 13y ago
Sounds like they are priming the pump for Metro and Azure as well as trying to get some new blood on their side. I've been tempted to go down this road, but then my memory of previous startup experiences and the number of times I've been pissed off about shit from Redmond stops me.
beagle3 13y ago
Anecdotal, but the only positive experience I've ever heard that someone had with Microsoft was being acquired. Every other interaction turned sour (and often fatal) for the 2nd party. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the Microsoft Kiss of Death was well known. The concept is not well known today, but I'm not sure anything else about it has changed.

73 points by Lightning 13y ago

I wonder if rounds A, B and C would cover the licencing cost of a SQL Server cluster? But in all seriousness I hope this would result in more interesting .NET based apps and will give Microsoft more reason to support Mono, new open source frameworks and middleware and better integrations/bindings with existing ones.

anujabro 13y ago

Not sure, but this looks like the first major global approach by an in-house tech VC fund - 5 accelerators around the globe.

beat 13y ago
I noticed that too. It looks like MS is taking advantage of their global reach to get the benefits of accelerators to places that the mainstream "startup" community isn't going. It's their chance to be firstest with the mostest, when they're coming into this venture accelerator thingy late in the game.

samspenc 13y ago

WHAT??? Anyway, good news for the startup scene, as long as they don't force everyone to code in .NET. ;)

dvmmh 13y ago
You only have to code in .Net if you don't agree to put in an NSA back door.
- potatolicious 13y ago
  I know yours is just a pithy joke, but I think a lot of this community has extreme NSA-fatigue, including myself. It's not enough that 50-90% of the stories on the front page are all related to the NSA scandal, but it also has to infest completely unrelated posts like this one. I'd like to pretend that we're still a forum about technology and startups, as opposed to an ever so slightly higher-level form of /r/politics.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    There there, it isn't good to lie to yourself like that.
kryten 13y ago
Don't laugh - they probably will.
outside1234 13y ago
You should check out the Windows Azure website, .NET is but one column among 5-6 open languages / platforms. Microsoft realizes that it needs to be where the developers are, which is a broader world than .NET. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/ http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/ I'm using node.js on Azure and it is impressively good product.
Pxtl 13y ago
But I actually like .NET. I have my misgivings about a lot of other MS products, but C# is just plain nice.

MWil 13y ago

As a Bizspark member I'm a little perplexed at not having received an email first...

chasing 13y ago

Microsoft Ventures' site -- http://www.microsoftventures.com/ http://www.microsoftventures.com/ -- has this nugget right at the top, in large lettering: "You have an idea so brilliant it burns. You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. You just have to make it happen—now." There have been plenty of posts on Hacker News about entrepreneurs and hackers being bad at work-life balance and/or trying to create better work-life balance with varying degrees of success. It's a real issue, and I think the common consensus is that entrepreneurs with poor work-life balance are more likely to experience burn-out (or other problems like alcohol or drug issues -- or depression) which will ultimately make them less effective at whatever they're doing. So I wonder two things: 1) How much of this "work at the expense of all else" mentality is, in fact, driven by marketing like this on the Microsoft Ventures site? (Edit: Not that it's Microsoft's fault, but that this attitude is common in marketing relating to start-ups and entrepreneurship.) 2) Should having this kind of "work at the expense of all else" language in the most prominent position on the Microsoft Ventures site make me conclude that they actually kind of don't "get it" as far as start-up entrepreneurship goes? Or, at least, that they are trying to take some "cool" stance and "appeal to the kids" with some slightly more sophisticated form of the "EXTREME" everything marketing aimed at teens and twenty-somethings about a decade ago? Because it makes the site feel more like an ad for Mountain Dew or Red Bull than an advertisement for an organization that really cares to understand how start-up culture should work. Which, I guess it is, since the end-game for Microsoft is most likely to get more cool new companies to use their (otherwise struggling?) software platforms. I understand I'm judging based on one throwaway tag-line, but it's literally the only non-menu-item piece of text on the screen when I visit their site. So I feel I have to give it a fair amount of weight.

counterpointer 13y ago
You could apply the same logic to almost any passion that a person can have. Tennis, racing, singing, pick your choice. I was up till 1am last weekend playing tennis under lights. Overdo anything, and you're likely to get messed up. I think you're reading too much into it. It's just a pitch, effective or not and I think it relates more to deciding to go for the idea and the "Eureka!" moment rather than the weeks and months working on it after doing so.

kryten 13y ago

No way. I'd take dirty cash from Larry Ellison before I signed up to anything related to them these days. This is after 20 years of working with Microsoft on large enterprise products, some of which were built in partnership with them. If you've ever been on the end of a partner agreement, which is what this probably amounts to with much more lock-in (as they're channeling cash to you as well), then you'll understand what I mean. It's overbearing and you're treated like a criminal after about 3 months if you don't spend, spend, spend. Also, I worked for a startup which was spun up in conjunction with them (no funding but support, advice and endorsement). It was quite successful circa 2005. We switched out to Python/PostgreSQL as to be honest it was getting expensive throwing SQL boxes out and the time to market for ASP.Net was high. The moment this happened, everything was off the table and we had the license police on our arses, even though we were in compliance and they knew it. You know the film: The Firm? Not far off it from experience.

ethomson 13y ago
That's interesting. I had the exact opposite experience. I was part of a small startup that received exactly what you describe as "support, advice and endorsement" (like you, we did not receive funding) for developer tools. We developed Java software using Eclipse. Most of our team used Linux or Mac OS, only one of our developers used Windows. We shipped software for HP-UX on HP-PA RISC and IBM mainframes. Our web site was written in Ruby on Rails and backed by PostgreSQL. Microsoft liked this arrangement enough that they acquired us. (Full disclosure, I remain a Microsoft employee.)
- ibdknox 13y ago
  Out of curiosity, what was the name of your company?
  - ethomson 13y ago
    Teamprise was the name of the company. (To be pedantic, it was not my company in that I was not a founder; I was an employee.) I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not certain that I know the new name of the product. Microsoft product names can get a little, em, verbose when you start talking about small parts of bigger products that are also small parts of still bigger products. I think that the name, officially, is "Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Server Team Explorer Everywhere". While the acquisition was better for the product (more resources!) and better for customers of it (it's free!), the new name is regrettable.

levesque 13y ago

I think this is a smart move. Microsoft has a lot of cash and doesn't seem to know where/how to spend it. I mean their latest product launches have met pretty cold receptions. Curious to see how this will play out.

xradionut 13y ago

Sounds like they are priming the pump for Metro and Azure as well as trying to get some new blood on their side. I've been tempted to go down this road, but then my memory of previous startup experiences and the number of times I've been pissed off about shit from Redmond stops me.

beagle3 13y ago

Anecdotal, but the only positive experience I've ever heard that someone had with Microsoft was being acquired. Every other interaction turned sour (and often fatal) for the 2nd party. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the Microsoft Kiss of Death was well known. The concept is not well known today, but I'm not sure anything else about it has changed.