Start-Up Tour Round-Up (Part I)

We just finished the US and Canadian leg of the AWS Start-Up Tour! With an amazing number of start-up leaders who attended in eight different cities, it was quite an event! Each event included presentations by Amazon Web Services, and more importantly by our customers--who described their real-world experiences with AWS. From my moint of view, the most exciting aspect of the events was that some of last year’s event attendees were up front presenting this year. That says more about the value proposition and ease of implementation than anything I can think of. Thanks to each and every customer who presented!

You should check out the presentations posted on Slideshare.net, because they demonstrate the amazing range of innovation in the start-up community. One interesting observation about this year's event so far, vs. last year is that we are seeing more applications that target the Enterprise vs. online destinations. There is obviously a lot of innovation going on around tools and even complementary services.

We're not finished with the tour, of course. You can still sign up for our events in London (November 4, 2008), Amsterdam (November 6, 2008), and Seattle (November 20, 2008) by emailing rsvpstartup@amazon.com. Additional details are available at aws.amazon.com/startupproject/.

Finally, don't forget the Startup Challenge. This contest is a great opportunity to gain some exposure for your application and compete for a chance to win $100,000 in cash and AWS credits.

To enter, simply submit your business application, the entry period ends October 3rd. In November, all finalists will be flown to Amazon's offices in Seattle to participate in the final judging round and public event. I think this is an incredible opportunity: not only because of the monetary prizes--especially in the current tight funding environment, but also because of the publicity.

-- Mike