Joyce Huang

When we announced a program for startups called BizSpark, the idea that “Microsoft cares about Startups” was new to the Startup Community. That was November of 2008. This month, BizSpark celebrates its 5th Anniversary. In five years, more than 85,000 startups have participated in the BizSpark program from 165 different countries around the world. 100,000+ developers have become BizSpark members and we’re partnered with over 1,500 organizations who, like us, are striving to help startups every day. It has always been our goal to help startups succeed and over the years, BizSpark startups have been involved in big success stories, like Yammer being acquired for $1B and just last week, BizSpark grad, Criteo, raising $250M from their IPO. But, just as meaningful, are the many stories we have highlighted in our Featured BizSpark Startup Series. Through these interviews, we get the chance to hear, first-hand, about the journey of these startups and how they are making their dreams come true. These founders also share valuable advice for other startups. We have recently created The BizSpark Show – interviews with startup founders and investors from around the world with a focus on BizSpark members who are building the next great companies from the ground up. We are inspired and fascinated by the ideas, tenacity and sheer will startups possess and we invite you to share your own BizSpark story with us: bizspark@microsoft.com. In Singapore, we have 800 startups that are currently on BizSpark or are BizSpark Alumni. To celebrate 5 years of BizSpark here as well, we decided to tell the story of two of our startups, TradeHero and MoveCorrectly. We hope you enjoy the videos as much as we have watching our startups grow together with us. BizSpark Plus startup TradeHero is ranked #1 Finance app in 75 countries and runs on top of Windows Azure. CTO Dominic Morris talks about his journey with Tradehero, Windows Azure and the future of Tradehero after raising $10M Series A For Its Stock Market Trading gamification app. ...

A startup founder recently shared with me a book called Conversion Centered Design. It’s a handy guidebook on learning how to build, publish & A/B Test landing pages without fussing too much about the technology. What is Conversion Centered Design? “CCD is a discipline targeted at designing experiences that achieve a single business goal. It seeks to guide the visitor toward completing that one specific action, using persuasive design and psychological triggers as devices to increase conversions.” - According to the authors of the book and founders of the company Unbounce (who used to be interaction designers). Focus on Landing Pages “Landing pages are the perfect medium to facilitate CCD due to their ‘less is more’ approach. Landing pages use congruent design – having a single collective purpose – to usher your visitors toward the finish line.” The Seven Principles of Conversion Centered Design If you are too lazy to read the full 70 pages of the book, then the above slideshare presentation gives a good overview of the 7 Principles of Conversion Centered Design. The 7 core elements of CCD can be broken down into two groups; design and psychology. ...

One of the common questions I get is how to maximize and activate BizSpark’s MSDN Benefits for Windows Azure. These free Azure credits allow you to save tonnes of upfront capital costs and focus on building your product on top of our services. Multiple accounts also allow you to do testing on multiple machines. Here’s is a quick guide on how you can maximize your benefits! What is Windows Azure? Windows Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any language, tool or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment. [caption id=“attachment_15328” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Windows Azure Offerings[/caption] Windows Azure Offerings for BizSpark Members [caption id=“attachment_15339” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure Benefits for BizSpark Members[/caption] Windows Azure provides great benefits for BizSpark members. BizSpark members automatically receive the Windows Azure benefit through their Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN subscriptions. These benefits include $150USD monthly credits of Windows Azure, lower rates and no additional charge for using MSDN software on Windows Azure. In addition, BizSpark members retain production use rights under this Windows Azure benefits offer. [caption id=“attachment_15340” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure Rates for BizSpark[/caption] Activate and Maximise Your Benefits for Windows Azure. 1. Add more members to your BizSpark account. Just click on ‘Manage’ on the left bar after logging into BizSpark.com. *Remember that you can add up to 8 developers under your account so that they can have access to the benefits of BizSpark. [caption id=“attachment_15335” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Add more members to your BizSpark account.[/caption] 2. Next, go to this [link](Go to this link to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/) to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. [http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/](Go to this link to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/) [caption id=“attachment_15343” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure activation[/caption] 3. Log on with your Microsoft Account (the ID that you provided when applying for BizSpark). [caption id=“attachment_15344” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Windows Azure Login[/caption] 4. Check the box for terms and services and select ‘Purchase’. 5. You’ll be brought to your Azure account management page, where you can access your subscriptions. BizSpark Members get Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN. [caption id=“attachment_15346” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] You can check the amount of credits in your account simply by clicking the subscription.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_15349” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Each BizSpark member given US$200 credits at the start, and subsequently, $150.[/caption] Each BizSpark startup gets to add up to 8 accounts to their BizSpark membership and each gets US$150 worth of credits per month. That’s $1,200 credits per month. Feel free to utilize all the accounts and try the great services we have on Azure! Have fun! ...

