Microsoft for Startups

Generic outreach is easy. Personalized engagement at scale is much harder. 📣 This month’s #FounderFriday features Nate Okonkwo, founder and CEO of Remarkable AI, and the story behind a platform helping brands make smarter decisions about who to reach, when to reach them, and what message to send. Read the story, then join us live on April 24 to hear directly from Nate. 👇 #MicrosoftForStartups #Azure #AI #Startups #FounderFriday

What does it really take to make AI-driven customer engagement work at enterprise scale? 🤔 Join us for the next episode of Founder Friday, featuring Nate Okonkwo, Co-founder and CEO of Remarkable AI, for a conversation on how AI is helping brands improve retention, drive stronger ROI, and create more personalized customer experiences across email, SMS, and social. Remarkable AI helps enterprise consumer brands move beyond generic outreach by optimizing three critical decisions: which customers to contact, when to reach them, and what message to send. In this session, we’ll explore: • Why batch-and-blast campaigns are no longer enough • How AI is reshaping retention and customer messaging • What responsible AI means in practice • The metrics enterprise brands care about most • How Microsoft for Startups and Azure have supported Remarkable AI as it scales Friday, April 24, 2026 10:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM ET Register now to join us live. 👇 #MicrosoftforStartups #Azure #AI #Startups #FounderFriday

Most startups don't lose enterprise deals on product. They lose them before the product ever gets seen. Microsoft for Startups is introducing IP co-sell acceleration, and Hans Yang shares why this matters for founders looking to reach enterprise customers faster by selling with Microsoft. What this unlocks for founders: • Faster deals through Microsoft Marketplace • Access to pre-committed Azure budgets • Co-selling alongside Microsoft sellers • Global reach without scaling your sales team For startups building enterprise-ready solutions, this is about turning interest into revenue without getting stuck in procurement cycles. If you're scaling an enterprise product and want a faster path to revenue, this is worth a read. 👉 https://msft.it/6040QLFI4

AI is moving from experimentation to execution. This month’s AI Digest: Startup Edition brings together the product updates, founder stories, and real-world conversations shaping how startups are building and deploying AI today. Inside this edition: • New capabilities like Fireworks AI in Microsoft Foundry • What enterprise-ready AI really requires beyond the MVP • Startup stories from Notch applying AI in regulated, real-world environments • Conversations on enterprise AI with TrojAI, RegScale, and Reach Security • Women’s History Month spotlights featuring founders from Getbee, Haut.AI, and across the Microsoft for Startups ecosystem. Read the full newsletter 👇 #MicrosoftForStartups #AI #Startups #EnterpriseAI #FounderFriday

If Azure Databricks has been on your team's roadmap, this is a great place to start. 👇 This Microsoft learning path walks you through the fundamentals of Azure Databricks and how it fits into the modern data platform ecosystem. From workspace setup and architecture concepts to Unity Catalog and integrations with Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and VS Code, you'll come away with the foundation to start building scalable data solutions. A few things we think are especially useful for startup teams: ✅ Understanding compute options to optimize for both performance and cost ✅ Learning how control and compute planes work together ✅ Getting hands-on with Unity Catalog to organize your data assets from day one All you need is some familiarity with SQL, cloud storage, and data analytics basics. 🔗https://msft.it/6044Qx9L2 #AzureDatabricks #MicrosoftForStartups #DataEngineering #CloudData #StartupTech #LearningAndDevelopment

Commerce has always been about people buying from people. But somewhere along the way, e-commerce lost the conversation. For our upcoming Founder Friday, we’re joined by Thea C. Myhrvold - Founder of Getbee, to talk about how conversational commerce is bringing human expertise back into the online shopping experience. In this conversation, we’ll explore: • Why high-consideration purchases still depend on human guidance • How conversational commerce is changing the way brands sell online • What it takes to build a new category before the market is ready • Lessons from scaling an enterprise startup with global retail brands If you’re building in AI, retail, or enterprise SaaS, this will be a great conversation to join. 👉 Register to join the conversation.

The definition of a VC-backable AI startup has changed. Vision still matters. But in 2026, it has to hold up in production. Founders are being asked harder questions, earlier: → How does your system behave at scale? → What happens when it degrades? → How are you handling AI governance in production? Not just on a roadmap. The startups gaining momentum aren't just the ones with the boldest ideas. They're the ones building for durability from day one. We've identified five forces reshaping what founders are building right now and what it takes to go from vision to venture in this environment. From Vision to Venture with M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund → https://lnkd.in/exVYKT-s #AI #Startups #FounderAdvice #Venture

As RSAC comes to a close, one thing is clear: The next wave of cybersecurity will be built by founders turning insight into action. In this conversation, Ravid Circus, Co-Founder and CPO of Seemplicity, shares how the industry is shifting beyond detection toward real-time response. We’ve gotten good at identifying threats. The opportunity now is in what happens next. Startups are leading this shift, rethinking workflows and building AI-driven systems that don’t just surface risk, but help resolve it. A strong note to close out RSAC. Watch the full conversation below 👇 #RSAC #Cybersecurity #AI #Startups #MicrosoftForStartups #BuiltWithMfS

At RSAC, one thing is clear. Enterprise AI only moves as fast as its security. Tom Davis from Microsoft for Startups sits down with Christian Falco from TrojAI to break down how organizations are deploying AI safely in real-world environments. From self-hosted deployments to layered guardrails and real-time security insights, this is what enterprise-ready AI looks like in practice. Watch the full conversation 👇 Learn more about Microsoft at RSAC: https://msft.it/6045QsiWc #RSAC #MicrosoftForStartups #AI #EnterpriseAI #Cybersecurity