NYConvergence ORIGINAL
By: Esther Surden

Some 22 NY-area software startups were given a chance to tweak their new products based on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform last Thursday and Friday at BizSparkCamp, a Microsoft event held at the company’s offices in Manhattan. Five of the startups pitched to a panel of venture capitalists, angels, analysts and Microsoft employees, competing for a $5000 prize awarded to the most marketable product.

Tarrytown, NY-based startup SummitCloud won the prize awarded Friday with its product that integrates Google Analytics and enterprise database applications using the Azure cloud computing software framework. At first the company had a narrow focus: to extend these analytical services to users of its Point of Sales analytics CloudMetrix product, SummitCloud CEO David Leibowitz said. However, by working with Microsoft at the event, the company realized it would be able to reach beyond retail with its new product called Giza.

“We were able to be shoulder to shoulder with Microsoft engineers to drive quick decision making,” Leibowitz said. “We walked in with a few framework questions and it was great to get instant answers as well as insight as to our product’s marketability.”

NYC-based startup SkyLine eCommerce Systems, developed FraudFree.net, a product that prevents credit card fraud at the point of sale. “To us attending BizSparkCamp was an important piece of business. We are building an integrated credit card fraud application as a cloud service,” Douglas Luke, president and COO said. By using the cloud framework, the company was able to ease into its development, without having to expend large capital resources getting started. Luke said his company picked up both technical and marketing advice that helped it understand its future direction.

The NY-area companies heard a 30-minute presentation by David Rose of Angelsoft focused on how to raise money for their projects. An attorney presented Intellectual Property information and a marketing specialist offered branding advice.

The event’s goal was to nurture developers who wanted to work with Microsoft’s Azure framework and show them that the platform offers them a less expensive, easier way to bring large scale projects to market, Jacob Mullins, U.S. program manager, BizSpark, said. “The startups that rose to the top had business models that were not only dependent on the number of eyeballs on a page, but focused on generating revenues,” he said.