Cullen Jones from the Microsoft Federal team and Amit Svarzenberg from Microsoft for Startups collaborate on Microsoft’s startup program serving the US federal government. Government is an industry most startups choose not to focus on due to the complexities involved. We have the opportunity to work with numerous successful startups in the federal space where there is immense opportunity. We have put together this resource list to help startups from anywhere in the world learn how to work with the United States federal government.
Microsoft Cloud for Government
There is no shortage of opportunity across the federal government, however building solutions for a unique customer needs to be kept in mind. Microsoft breaks out federal into a few different sub-verticals and founders are always interested to learn about the strategies of each. As Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, says, “Microsoft has always been a partner-led company.”
- Cloud Computing for Government
- US Federal @ Microsoft
- Microsoft for Defense and Intelligence
- Public Safety and Justice
Getting Started: Technical Links
From a technical perspective, working with the government requires special attention for your business. Microsoft empowers startups with world-leading cloud solutions and technology, while keeping security, compliance, and efficiency in mind. Below are links to general resources to help you get started with building your solution for the federal government.
- Azure for Federal Civilian Agencies: Understand the clouds that are Civilian Agencies utilize
- Azure for US Department of Defense: Learn what Azure Government is, requirements for use and available services
- Azure for National Security: Comprehensive and powerful cloud services built exclusively to support US agencies and partners working with Secret US security classification level data
- Microsoft Azure Government Trial: Need an Azure Government tenant? Get started with one here
- Azure Edge Devices: Understand how to bring your solution to the edge
- Azure Defender for IoT: Monitor security posture across your resources, including servers, storage, and workloads
- Azure AI and machine learning: Do more with your data using integrated tools designed for a broad range of skills—from business users to data scientists
Azure Synapse Analytics: Get unmatched time to insights with a unified experience that brings together data integration, enterprise data warehousing, and big data analytics
- Azure Sentinel: Detect threats faster, respond more effectively, and eliminate costly infrastructure with a cloud-based security information event management (SIEM) solution, powered by AI
- Azure Defender: Protect your Azure and hybrid cloud workloads with extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities
- Azure HPC: Tackle complex calculations and large datasets in seconds with scalable and highly secure on-demand infrastructure
- Azure IoT: Connect assets and equipment to the cloud with solutions that unlock real-time insights, enable system interoperability, and help you secure your resources
- SAP on Azure: Run your mission-critical SAP workloads in the cloud
- Azure Developer Events: Skill up and turn your ideas into solutions
- Microsoft Learn for Azure: Free training to help you with all aspects of Microsoft’s cloud
Regulatory Links
One of the biggest reasons startups choose not to work with the government is because of compliance and regulation. Microsoft makes this easy with industry-leading compliance standards across Azure. We have offerings in place to help you achieve standards like FedRAMP, ATOs, CMMC and more. These links offer more details on how Microsoft can help your startup.
- Azure Blueprints: Scripts that make compliance easy
- Azure Service by Compliance Level: Understand the level of compliance each Azure service has
- Microsoft’s Compliance Offerings: Get smart on all the compliance standards Microsoft meets in our cloud solutions
- Azure Compliance Launchpad: Successfully prepare their environments for accreditation and request FedRAMP ATO
- CMMC Acceleration: Everything you need to know to help your startup with CMMC
- ATO as a Service: Let Microsoft help you with your ATO
- CMMC Product Placemat: Map your environment to CMMC controls
Small Business Government Opportunities
A good place to start with working in the federal government is with small business and innovation organizations. There are numerous opportunities here exclusively for small businesses. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are great sources of non-dilutive federal funding that can open doors to long-term sustainable contracts. The below links are places to look for these opportunities.
