sanjayjain: Day1: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week

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Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx
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Day1 from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week...



What a day! Long, energetic and productive. It was impressive to see the entrepreneur energy among all the team members. Some of the folks were up late mid-night, learning Dynamics CRM Platform and developing their solution. It reminds me of my very early career years of working in a startup. Here are the key highlights of the 1st day.



· Warren Wilbee, Director of ISV Evangelism, kicked-off the week.

· Joan Barrow, Director MTC Reston, shared MTC vision and offerings.

· Following six advisors delivered a five-hours training covering various extensibility aspects of Dynamics CRM Platform.

o Sanjay Jain, ISV Architect Evangelist

o Girish Raja, ISV Architect Evangelist

o John O'Donnell, ISV Architect Evangelist

o Nikhil Hasija, Sr. Product Manager, Dynamics CRM Team

o Jim Steger, Principal, Sonoma Partners

o Dan Blake, Principal, CourseMax

























Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain









Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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Wow!! Thank you for such an overwhelming response to 1st Dynamics CRM Incubation Week. We got so many cool nominations from all over US, making it difficult to finalize. Congratulations to finalists; for others please keep an eye on this blog for future announcements.



I plan to share the excitement everyday as the week unfolds. Here are the key pre-event updates:



· Five teams are rushing to Microsoft Technology Center, Reston, VA.



· Six Dynamics CRM experts are flying in to roll their sleeves to join these startup teams to convert their business ideas into a reality.



· Three industry experts have volunteered to coach these entrepreneurs on various critical aspects to be successful.



· One Dynamics CRM offshore development company has volunteered to expedite the momentum by offering their CRM expertise along with Time Zone advantage.



· A strong Judging Panel (CRM Industry Thought Leader, area Incubators, area VC companies) is getting ready to critique team pitches and give various awards.





Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain







Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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The current economic downturn is putting many entrepreneurs (startups and students) under increasing pressure, making it critical to find new resources and ways to reduce costs and inefficiencies. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week is designed to offer following assistance to entrepreneurs.

· Learning and building next generation business solution on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform (a rapid application development platform to reduce the cost and Go-To-Market time) with help of on-site advisors (Microsoft Dynamics CRM experts).

· Getting entrepreneurs coaching from a panel of industry experts (academic and angel investors)

· Generating marketing buzz for their ideas



The 1st CRM Incubation Week is being held at Microsoft Technology Center, Reston, VA from Mon 12/15/2008 to Fri 12/19/2008. This event consists of ½ day of training, 3 ½ days of active prototype/development time, and a final day for packaging/finishing and reporting out to a panel of judges for various prizes.



This event is a no-fee event (plan your own travel expenses) and each team can bring 3 participants (1 business and 1-2 technical). To nominate your team, please submit the following details to Sanjay Jain.



Organization Details

Name



Web Site URL



Mailing Address



Solution Overview







Team Details

Participant 1:



Name



Brief BIO



Email



Phone



Participant 2:



Name



Brief BIO



Email



Phone



Participant 3:



Name



Brief BIO



Email



Phone







You may want to enroll into recently launched Microsoft BizSpark, an exciting new offering that enables software startups to leverage Microsoft development and platform technologies to deliver next generation web and Software + Services applications. For details see here.



Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain





Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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Day2 from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week...



All five teams started their day with architecting/designing solutions with their advisors.



As the scope got clearer, teams were able to define the work to be passed to Proteans, a Bangalore, India based offshore development company. Nilesh Patel, President, Proteans, volunteered to offer some of their CRM resources for a week. Thanks Nilesh. We have defined communication and collaboration processes including two scrum calls per day (9am ET and 9pm ET) and one SharePoint portal site per team. Offshore development model is very delicate and has higher probability of failure, if not done right. I have done offshore work from both the ends, in my prior lives. Amazing to see within such a short span (less than a week), teams are able to use this offshore development model productively.



As part of entrepreneur coaching, during lunch, we had our 1st guest speaker, Asher Epstein, Managing Director, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Maryland. Asher gave us a great insight on challenges/opportunities and how to prepare to pitch to VC community. He shared lots of real-life experience and could engage the audience in Q & A.



