[frankdenbow]

Frank here, I work at Microsoft for Startups.

Validated equivalent means that you don't necessarily need to be a company on the fundraising path in order to make it into the program.

So if a self-funded company comes to us and shows they have sales traction, then we can take them to our field sales team, make a target list of companies, and get them intro'd to the right accounts to close deals.

No, this is not out of the goodness of our hearts (although I do know my team has good hearts also :).

The point of the program is to get companies on Azure (a strong platform from a technical perspective), and the best way to keep companies on Azure is to provide value via technology and sales.

If you're closing more deals with us, you will have to consume more Azure in order to service those deals.

Win, meet win.

P.S: On the side, I run a community for profit-driven entrepreneurs who have not raised venture: http://inflectioncommunity.com