Microsoft Visit – Day 1…Looking Forward to St. Patrick’s Day!

Over the next few days, I will be blogging about my trip to Redmond, Washington to meet with our friends at Microsoft. It’s been over three years since I left the company and roamed the halls of building 18. Needless to say, it’s good to be back on campus.

Today, I accompanied Michael Leeds, VP of alliances and Denise Grey, VP of marketing at VersionOne to meet with Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (TFS) group. VersionOne is an expansion stage portfolio company focused on Agile Lifecycle Management (ALM) and supporting Agile development methods. They helped pioneer the agile management tool in 2002 and remain the only enterprise software company that is 100% dedicated to this since day one.

I wish to thank Stephanie Saad Cuthbertson, group program manager, and Lori Lampkin, product unit manager of Microsoft Team Foundation Server, as well as Terry Clancy, business development manager of Microsoft’s Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program for hosting us today. VersionOne is a member of the VSIP program and provides a TFS integration connector and operational support.

Also today, I met with Joe Barer, president and Jay Schwartz, partner at Lake Partners in Seattle. Lake Partners is a strategy management consultancy that specializes in strategic diligence and research. Joe and Jay have a unique approach that delivers the quality of a McKinsey and Bain without the high-end attitude, buzzwords and frameworks. You can tell they are a roll up your sleeves and get it done kind of guys, similar to OpenView’s blue collar approach. I look forward to working with Joe and Jay in the future.

Wrapping up the day, I swung by Microsoft City Center Plaza in Bellevue to meet with my old friend Dave O’Hara. Dave is former VP of business development for Microsoft Dynamics. He is now responsible for M&A for the Windows and Microsoft Online divisions. It was exciting to discuss Microsoft’s opportunities and challenges. Dave is also an avid hunter from Fargo ND and a shining example of someone who knows how to balance the commute to Bellevue each week, while remaining passionate for what he does.

All and all, a great first day. Tomorrow, I look forward to meeting with Microsoft’s legal and corporate affairs/corporate development, T.A. McCann, ex Microsoftie and CEO of Gist, and St. Patrick’s Day celebration with my friend and former Microsoft colleague, Cliff Reeves.