Pender's Blog

Blog archive

RCP's Guide to Setting Up Shop in Seattle

Your editor can remember, quite distinctly, his first trip to Seattle. It was 1983, and the city back then was known for vistas that involved mountains and the Puget Sound, not questionable sales figures and widespread customer dissatisfaction. (Sorry. That was just too easy.)

But seriously, in 1983, the first thing people thought of when they thought of Seattle was rain, or maybe the Sound, the mountains or even the Washington Huskies (who were good back then, for those who have forgotten or just never knew). Today, though, the first thing that races to a lot of folks' minds when they hear the word "Seattle" is Microsoft.

OK, granted, Starbucks would be right up there, too, and a few fading devotees might go with grunge or even Nirvana, but the Microsoft software juggernaut made an impact. It actually helped change the profile and culture of this city over the last two decades. No longer do we think of rugged mountain men when we think of the hub of the Pacific Northwest. Now, Seattle is synonymous with rich software geeks, along with double frappawhatevers and people in flannel who pine for the early '90s. Oh, and "Frasier."

If you're a partner, especially a smallish one, chances are you don't get a lot of chances to have serious heart-to-hearts with the folks who are now so influential in Redmond. Maybe you've thought of ways to change that -- and maybe you've wanted to get closer to Microsoft, especially if it's your primary (or only) source of revenue.

Well, one way to do that is to actually get physically closer to Microsoft by establishing a presence in Seattle. Being near Microsoft could lead to all sorts of benefits, as those of you who have an office out there know. There's a lot of risk-reward stuff involved with that idea, though, so you'd better read Rich Freeman's guide to setting up an office in Seattle before you start pricing real estate. Rich's story is in the July issue of RCP. And if you do go to Seattle, bring an umbrella -- it's a beautiful city, but it does still rain a lot out there, after all.

FYI, we're taking a break from reader e-mails this week due to a compacted holiday schedule, but we'll be back with your rants and raves next week, especially next Friday. Keep sending them on any topic that tickles your fancy to [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on July 06, 2007


Featured

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.

  • Report: Security Initiatives Can't Keep Pace with Cloud, AI Boom

    The increasingly fast adoption of hybrid, multicloud, and AI systems is easily outgrowing existing security measures, according to a recent global survey by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and exposure management firm Tenable.