I often get the question, what does Microsoft do with BizSpark One companies, i.e. why should I care about that kind of engagement? I respond by discussing the companies that I have worked with and helped engage with Microsoft more effectively as well as leverage strategic and tactical Microsoft technologies, like Graphic.ly. BizSpark One represents less than 1% of the 30,000 BizSpark companies, and is focused on giving every opportunity to an exclusive select group and pro-actively working with them to help them maximize their potential.
Graphic.ly, formerly Take Publishing and creators of the Take Comics application, is one of those BizSpark One companies. Graphic.ly is less than one year old, and has leveraged Microsoft technologies such as Windows Presentation Foundation and the extensive touch capabilities of Windows 7. But more importantly they took an idea, "Make comic books as easy to consume as music is with a iPod", and they executed to perfection. Graphic.ly recently announced their funding of $ 1.2 M, which is a very early round and they are in good position to get more capital as they need it in the future.
So what do we, the Emerging Business Team, do for BizSpark One companies, well, here is Steve Ballmer showcasing Graphic.ly in front of an audience of 5,000 technology channel representatives at CES 2010. Those beady eyes peering over Steve Ballmer's right shoulder is the Graphic.ly application up on the main stage.
Now, Graphic.ly's success is because of their own hard work and execution. Leading up to their visibility at CES 2010 the Graphic.ly team has been clocking huge hours getting their private beta to launch and ensuring that the applications was stable and compelling for the Microsoft team to demonstrate and showcase in the Microsoft booth. Here is a shot of the bleary eyed Tony Williams in the Graphic.ly UK development office after 30+ hours of work. I remember working with Kevin Mann, Thanavath Jaroenvanit the Grpahic.ly team at the Windows 7 Incubation Week, where they originally built the touch enabled reader. They leveraged the Microsoft development platform and got the demo done in one week. This demo has evolved into their private beta application. The team is smart, super hard working, and success like their showcase at CES are the results.
And Graphic.ly is moving fast. With the leadership of Micah Baldwin, and the recent partnership with iFanBoy, Graphic.ly is combining the rich graphic viewing experience with social networking tools to create an electronic comic reading application that is more compelling, richer and more entertaining than just paper. Oh yeah, and it is all running on top of Windows Azure, but that story is for another post.
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