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One of the biggest problems founders face is getting the technical advice they need to help launch their cloud-based startup. There are significant time and financial costs to understanding the best cloud configuration for your startup, even for the most tech-savvy entrepreneur. Whether you are building from scratch or migrating an existing service from an on-premise infrastructure to the cloud, getting sound advice from technical experts can smooth and accelerate the process.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is addressing these technical challenges with a comprehensive range of technical advisory offerings available to founders at Level 2 or higher. These benefits offer 1:1 sessions with experienced professionals giving you the perfect forum to ask technical questions about architecting your solution for optimal performance, scaling your product for success, migrating to Azure, and so much more.
Getting Started with Azure Technical Advisory (ATA)
Azure Technical Advisory gives you access to an extensive pool of technical advisors drawn from across the Microsoft ecosystem. The advisors make up a curated team working exclusively with startups to help with technical scenarios that are unique to you and other startups.
Whether you are new to Azure, want expert guidance or need a deep architectural design session, a member of the Azure Technical Advisory team will help you determine which service best fits your needs and then help you schedule a meeting.
Azure Technical Advisor
In your first meeting, the Azure Technical Advisor will triage your problem to determine whether they will be able to help you or if they need to schedule a meeting with another expert.
They can deliver technical consultation designed to get startups launched on Azure. They can also help you with integrating and migrating active Azure services, and help you explore new cloud services to accelerate growth.
Your Azure Technical Advisor can also schedule sessions for startups who are further along their journey.
Azure Tech Champ
Azure Tech Champs are specialists who provide guidance on configuration, implementation, and performance to enhance your business delivery. They provide a deeper follow-up to your session with the Azure Technical Advisor.
An Azure Tech Champ will review your current architecture as part of your migration to an on-premises solution. They might work with you to analyze current usage and provide insights on cost optimization techniques.
Azure App Consult
For startups that need an in-depth session with an expert Microsoft engineer specializing in Azure technologies and services, there is the Azure App Consult. This session, looking at your startup’s infrastructure, can be up to four hours where you will dive deeper into a wide range of topics, such as:
- Architecture review
- Design review
- Implementation review
- Deployment review
- Cost optimization
Fast track for independent software vendors (ISVs)
Qualified startups will be given additional support with our Fast track for ISVs. This is for projects being developed on Azure which may require multi-day or -week engagement with different members of the engineering team.
How ATA is helping founders today
Since we launched the technical advisory benefit in Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub our team of technical experts has been helping startups across a range of business verticals. They have run sessions on everything from launching on Azure to an extensive consideration of the planned architecture with suggestions for optimization.
Recently, a data science startup focused on sustainable energy reached out through Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub to talk with someone about their framework and security. The Azure Technical Advisor conducted a thorough review and made several framework and security recommendations. These include implementing Azure Storage, Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, Azure Load Balancer, and Azure Monitor.
The advisor worked with the startup to deploy the suggested services and integrate them with the existing setup. The company was thrilled with the level of support and 1:1 guidance that was available to them.
When can I access ATA?
You can book a session with the Azure Technical Advisory round the clock, five days a week. It is open to members of Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub from anywhere in the world that are level 2 or higher, although sessions are only available in English for now.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is always looking for ways to help startups level up. In addition to the technical advisory, member benefits include the suite of Microsoft tools like Microsoft 365, GitHub Enterprise and more. There is also a broad and ever-increasing range of trusted partner benefits which startups can access to follow them throughout their journey from ideation through to MVP, including access to OpenAI APIs.
To learn more about Azure Technical Advisory and other startup benefits, sign up for Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub today.