Before you ask the question of “Why 11?”, here’s on your right hand the picture of the 11 Microsoft pioneers. You might easily have spotted Bill Gates and Paul Allen already. Today at Microsoft, they (we?) are about 61K worldwide…That’s all as far the picture’s concerned. Let’s talk serious business now.

I know, many did write this very post before. But still, since I’ll be joining Microsoft France upon completion of my studies this year (starting End of April 2007, yeah I know it’s 4 months away from now but it’s all set up), first as a graduate trainee for 6 months in the Emerging Business Team led in France by Julien Codorniou, and hopefully as a full-time employee afterwards, I felt I could write my own version (Service Pack #?) of the “Why Microsoft?” post as well.

So, to get to the point, “why Microsoft?”. Here are I believe 11 good reasons I made a right decision. I’m not hiding this post also aims at helping you make up your mind if you’re in that position, or @ least consider applying to Microsoft, provided that you’re passionate about software & technology and want to make a career out of your passion.

1) Indeed, Microsoft has a true impact on people’s everyday life. Basically, everyone uses Microsoft technologies. MS is like Coca Cola, & even more: change the recipe and you might change the way the world goes round. Microsoft enjoys a capacity of execution that few companies may claim they have and that is in my opinion extremely motivating: it enhances you to give your best for the sake of all. This question of the “impact” relies on Microsoft’s unique ability to turn lab inventions into mass-market innovations – which stands in my opinion as one of the two greatest long-run competitive advantages of Microsoft alongside with R&D capacity.

2) Microsoft is the world leading software company: everyone there knows something about software, from the bus driver to the accountant. Since I’m passionate about the software industry (I believe we’re at the beginning of Age of Software, more on that in a post to be written before 2010) but still a beginner, where on Earth could I have found a better place to learn the job?

3) Microsoft is a global leader, but a local challenger. No, I’m not kidding. Microsoft is a challenger in many ways as it has been facing more challenges everyday: 90% of its revenues are derived from software licenses, whilst new business models & technologies emerge every second. So, in order to remain a leader, Microsoft has to act as a challenger and reinvent itself everyday – like all great companies (P&G, IBM, GE, Danone,…) did and will do. To state things differently, Microsoft competes with basically every major company in the computer industry. But it also cooperates with them, since one of the reasons of the success of Microsoft has been its ability to quickly build an ecosystem of excellence. Consequently, the company culture leaves room for new ideas, initiatives and innovation-driven people.

4) I like debating a lot and rather unfortunately, being an employee of Microsoft puts you in a position in which you have to spend time defending your technologies & company, and build trust, common interests, and all against ABMs (Anything But Microsoft – an ideology as there exists many), against piracy, etc. To repeat myself, Microsoft is definitely the best place to get to see what happens in software, and provides ground for ongoing debates from which many incremental or revolutionary ideas may emerge. As you may have understood, I’m a strong believer that ideas come from conversations between people with diverse backgrounds.

5) At Microsoft, I will definitely work with cleverer people than I actually am. Hence the fact that I’ll get to learn a lot, and adapt to changing environments, technology- and culturally-wise. The more Microsoftees or ex Microsoftees I meet, that more I realize how articulate they all are & have the broadest culture on technology in general, from enterprise software to consumer electronics. Since technology has and will even more revolutionize user & enterprise practices, being at Microsoft will at the end of the day help me understand better where the world I live in is heading to.

6) All that jazz boils down to the corporate culture at Microsoft: outward-looking. Talk to Microsoftees, and you’ll notice how obsessed with the outside world they are. Being at the crossroads of many technologies through their ecosystem, Microsoftees will actually spend more time talking about their partners & competitors than about themselves. This is I believe the only company where you can find such behavior: try to make an employee of Sun speak calmly about the .Net platform, or an Oracle executive read a speech on SQL Server: it’s tough! At Microsoft, it’s all different. I’m not saying it’s better or worse, but it’s the way I like it. 2 quick examples: no later than today, I witnessed a Microsoftee talk more about free software than Microsoft in a whole meeting. All this, needless to say, in very positive terms. Last but not least, I was asked when visiting Microsoft how I adapted to my Macbook Pro, whether I liked it or not (I pretty much like it and said so), why, etc. You could hardly believe the openness of the guys working there. So, I’m glad I can go on learning Java, using a Macbook Pro, blogging about Google, etc. It just makes me feel comfortable to know that it’s not only just tolerated but recommended that Microsoftees look and think outside the box.

