Microsoft's "Founders Hub" Program Has a Mission to Empower Early Stage Startups

In March 2022, Microsoft officially launched the "Microsoft for Startup Founders Hub" initiative. The platform provides access to personalized technical guidance at every stage of startup development. The approach used has also been adapted to the growth phase of the startup.

This program also allows founder get guidance and mentoring from experts on a wide range of business topics—from recruitment to strategy to market , as well as the knowledge they need to advance to the next stage.

According to the Startup Ranking report, Indonesia will be one of the 10 countries with the largest number of startup companies in the world in 2022. It is recorded that there are around 2346 startups started in this country. This number puts Indonesia in fifth position on the list, behind the US (71.405), India (6.258) and Canada (3.332).

Microsoft recognizes the need to turn ideas into real, impactful, and sustainable solutions. Therefore, the support provided to startups begins with a collaborative approach in order to accommodate startups from various backgrounds.

"We hope that Microsoft for Startup Founders Hub will be a solution for Indonesian startups to be more empowered, in line with our mission and efforts to #Empower Indonesia," said Country Lead for Azure GTM Microsoft Indonesia, Fiki Setiyono.

Fiki also added that this program can be utilized by everyone and anyone with an idea that deserves a solution to innovate and continue to grow. Starting from the ideation phase to prototypes, then in phase develop by building minimum viable product, then grows and is ready to release the product to the market or start getting customers to the stage stairs.

One of the benefits offered by this program is that it helps startups grow at their own pace to earn Azure credits of up to $150.000 with various phases or stages. Not only that, this program can also help improve speed developer, accelerate team productivity with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, and other Microsoft products that can help grow your business.

Founders Hub . Portfolio

One of the startups that are part of the Microsoft startup ecosystem is Options. The company presents an integrated platform to digitize the travel and tourism industry. The birth of Optiongo was inspired by the lack of global system capabilities to accommodate the unique business processes that exist in Southeast Asian countries.

The data presented by the Optiongo team shows that around 80% of travel agent consumers are corporate consumers who buy tickets and hotel vouchers for their official travel needs. Seeing an opportunity from a smoother corporate sector,Optiongo started to developOptioncorp, a business travel management platform for corporations.

Through this platform, corporations can plan trips, issue tickets or hotel vouchers automatically, and ensure that official travel is in accordance with the company's travel policies. Optioncorp's superior technology also enables integration with various internal company platforms, including ERP and financial systems.

In addition, corporations can look at data on business travel patterns to look for efficiency opportunities that can be done. As a result, corporations are expected to shorten the time and reduce travel costs by 20-30%, while ensuring compliance with the company's official travel policies. A number of corporations have used Optioncorp services, including Avrist, Kanmo Retail, Pegadaian, Pertamina, Sritex, and many more.

Options CEO Edward Nelson Jusuf revealed that the products or services provided byOptions are closely related to financial transactions. Therefore, companies must be able to guarantee data security and service systems. One of the reasons companies join the Microsoft ecosystem is a premium security system that ensures companies stay safe, thereby preventing harm to customers or the company.

"In addition,Optiongo customers, both from SOEs and corporations, in general also take advantage of the Microsoft ecosystem such as Azure, so that the opsigo system is easily integrated with their system," he said in the virtual discussion "Empowering Indonesian Startups for Digital Indonesia" on Thursday (22 /09).

In addition, Microsoft also accommodates and provides upskilling platform like the Alcademies. Starting from a digital community in Bandung, Alkademi provides various technology trainings for young people in suburban areas as an effort to answer the need for nine million Indonesian digital talents by 2030. Now, around 2.000 students have benefited from the classes offered by Alkademi.

Since its establishment, Alkady utilize Microsoft Azure as the basis of their Learning Management System (LMS). The familiarity and reliability that Alkademi feels in the Microsoft ecosystem encourages them to participate in the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, as well as being the first from Indonesia in early 2022. In this program, Alkademi gains access to Microsoft technology infrastructure, networking and mentorship platforms, and go-to assistance from global Microsoft experts.

Basically, incubator and accelerator programs that exist today offer convenience for founders in conducting business escalation.  Based on the results research which is conducted DailySocial.id, as of 2021, there are around 17 incubator and/or accelerator programs that are still actively opening batch for new startups. Some of those actively recruiting include the Surge accelerator program from Sequoia Southeast Asia and India, Founder Institute, and Y Combinator.