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Overview
Company: 47 Hats
Interviewees: Bob Walsh, Founder
Business Description: A consulting firm and blog dedicated to helping micro-ISVs and startups succeed
Web site: www.47hats.com
“I looked at what was being done with BizSpark and said, this is a great idea, this levels the playing field. It means that those other developers who happen to be Microsoft-centric people can get into the game and play too.”
— BOB WALSH, 47 HATS
“I've heard from something like 70 or 80 different startups after they've gone through the process, and their reaction has been — ‘This was easy, I'm getting everything I want, I'm totally stoked to do a startup, and make it happen.’ So they're basically ecstatic.”
— BOB WALSH, 47 HATS
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation
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Last week we interviewed Bob Walsh, Founder of 47 Hats, a consulting firm and blog dedicated to helping micro-ISVs and startups succeed. To date, he has been the most active Network Partner in the Microsoft® BizSpark™ program. Bob is a professional consultant who developed a micro-ISV product, MasterList Professional for Windows®, authored two books — “Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality“ and “Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them“ — and is currently working on a third book about startups. In addition, Bob is building a training/productivity community for startups called StartupToDo.com. He is also a moderator at “The Business of Software” Forum as a part of Joel on Software, a forum about software and software companies.
Q. Tell us how you first heard about the BizSpark Program?
“I had heard rumors about BizSpark for a while, and when it came out I immediately contacted Microsoft Champ Julien Codorniou because my tagline on my e-mails and elsewhere, for instance, on my blog 47hats.com, is ‘helping micro-ISVs and software startups succeed.’ And after watching Microsoft-centric developers be at a really big disadvantage when it came to starting their startups, compared to open source developers, I looked at what was being done with BizSpark and said, this is a great idea, this levels the playing field. It means that those other developers who happen to be Microsoft-centric people can get into the game and play too.”
Q. So far, what have you done to promote your BizSpark relationship?
“I signed up as a BizSpark Network Partner, and started putting the word out on my blog, and podcast, and at Joel On Software’s Business of Software, and a couple of other places, and people started to ask me to make them BizSpark people.”
Q. To date, you are one of our most active Network Partners, and have been quite successful in recruiting startups, what’s your secret?
“I get e-mails from people saying they’d like to join, and I've made it clear in my various posts that besides knowing that they want to join, I really need to know that they’re a startup because that’s what BizSpark is about. It's about startups. So I ask them if they can tell me a little bit about their startup idea, nothing proprietary, nothing that they shouldn't be able to talk to anybody about, and I try and offer a couple of suggestions to them. I tell them that after three years when they graduate from BizSpark, if they have been successful, the cost of Microsoft software is going to be a wash compared to everything else. This is a key point.
“But what really excites me about BizSpark is that all those really great corporate developers who are locked away in the enterprise now have a chance to take their hard-earned expertise and even frustration with the problems in their industry, or in their part of the world, and create really exciting software. And that's what I'm all about.”
Q. What feedback have you heard from the startup companies that have joined BizSpark?
Once they get over the amazement that Microsoft is giving them, by my estimation, something on the order of $30,000 worth of value for free, they sign up, and find out that it's a lot easier to go through BizSpark than other Microsoft programs. They’re ecstatic because not only do they get to play with all the new shiny toys, and the high-end toys, like Microsoft Visual Studio® Team Foundation, but they get those critical production licenses for Windows Server® 2008, SQL Server® 2008, and all the other things that come with those products. As a result, they can concentrate on developing the software that's going to power their startup, and not worry about where they are going to find the money to get started.
I've heard from something like 70 or 80 different startups after they've gone through the process, and their reaction has been — ‘This was easy, I'm getting everything I want, I'm totally stoked to do a startup, and make it happen.’ So they're basically ecstatic.
Q. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how would you rate the BizSpark program?
”A solid 10. And the reason I say that isn't because you're giving away $30,000 worth of software, it's because when someone has a question or an issue, or they don't quite believe that you really mean what you’ve said, Julien responds in the community, and he responds very quickly to my emails. I don't know if the man sleeps, but he is just out there and he is not afraid to talk to people who have an attitude problem with Microsoft and say to them — ‘Okay, fine. Well, this is what we have. You know, you might want to think about us.’ Like I said, I would rate you guys a solid 10 for the BizSpark program.”
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