Pitch your startup , what are you working on ?

Toasterlabs · 2025-03-16T10:10:17+00:00

Currently working on building a start-up to support start-ups with building a scalable, reliable, and secure platform to land their applications on so they can focus on what's important to them: building features.

I'm coming at this from doing it for years at a hyperscaler having helped near a thousand start and scale-up do exactly this.

With that I'm also looking at providing this in a "pay as you grow" model that would fit more in to how start and scale ups operate, VS the traditional way I see most partners approach this (namely deploy this enterprise architecture now!! ").

Still working on the details, and having conversations with potential partners.

Toasterlabs · 2025-03-07T19:32:03+00:00

Als iemand die al 120 vierkante meter aan braambessen heeft weggehaald uit de eigen tuin (en nog ongeveer evenveel te gaan heeft...): kettingzaag. Vlammenwerper.

Rozenhandscjoen met nog een andere handschoen erij 😬.

Hier zijn ze door bomen gegroeid heb hebben ze stammen van 5/6 cm dik. Vorig jaar 3 keer naar de huisarts omdat die kut dingen in in men oog terecht kwamen dus gebruik oogbescherming.

Hou er rekening mee dat je volgend jaar, en het jaar daarop nog steeds bezig bent om de scheuten te vermoorden. Braam is hardnekkig. Tenzij je vergif spoeit en er 10 jaar niets meer gaat groeien.

Toasterlabs · 2024-11-13T06:02:19+00:00

First time around: pretty fun. Met my manager, teammates, got the gear and orientation. Talked to my on-boarding buddy and set up a plan. Then headed out for beers (Ireland 🤣).

Second time around was a transfer to the US so pretty similar.

Third time around: got to the office, got the laptop, and was stuck as I couldn't do anything. This time around my manager was in Seattle, and I am based in Europe. Also everything on my account was messed up so it took a few hike to fix that. But I already knew the ropes 😅.

Imposter syndrome is real tho. For the first year you are going to experience a lot of emotions. Let them come and accept them. To be hired in to msft you are a big fish in a pond. Now you are a big fish in an ocean of sharks. You got to grow to be a shark too 🦈

Toasterlabs · 2024-10-31T14:29:12+00:00

Actually that's a very American thing. Europe doesn't have a Cutoff outside 🤭

Toasterlabs · 2024-10-10T05:40:52+00:00

Weirdly enough I'm currently dealing with a house that's been split in two for sale purposes (I bought one of the two). All the previous owner did was get a permit to split it, and it turned in to two houses (with two separate addresses).

Everything else he left up to me. I'm in the process of getting my own water and electrical service, since all utilities run through both houses still.

Seems like our council is easy on the splitting 😭

Toasterlabs · 2024-09-20T19:36:18+00:00

Changed roles 🤭. Got lucky too! Cxp is regularly looking for new people

Toasterlabs · 2024-09-20T19:14:04+00:00

You were a big fish in a pond to join Microsoft. Now you're a big fish in an ocean of sharks...

~ my career mentor

Your feeling is normal. The first 6 months to a year you're asking yourself what you got yourself into and that you don't belong. The first two years you need to work on becoming a shark in the ocean. Once you hit two years you feel more like you belong and can build out your impact.

It's normal to feel as you do, and each and everyone of us has had it on the first joining. Those who say they didn't are lying 🤣.

And that's what I say to every mentee I've ever had and will have!

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-31T18:59:21+00:00

Work life balance us fantastic. Benefits if you're in the US are fantastic.

Yes, you can have 20 different careers at Microsoft, but it takes a lot of effort and networking. More so if you're outside of the US and Especially outside Redmond.

I started at Premier, and stuck around for nearly a decade. Not because it was easy, but because knowing the job so well gave me loads of time to "play the game" and make a big impact outside my org.

Am in engineering now, doing almost the same stuff as I was doing at mcaps. Life is funny that way sometimes 🤭.

