{"id":1329,"date":"2014-11-13T00:42:31","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T23:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.innovationiseverywhere.com\/?p=1329"},"modified":"2022-12-22T15:06:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:06:40","slug":"guided-tour-microsoft-ventures-zack-weisfeld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/guided-tour-microsoft-ventures-zack-weisfeld\/","title":{"rendered":"A guided tour of Microsoft Ventures with Zack Weisfeld"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Bangalore to Beijing, through Tel-Aviv and London, Zack Weisfeld<\/a> has been a serial entrepreneur and is now nurturing \u201cthe perfect global startup\u201d as Head of Microsoft Ventures<\/a> Europe & Global Accelerator Program<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The program is what we call a corporate accelerator<\/strong>. It gives a big corporation – Microsoft here – an opportunity to support startups, with various objectives in mind, from technology adoption to having a stake in a possible unicorn.<\/p>\n

\"microsoft<\/a><\/p>\n

Zack Weisfeld, Head of\u00a0Microsoft Ventures Europe & Global Accelerator Program, on the stage of Bangalore NPC 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

And, because we\u2019ve discussed with Zack following his speech at Bangalore\u2019s tech event Nasscom Product Conclave Seed Summit<\/a>, it\u2019s great to see the program is spread across seven cities<\/strong>, Bangalore included.<\/p>\n

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Three pillars for Microsoft Ventures corporate innovation program<\/h2>\n

Microsoft is quite advanced in the ways they manage this corporate innovation. They have about 100 Microsoft Innovation Centers<\/a>, more than 200 partnerships with local accelerators or incubators, as well as these seven Microsoft Ventures Accelerators in Seattle, Tel-Aviv, London, Beijing, Bangalore, Berlin and Paris.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Three pillars<\/strong> give the structure of Microsoft corporate innovation program:<\/p>\n

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  1. The community<\/strong>, through the BizSpark<\/a> program (free software for about 100k startups<\/strong>), the 107 Microsoft Innovation Centers<\/strong> who help entrepreneurs at a very early stage, and the 200+ partnerships with accelerators<\/strong>, but also with support organisations such as the Founders Institute<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. The 7 Microsoft Accelerators, lasting 4 to 6 months, running since 2012, with a 2% admission rate,<\/strong> no equity, and no obligation to use Microsoft technology. Each location is staffed by a full time experienced team. The curriculum is comprehensive, from Lean startup to product, scale-up and storytelling\/marketing.<\/li>\n
  3. The growth pillar,<\/strong> where Microsoft Ventures Growth help more mature startups, possibly future unicorns<\/strong>, through access to funding, connection to big companies<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The results so far:<\/p>\n