After John Shinal and I talked in late November, we followed up with another short talk about “lessons learned” and advice for startups. This is short but contains three ideas I think are important for startups. I have run startups and I’ve worked with many of them here at Microsoft. John Shinal, Vator.tv : Hi. We're here with ...

In October, I was interviewed by Om Malik and Joyce Kim about my role in Silicon Valley and how Microsoft works with startups. The interview is posted on our site, www.microsoftStartupZone, and Don Dodge, on my team, blogged about it. Some highlights from our discussion, with questions and my comments: How Can Startups Partner with ...

Will invention and genius repeat themselves? China is a big, big market. We know it, they know it, everyone knows it. It’s an accelerating planned economy trying desperately to stay in control. I call it “controlled” capitalism, but in China it has been referred to as “socialism with Chinese feature” or national capitalism. They have a national ...

How One Thing Leads to Another One thing leads to another. Those are actually lyrics from a popular song in the '80s: “you told me something wrong, I know I listen too long, but then one thing leads to another.” For me, it sums up the magic of startups — one thing does lead to another, or as Joe Kraus (Excite! Founder and now CEO of Jotspot) ...

The Answer May Surprise You By now, everyone knows that Microsoft server technologies run at scale. Some of the world’s largest SAP implementations run on Windows and SQL Server database. But did you know that the most widely discussed Internet cultural phenomenon of the last several years is a pure Microsoft shop? In fact, it’s a great example ...

The Perception and Reality of Innovation Abroad I was drinking a Maccabee and snacking on olives — rather than Pinot and crostini — but it felt very much like Silicon Valley — say Il Fornaio or Buck’s. Where was I? At a café in Tel Aviv last year, marveling at the energy of the place. It could have been Silicon Valley 1998: young, professional, ...