by Brian Solis

Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with Stephanie Agresta and yours truly of The TechSet, hosted a special event for tech innovators in Silicon Valley and San Francisco to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program designed specifically for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.

While glamorous and absolutely one of the best stops on our four city tour, it was also bitter sweet. San Francisco was the last Ignition event of the current series that spotlighted and introduced us to amazing entrepreneurs, founders, leaders, and influencers in Austin, New York and Los Angeles.

Ignition-San Francisco was hosted 52 floors above San Francisco at The Carnelian Room. The view and the company was nothing less than incredible.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Transamerica Building

Stowe Boyd and Jeremiah Owyang

Krystal Ariel

Karl Long

Shobeir Shobeiri

Nick Starr

Carl Heiney and Scott Beale of Laughing Squid

Dan’l Lewin

Kedric Van De Carr

Scott Stanfield

Shaherose Charania

Anand Ayer

Daniel Riveong

Jackie Danicki

Cathy Brooks

Anthony Ha of VentureBeat

Oren Michels of Mashery

Chris Heuer

Karen Hartline

Tara Hunt

Arad Rostampour, Brian Solis, Rebecca Woodcock

Stephanie Agresta and Jacob Mullins

Christopher Peri

Adam Jackson and Marissa Louie

Kristin Kueter and Cathy Brooks

Arad Rostampour, Anand Iyer, Jacob Mullins

Dale Larson & Adam Jackson

Dave Mathews of Boxee

For more pictures from Ignition-San Francisco, visit my album on flickr.

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Los Angeles

Connect with me on:
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by Brian Solis

Last week, the Microsoft BizSpark team, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), celebrated Southern California startups and the spirit of innovation at Ingnition-LA. Hosted at the beautiful Beso, owned by Eva Longoria, in Hollywood, 300 entrpreneurs converged to demo, network, and forge alliances that will carry them forward for years to come.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a tremendously successful event!

San Francisco, you’re next! See you on 12/16 at the beautiful Carnelian Room, 52 floor above the city!

RSVP for the San Francisco event here.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Shira Lazar and Geri Hirsch

Anand Iyer of BizSpark

Tyler Crowley of Mahalo

Efren Toscano and Linda Sherman

Kedric Van De Carr, Arad Rostampour, Jacob Mullins, Anand Iyer

Streamy.com

Girl Gamer

Dan Portnoy

Shira Lazar keeps people in line

Rock Band

Robert Yang, Lolita Carrico, Jim Lin, Matt Singley

Stephanie Agresta and Nina Bargiel

Kedric Van De Karr, Misty LaChance, Angela Costa Roque Baptista

Raj Chauhan of Rubicon Project

Hayden Black and Michael Pilla

Marc Russell Hustvedt, Jessica (need last name), Taryn O’Neill, Michael Davies

Jessica Wilzig Gottlieb and Erin Kotecki Vest (QueenofSpain)

Dragana Ognenovska & Wm. Marc Salsberry

Todd Sawacki

Frank Sinton of Meefeedia

Stephanie Agresta

Kurt Daradics and Heather Meeker

Linda Sherman and Amanda Coolong

Blackberry Storm

Jason Nazar of Docstoc and Shira Lazar

Jonathan Dingman

For more pictures from Ignition-Los Angeles, visit my album on flickr. Within the set, you’ll also be treated to a few pictures from the after party at Bao, Hollywood, where we also celebrated @queenofspain’s birthday!

Here are a couple of pics to get your started…

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

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by Brian Solis

The spirit of entrepreneurialism is what drives all of us to innovate and excel. Economics aside, there is no better time than now to pursue and invest in that next big idea. This is your time to shine and we want to celebrate you, your vision and help you succeed.

Announcing Ignition Los Angeles.

Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), is bringing together the tech innovators in Southern California to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.

Join us at Beso in Hollywood for free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and also the opportunity to network with some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

Beso
6350 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Make sure to RSVP here: http://ignition-losangeles.eventbrite.com/

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

Microsoft announced its new BizSpark program to help transform today’s most promising startups into tomorrow’s most successful businesses.

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that will help startups grow into successful businesses through software support and a vibrant ecosystem that offers a significant business advantage – for free (well almost). Startups are required to pay $100 once they graduate from the program or at the end of three years. Upon graduation, companies will need to pay for the Microsoft software, hosting, and other services moving forward.

Startups will receive professional support from Microsoft and BizSpark Network Partners around the world who provide a wide range of support resources for software startups. Network Partners are incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters who are vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship.

Emerging companies will receive fast and easy access to Microsoft’s current full-featured development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions with no upfront costs and minimal requirements.

A dedicated Website, the BizSparkDB, will highlight promising companies from around the world every day. Through their relationship with Microsoft and BizSpark Network Partners, startups can collaborate to potentially reach an audience of potential investors, clients and partners.

Microsoft has a long history working with startups and believes the combination of technology and partner support provided by BizSpark is the right formula needed to put young companies on the road to success.

During times of economic stress, it’s even more important that startups have the technology and market resource support they need to succeed.

So let’s celebrate!

If you’re in NY on 11/11, join us.

Microsoft BizSpark and The TechSet, present “Ignition” an event for entrepreneurs, investors and those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem for helping startups flourish.

Join Stephanie Agresta, Brian Solis, Microsoft staff and partners at One Little West NYC from 8-10pm. Free hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and valuable networking will be served. Plus, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

RSVP on Eventbrite.

Event Details:

Time: 8-10pm

Location: 1 Little W. 12th St., New York, NY 10014

If you don’t live in NY, hopefully we’ll see you in Austin, Los Angeles, or Silicon Valley:

November 20, 2008 – Austin

December 2, 2008 – Los Angeles

December 4, 2008 – Silicon Valley

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

The spirit of entrepreneurialism is what drives all of us to innovate and excel. Economics aside, there is no better time than now to pursue that next big idea. This is your time to shine and we want to celebrate you, your vision and help you succeed.

Microsoft Startup Zone and The TechSet, present “Ignition” an event for entrepreneurs, investors and those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem for helping startups flourish.

Join Stephanie Agresta, Brian Solis, Microsoft staff and partners at One Little West NYC from 8-10pm. Free hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and valuable networking will be served. Plus, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

Microsoft Startup Zone will be making an important announcement prior to the event at the New York Tech Meetup, so for now, we need to keep things stealth while we plan and organize during private beta.

Mark your calendar and stay tuned for more news.

Event Details:

Time: 8-10pm
Location: 1 Little W. 12th St., New York, NY 10014

Please make sure to RSVP on Eventbrite.

If you don’t live in NY, hopefully we’ll see you in Austin, LA, or Silicon Valley:

November 20, 2008 – Austin

December 2, 2008 – Los Angeles

December 4, 2008 – Silicon Valley

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.