I rarely write posts on LinkedIn. In fact, this is probably just my second one (and yes I know I need to do better) but this is something that I feel personally passionate about. Startups. Entrepreneurs are critical to the technology ecosystem not just because they help drive the future of the industry, but because they are incredibly important to regional and personal growth for so many members of our community.

As a member of the Developer Relations team at Microsoft, I was psyched to learn that we were working with the Microsoft For Startups team to support a global tour -- a series of free one-day events -- to help support the local startup ecosystems and help them scale up. And it kicks off in weeks right here in New York City. 🗽

Why You Should Attend

If you’re an entrepreneur who is looking to talk through challenges, make new connections and discover more resources to help you scale strategically in the face of a fast evolving technology ecosystem - then this event is for you. The content is technical in focus (mobile, containers, serverless, machine learning etc.) but we also folded in strategic and personal balance sessions. After all, at the core of any business? People.

Our dedicated Startup Advocacy team (led by the amazing James Turnbull) and our Cloud Advocates have created relevant content for you and will be on hand to not only present but to listen. And talk. We’ve set aside unstructured time and office hours to optimize for conversations around technology, strategy and tactics for adapting to the fast-changing technology and entrepreneurial landscape.

I want to encourage female founders and entrepreneurs from under-represented communities to attend and get connected to relevant people and resources. Getting more representation is important. I want to add a huge thank you to our incredible Events team (led by the fearless Allison Krug) and our awesome team of global community program managers, who work tirelessly to make sure that we walk the walk on one of our core principles: inclusivity.

Where Can You Attend?

The tour hits 12 cities worldwide, starting with New York on April 9th and ending at Tel Aviv on June 18th. Registration is open for the first three stops (New York, Toronto, Cape Town) right now and others should open up soon so check back. Useful links:

Create Startups Tour: https://createstartups.io Microsoft For Startups: https://startups.microsoft.com Tour Announcement: https://startups.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/startups-tour/

If you want to learn more about the tour, have questions or feedback - feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or on Twitter (@nitya). I hope to be there in person at some of these stops (including the kickoff in NYC) and I would love to amplify and support this community. 🙌🏼

I'm excited and I hope you are too! See you soon...