: Up to $150K tier shelved, perks folded into two-track system
Microsoft has retired its program that granted incorporated AI startups with a validated business plan up to $150,000 in Azure credits and replaced it with a two-track system.at RSA in May, was generous and a good way to drive young companies with AI ideas onto its cloud platform.
But as of Tuesday, that multi-tier model has beenStartups backed by an affiliated investor enter the Microsoft for Startups Investor Network track, which starts with $100,000 in Azure credits and can unlock additional awards based on referral source and engagement. Alternatively, early-stage teams without funding may qualify for up to $5,000 of Azure credits. For founders who'd budgeted runway around the old $150K ceiling, the June 27 announcement was a rude shock. "By introducing two distinct paths — a streamlined, self-service experience for earlier-stage startups, and a higher touch experience for investor-backed startups, we're making it easier for every founder to access the right resources, at the right time," Redmond said in the post announcing the changes.on condition of anonymity praised the old program, but said some warning would have been useful as this has wrecked budgets and may sink the entire project. "We're in for close to $80,000-$100,000 at this point on costs outside of Azure," they said."Everybody was like 'we believe in this idea, and we think we can get this thing off the ground,' but this business plan was sort of tied to this runway through Azure."Brits end probe into Microsoft's $13B bankrolling of OpenAI Part of the problem, the founder explained, was that once you've actually built around Azure, switching to another platform causes a host of problems. They accepted that part of the reason Microsoft was offering such a deal was to lock people into Azure, but the abrupt shift with no warning is causing massive problems. I'm not contesting the legality of their choices. It's just that, you know, this is people's lives you're playing with "I'm not contesting the legality of their choices. It's just that, you know, this is people's lives you're playing with," the founder told us. "If someone has taken it seriously enough to get to this point, maybe they need to just stop accepting new applications and give everyone a few months' notice, that's fair enough. If you really kind of hitch your business plan to a program and then it abruptly disappears, that's pretty catastrophic.", an invitation-only group of people who are already working within the Microsoft for Startups program. Pegasus links startups to Microsoft sales and assigns them a dedicated Cloud Solutions Architect to act as tech support. But overall, the changes mean there's very little middle ground for startups seeking financial incentives from Microsoft to use its cloud platform. There's $5,000 Azure credits for the early stages, and then you're on your own until you can attract investors.is offering $200,000 in cloud credits, and $350,000 if it's an AI idea, as well as advice from staffers. Amazon too has itsAI agents get office tasks wrong around 70% of the time, and a lot of them aren't AI at allWindows 11 migration heats up... on desktops
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