7) At Microsoft, you get exposure from Day 1: nobody spends one’s time on a chair, sitting in front of an Excel spreadsheet all day. At Microsoft, you get to meet people, learn from them, start a debate to come up together with an idea, make your point, draft a project, execute it, make the project evolve with its environment, show results, meet new people, etc. Go to Microsoft and you’ll think it’s a Bachelor party before figuring out you’re in a company: everybody’s young (if not physically, mentally) & passionate. Maybe it’s only Microsoft France, I don’t know, but it seems they bet on young people over there. Good for me. Furthermore, the French BU President, Eric Boustouller, shares outloud his very high ambitions for the French branch and makes sure Microsoft France uses the adequate resources to match these expectations of excellence. So, I will most probably not only be getting exposure to business in the software industry, I’ll also be empowered with the appropriate resources (knowledge, budgets, etc.) to achieve and, why not, outperform my goals.

8 ) On the actual mission, it’s like taylor-made. No bullshit, I couldn’t dream of a better training description. Basically, about a year and half ago, Microsoft France & Microsoft Corporation’s Emerging Business Team set up a program named IDEES (a French word standing for ‘ideas’ in English – click on ‘French’ for the press release in French, and on ‘English’ to read an article published in the International Herald Tribune about Bill Gates coming to France to announce the launch of IDEES). IDEES aims at helping the best French software start-ups become leading global players and henceforth help Microsoft itself develop its own ecosystem. The happy few (too few) psychos addicted to my blog will have read about the dilemma I was facing as my career was dawning: should I start in a world leading corporation or in a small, dynamic start-up company? I’m usually not a man of compromises, I prefer to make bold decisions, but I have to say doing business development to develop the Microsoft start-up ecosystem combines the best of both worlds: the job is at the same time hands-on and involves strategic issues (I’ll have to show my can-do capacity & hence execute; but also and at the same time, think and abide by the corporate strategy devised in Redmond, WA); I’ll most probably get a broad understanding of the French (and European?) software landscape since I’ll meet with hundreds of entrepreneurs implementing a hundred different busines models, I’ll have to use both my business & technology backgrounds to make & assist my manager Julien making the right decisions. Last but not least, Microsoft has launched a very exciting program named IP Ventures. IP Ventures allows would-be entrepreneur to pick up intellectual property in the Microsoft portfolio & start a business out of it using the Microsoft ecosystem vs. a small percentage of the new venture’s shareholder structure for Microsoft. The very existence of this program is an epitome for Microsoft being able to constantly reinvent itself: large corporations find it harder to innovate than smaller, more agile structures. Hence the need to foster entrepreneurship in the software industry at the expense of full ownership in order to make better and better software available to all. Oops, and I was almost forgetting: the job involves countless interactions with technologists, venture capitalists, marketers, evangelists & other Microsoft business developers from the French business development division (actually named DPE, standing for ‘Division Plate-Forme et Ecosystème’, & led by Marc Jalabert) which enjoys an outstanding reputation for providing both an easy-going and performance-driven environment.

9) The existence of the MACH Graduate Program also influenced my decision. MACH is an 18-month global program combining ground training with actual classes in either technology, marketing or sales taking place around the globe. Looks like rocking. I guess It’s part of the exposure thing at Microsoft I explained in point #7.

10) I will settle in either the US or Israel one day, most likely not in this decade. 2 options: i) I can move within Microsoft; ii) Microsoft provides such a fertile ground for developing one’s talents that I’m sure that I can sell my skillset when that time comes, in the software industry or not. Unless, like many Microsoftees did before, I chose to start up my own company – a no-brainer step as far as I’m concerned. I guess Microsoftees may adapt to new cultural environments pretty quickly. How? Well, Microsoft is a zoo, where you get to work with people from every corner of the globe – hence the fact that I would be quite skeptical if anyone told me Microsoftees aren’t amongst the best prepared people in the world to play in the global league.

11) Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO. He’s got so much energy, drive and passion. I’m proud to be on the verge of having him as an n+6742 boss. Since a good video ’s worth much more than a nice poem, check it out by yourself:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJQk5P-DqUE]

Related posts:

1. Microsoft IDEAS software startups web 2.0-style
2. Lessons from Microsoft's acquisition of ScreenTonic
3. 1 year of IDEAS at Microsoft
4. Catching up on software and entrepreneurship books
5. Best Newsletters