The entrepreneur fever is growing; we all can feel in the air. I was at the MTC with colleague of mine Girish Raja until 1am and some of the team members stayed even later than that.



Stay tuned for more live updates…













Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain







Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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Day3 from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week...



All teams are working very hard to complete the functionality they scoped out earlier. Some of the teams have started on their pitch for final presentation to Judging Panel.



I forgot to highlight that on 1st Day each team got several Dynamics CRM books from Jim Steger (Working with Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4.0, Programming Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0) and David Yack (CRM as a Rapid Development Platform). Thanks Jim and Dave!



As part of entrepreneur coaching, during lunch, we had our 2nd guest speaker, Jeremy Epstein. Jeremy shared Marketing Survival Strategies for the Attention Economy. We discussed several cost effective ways to market your solution including using on-line channels.



Tonight dinner theme was Game Night. We played several XBOX 360 games with variety of food.



Every day we are holding a scrum call with all Team Advisors to ensure all teams are getting the support they need. We are also doing a daily project review with each team to identify any known risks and assist them to mitigate.





Stay tuned for more live updates…







Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain







Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx
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Day4 from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week...



Each team is amazing and working very hard to maximize their opportunity by leveraging all the resources available to them. Let’s see who the finalist teams are:

· Channel Blade Technologies

· DubMeNow

· Highland Martin, LLC

· Prime Time Software Solutions LLC

· support4U Inc.



Today we had a professional video crew to film several moments in group as well as with each team. I recorded video interviews myself with three teams.



Dave Drach, Managing Director, Emerging Business Team, conducted dry-run with each team to help in preparing their final presentation.



As part of entrepreneur coaching, during lunch, we had our 3rd guest speaker, Dan Blake from CourseMax. Dan shared his own journey of building his own business using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform. He reflected several challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs from his personal experience.



Tonight we had a nice dinner (very 1st meal outside the MTC building) at American Tap House.



By the time I left office, each team was polishing their presentation and solution demo.



Can't wait to share the final day news…









Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain







Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx

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Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx
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Day5 from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week...



Day started with briefing to following Judging panel at 8am. We were lucky to have such a strong and enthusiastic panel. Thanks a lot judges for your support.

· Paul Greenberg, well-known CRM analyst and author of the best-selling book "CRM at the Speed of Light"

· Asher Epstein, Managing Director, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business

· Janet Yang, Novak Biddle Venture Partners

· Lenard Marcus, Edison Venture Fund

· Joseph Harar, TD Funds

· Jennifer O’Daniel, Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) GAP Funds



Sharp at 9am, our 1st team was ready to make their pitch to judging panel. It was a clock work to finish all five presentations with Q&A before scheduled time of 1pm. All teams did a terrific job of presenting and showing their solutions. It was very professional and impressive to see how these teams were able to leverage all resources offered and convert their dreams into very tangible assets. All team members got an opportunity to socialize with all panel members during lunch break; while I tabulated the scores for various award categories.



At 1:30pm we re-assembled for closing/award ceremony. It was a wonderful experience to hear perspectives (and feedback for future events) from all the folks in the room.



I know you can’t wait to hear the results, so my pleasure to introduce the winners. Good luck all the teams. You are super stars; you made this event so successful.



Award Category

Startup Team

Best Business Award (1st)



Highland Martin, LLC

Best Business Award (2nd)



DubMeNow



Super Cool Award (1st)

support4U Inc.



Super Cool Award (2nd)

Channel Blade Technologies



Advisor Award

Note: Decided by advisors, who worked with their assigned team day & night during last four days.

Prime Time Software Solutions LLC







Thanks Joan Barrow and Sima Shahin and MTC Reston team for all the logistics, infrastructure and delicious meals (and for wonderful gift). Now I feel the holidays (good food and lots of sleep)…











Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

http://blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain







Источник: http://blogs.msdn.com/sanjayjain/arc...tion-week.aspx