The Microsoft ScaleUp program (previously known as Microsoft Accelerator) is designed for Series A startups and offers access to sales, marketing and technical support. Eligible startups partake in the immersive program at one of our eight global locations followed by ongoing support from a dedicated team of success managers. One of the ScaleUp locations is Microsoft ScaleUp Berlin, where a dedicated team around MD Iskender Dirik twice a year support a batch of up to 10 startups with dedicated coaching, training and technical support. In this blog series we will introduce one of the participating StartUps each Tuesday.
Germany’s blackbee is a webdata solutions brand which was founded in 2012 in Leipzig. blackbee´s price matching platform identifies daily price changes of millions of like-for-like products in any region or language. Using machine learning, blackbee gathers unstructured pricing and assortment information from online sources to process and compare against brands that clients sell. blackbee´s data is instantly available to retailers giving them the power to make informed decisions.
“We expect blackbee to ignite nothing less than a true revolution in market research on the internet.” – Dr. Hanna Köpcke, Founder & CTO
60 seconds with blackbee
blackbee participated together with nine different Tech-Startups at the Microsoft ScaleUp Batch Week in Berlin. We have asked them some questions about the collaboration with Microsoft and their new learnings.
How are you involved with Microsoft ScaleUp?
The Microsoft ScaleUp program offers us a great opportunity to get in contact with and learn from leading industry experts in a professional environment. Furthermore, the world-leading speakers showed us how to present our solution on a professional level and how to be even more successful in business negotiations. We are delighted to have been given this networking opportunity and to have met many inspiring people under one roof.
What was the biggest challenge for you before the start of the program – and have you overcome it yet?
As an enterprise DaaS platform, we have to cope with long sales-cycles and demanding clients. We are currently benefiting from the enterprise client network of Microsoft by getting access to valuable prospects in leading industry sectors. The combination of the helpful contacts and the professional skills which we have gained in the ScaleUp Batch Week has enabled us to convince even more companies of our powerful technology and to push our business to the next level.
What areas did the ScaleUp Batch Week help you the most?
The program has strengthened our marketing and sales activities. We loved working with the presentation guru Eyal from Virtuozo to present blackbee live on stage. Another highlight was the cooperation with Oliver Morgan from Tailoredbrands to sharpen our sales value proposition. Both experts have inspired us and made us break out of our comfort zone.
In a nutshell: What makes the Microsoft ScaleUp special for you?
What made the Microsoft ScaleUp extraordinary, was the opportunity to get together and communicate with entrepreneurs from the top tech European companies. We have benefited from great networking effects with other startups and from the fascinating insights provided by different business industries and leading experts.
What are your next steps?
We are looking forward to joining forces with Microsoft.. We will implement Azure to see if it is compatible with our leading edge technology for retailers and brands in e-commerce. Furthermore, we are going to adapt some ideas from the workshops we had the pleasure to attend, to our sales and marketing activities.
This blog post is part of a series of participants of the Microsoft ScaleUp Berlin Batch March-June 2018.