I get lots of questions about the BizSpark program and how we help entrepreneurs. So I thought this slideshow and little brochure would help you, the startup founder, understand what the community is like in Singapore. Essentially, we provide software, support, visibility, and community to promising startups and visionary entrepreneurs — at no charge. We currently serve 50,000+ members in 100 countries across 6 continents. Navigating the Singapore Startup Eco-system with Microsoft BizSpark from Joyce Huang ...

Today I am excited to help announce Microsoft Ventures, an initiative by the Startups team to unify all Microsoft startup activities under one umbrella. You can read more about it from the official statement by Rahul Sood, the GM of the Microsoft Ventures in the official MS Blog. Microsoft Ventures is a coordinated global effort that offers the tools, resources, expertise and routes to market by providing mentorship, technology guidance, seed funding, joint selling opportunities and other benefits. Microsoft isn’t new to working with startups. Since 2008, more than 75,000 startups from over 100 countries have received access to tools and resources through the BizSpark program. ...

If you don’t already know, WalkaboutSG is happening this coming Friday from 12pm-5pm at the CBD area. We’ll be opening up the Microsoft Innovation Center and Microsoft Technology Center for you to find out more about the work we do together with startups and how we support innovation in the local software economy! We’ve got tonnes of free swag to give away, so if you’re coming by Raffles Place, remember to come to One Marina Boulevard! See you soon, Team Spiffy

A big thank you to all the incredible students who took part in the local semi-finals of Imagine Cup 2013! From solving issues of dementia, sign language and many more important problems by the world, we were deeply impressed by the creativity and passion displayed by all of you. We are in the midst of shortlisting the finalists for the local finals and will reveal them shortly - stay tuned! ...

App of the week is a weekly showcase of an awesome app developed on Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Got an app you love that you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment and tell us which app and why you love it! A little blue bird has landed on your Windows 8 device! Earlier today, it was announced on the Twitter blog and Windows Experience blog that Twitter is here on Windows 8. ...

App of the week is a weekly showcase of an awesome app developed on Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Got an app you love that you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment and tell us which app and why you love it! Ok, this might be a little early, but Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! As you may know, Chinese New Year is a time for young and old alike to stuff their faces, enjoy some family time, give or take some ang paos (red packets) and more importantly… buy new stuff!It’s times like these that make you glad that you’ve gotten yourself that credit or debit card that DBS offered you. There’s no better way to maximise that now than with our app of the week, DBS Shopper and Indulge. ...

App of the week is a weekly showcase of an awesome app developed on Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Got an app you love that you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment and tell us which app and why you love it! HWM is one of Singapore’s most loved technology magazines. We’re really thrilled that it’s on the Windows Store! Here’s what it looks like : HWM adopted a sleek design for it’s Windows Store application. It automatically loads the most updated issue of the magazine and you can opt to purchase it. By scrolling right, you can see the rest of the issues of HWM! There’s never been a better time to save some trees. Once you select the magazine, the pages automagically load. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy all the gadget eye candy that’s going around. Great content presented by one of the leading technology magazines in Singapore. Try it out today and let us know what you think!