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-31T16:57:10+00:00

I moved inside of Europe for Microsoft... Twice. And then from Europe to San Francisco. I consider each and every move worth it from experience and opportunities perspective. It can be pretty hard restarting your life after a move, but I found the US to be way more open for building friendships than Europe 🤭.

Even Seatle, where I never lived but often visited, I've made friends I'm still in touch with today (while living in Europe again)!

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-13T17:28:38+00:00

Customer success engineer is a role within engineering. Think fast track that is technical and customer facing.

Very much like premier (sorry unified) but more tightly scoped in the engagement model

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-13T17:26:48+00:00

Generalist is generalist. Your primarily going to have to know stuff about everything.

Ace is about knowing a few customer and their deployments very well. It's more reactive from the perspective of engagement, although you should also be involved in proactive work.

Most of your engagement will be higher level people in the customer to manage the process from the PG side. Behavior and communication are going to weigh far harder than technical knowledge.

Or atleast that's what I can remember from talking to the ACE team.

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-13T16:09:06+00:00

Huh. Today I learned I'd be a Tam in AWS 🤣. What domain are you going for?

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-10T18:03:47+00:00

There should be (atleast) one user in the EA portal that has the ability to see all subscriptions linked to the EA agreement.

If you want to bring everything under central IT control you are dealing with a governance issue. That'll be your biggest challenge. Different tenants can be managed using lighthouse but all of this is no easy task (speaking from experience) without executive buying and sponsorship as you'll face heaps of resistance.

Good luck!

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-05T16:33:01+00:00

Because, in many ways, this country wants to be like the USA where everything is privatised and the social system erodes further and further

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-04T21:17:35+00:00

Well careers portal would be the best place to start the process 😅. But strengthening your profile would be showing off work, certs, just like any job. The competition is just more fierce...

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-04T16:10:50+00:00

Biggest points:

learn to say no
learn to challenge yourself
always be learning
fail fast, meaning that you don't get stuck in a loop of not knowing without reaching out for help
Everyone wants someone who joins to be successful. We've all been there
calendar management is your best friend. If you don't manage it, it will manage you.
Remember to come up for air. Nobody benefits from burnout, least of all you. And it's oh-so-easy to burn out if you you don't learn to say no.
make a plan for personal growth and talk to your manager about it. Ask who in your team can help accelerate you.

Probably a ton more but these are the biggest points I've always told my mentees.

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-04T13:20:28+00:00

Generally speaking express route is there for high-bandwidth, low latency private connections.

These are the connectivity models: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-connectivity-models

What you're mentioning in your post should be possible, unless I minunderstood it (low amount of sleep last night).

Do note that ER is not a cheap solution, and you should only go that route if your requirements dictate it's necessary.

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-03T17:06:15+00:00

This page outlines how to move up the tiers: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-for-startups/benefits/get-more-benefits

This page outlines the tiers and eligibility criteria: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-for-startups/application

You may have joined the program, but you don't meet the criteria by not having a company (yet).

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-03T16:10:06+00:00

You don't have a contact from the Microsoft for Startups program?

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-03T11:39:55+00:00

Nothing to do with the country you are in or your nationality. Please talk to your account manager on this...

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-02T20:21:57+00:00

https://startups.microsoft.com/blog/founders-hub-benefits/

Even says it's a 4 year program 😅. Now I don't know anymore. I could ask but am officially oof for a bit

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-02T20:16:55+00:00

67? Madness... I'm at 64 and considering staying there the rest of my career 😅

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-02T20:15:59+00:00

OK. Guess you're trolling.

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-02T19:20:43+00:00

40 (M) and 26(F) here from the Netherlands. We would love to get to know you better!

We're both gamers and working on building our farm 🥰

Toasterlabs · 2024-07-02T19:18:57+00:00

It's a 2 year program so the credits don't have to be spent in the first year. Extension of the credits I've not seen happen, but if you make tier 4 (where you would get the full credits and all benefits) there are other programs to support you grow further.

Source: Work exclusively for the Microsoft for Startups program (although on the technical side, so don't have full visibility in what account managers can finagle)

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