MS Founders Hub - Engagement Score Urgent

Question

MS Founders Hub - Engagement Score Urgent

Anonymous

We are at Level 3 ($25K) and were working towards the requirements on the verification checklist. We were delayed by months due to an inability to verify our domain despite countless documents provided by us. We were finally helped by support last week and got this finalized. When we went to apply to Level 4, we realized there was a new engagement score requirement. We were not informed about this until 10/28 after the requirement was already enforced.

Support has not been able to inform of us of what we can actually do to improve the score. The link they shared does not contain specific instructions on how to increase engagement score.

Revisit your Azure infrastructure.

Evaluate AI features in the Build with AI tab.

Explore more business tools in the Benefits tab of Founders Hub.

Pair with an Azure engineer to get advice on your solution.

What does revisit your azure infrastructure mean? We use azure every day to serve our customers and we are growing each day. We have evaluated the AI features. We have AI features built into our application using Open AI and Anthropic. We spun up an AI resource group based on the pre-defined build templates. We have explored all the business tools in the benefits tab. We submitted a request to connect with an engineer but did not hear back.

The main issue is this change was made without informing people ahead of time. This puts us in a spot where we do not have enough credits or enough time to try to figure out what increasing engagement score means. We have no way to know how this is measured, what our current measurement is, or what actions lead to specific increases to cross the threshold of "engaged".
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We're happy to increase engagement scores at the next level, but this puts us in an impossible position due to Microsoft's lack of communication.

Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T20:21:19.21+00:00
Hi Omar,

We were facing the same issue until about 10 minutes ago. I'm not entirely sure if what I did made the difference, but here’s a step-by-step of what I did for our startup:

Contacted the advisory experts for an architecture review and scheduled a one-on-one session with their startup advisory team.

Reached out to our Microsoft Startup account manager.

Booked a meeting with an external Azure expert through the Founder Hub.

Added URLs to LinkedIn posts about our product in the company profile section of the Founder Hub.

Linked our company’s LinkedIn profile in the company profile section on the Founder Hub.

Under the "Build with AI" tab in the Founder Hub, I created and deployed two different prototypes and used the created web apps briefly.

Redeemed some additional business benefits (we have 10 services redeemed in total).

After completing these steps, our credits increased to 50k. Not sure if this will help in your case, but I hope it’s useful!
Anonymous

2024-10-30T20:47:59.6833333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland how long after those changes did you receive the $50K?
Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T20:55:55.6+00:00

I did the architecture review yesterday evening and they approved the architecture this morning with confirmation mail, Microsoft startup account manager was working on the issue since this afternoon, the prototypes I launched approx two hours before receiving the increase, and the rest I also did all today.
Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T21:27:22.4866667+00:00

I think the most important thing is that you reach out to your account manager and that he/she escalates the issue. Best of luck!
Anonymous

2024-10-31T00:23:05.0733333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland how did you find your account manager?
vjeftovic 0 Reputation points

2024-10-31T09:30:39.59+00:00

The same issue with us. We weren't aware of the engagement score and now don't know how to increase it. There is no useful information form Microsoft..
Anonymous

2024-11-04T15:06:18.7833333+00:00
ignore this comment
Jackson Walker 5 Reputation points

2024-12-10T22:18:46.9733333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland I am also wondering how you found your account manager?

We are in the same boat. All benefits are redeemed, I have thoroughly explored the "Build with AI" page, and our company profile links to multiple posts on our LinkedIn. We have an open support ticket but it has not been any help thus far.

2 answers

Your answer

Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T20:21:19.21+00:00

Hi Omar,

We were facing the same issue until about 10 minutes ago. I'm not entirely sure if what I did made the difference, but here’s a step-by-step of what I did for our startup:

Contacted the advisory experts for an architecture review and scheduled a one-on-one session with their startup advisory team.

Reached out to our Microsoft Startup account manager.

Booked a meeting with an external Azure expert through the Founder Hub.

Added URLs to LinkedIn posts about our product in the company profile section of the Founder Hub.

Linked our company’s LinkedIn profile in the company profile section on the Founder Hub.

Under the "Build with AI" tab in the Founder Hub, I created and deployed two different prototypes and used the created web apps briefly.

Redeemed some additional business benefits (we have 10 services redeemed in total).

After completing these steps, our credits increased to 50k. Not sure if this will help in your case, but I hope it’s useful!
Anonymous

2024-10-30T20:47:59.6833333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland how long after those changes did you receive the $50K?
Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T20:55:55.6+00:00

I did the architecture review yesterday evening and they approved the architecture this morning with confirmation mail, Microsoft startup account manager was working on the issue since this afternoon, the prototypes I launched approx two hours before receiving the increase, and the rest I also did all today.
Sebastian Bensland 15 Reputation points

2024-10-30T21:27:22.4866667+00:00

I think the most important thing is that you reach out to your account manager and that he/she escalates the issue. Best of luck!
Anonymous

2024-10-31T00:23:05.0733333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland how did you find your account manager?
vjeftovic 0 Reputation points

2024-10-31T09:30:39.59+00:00

The same issue with us. We weren't aware of the engagement score and now don't know how to increase it. There is no useful information form Microsoft..
Anonymous

2024-11-04T15:06:18.7833333+00:00

ignore this comment
Jackson Walker 5 Reputation points

2024-12-10T22:18:46.9733333+00:00

@Sebastian Bensland I am also wondering how you found your account manager?

We are in the same boat. All benefits are redeemed, I have thoroughly explored the "Build with AI" page, and our company profile links to multiple posts on our LinkedIn. We have an open support ticket but it has not been any help thus far.

Answer 1

Jinal Shah 0

We have been battling the same issue for the last month and with no real help from the MS start-ups side.

We have escalated the issue via support tickets, have done the architecture reviews etc.. still no luck and we are about to loose our credits.

0 comments

Answer 2

Smaran Thoomu 35,125 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Omar Ansari
Thanks for sharing your experience. I understand how frustrating it can be with unexpected requirements and limited guidance on improving your engagement score.

Here’s some information that may help:

Engagement Score Overview: The engagement score measures how actively your startup uses Azure, showing your partnership level with Microsoft. Since you’re at Level 3, you should see the score once you meet the usage criteria and continue building with Azure. Typically, startups at the $25,000 credit level see the score start to show up within three months. If this is a recent addition, it might still be in the calculation phase for your account.

Improving Your Score: I know the guidance provided is broad. The suggested activities (like “Revisit your Azure infrastructure” and “Evaluate AI features”) are meant to boost overall engagement. Additional steps that might help include:

Using multiple Azure services (AI, databases, or storage).
Exploring the “Build with AI” and “Benefits” tabs.
Following up with support engineers on past requests.

Feedback on Communication: It’s completely understandable that early notice of these changes would have been helpful. I recommend reaching out to our Founders Hub support.

Reference: Engagement score

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Anonymous

2024-11-04T15:02:44+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu ,

Thanks for the detailed response—I really appreciate it. I'm still finding some of this a bit unclear, though. Should we be seeing a specific number displayed in our Founder's Hub dashboard? I haven’t been able to locate an engagement score anywhere; instead, I just see a badge saying "Improve Azure usage."

Could you clarify how many Azure services we need to use? Currently, I have 111 resources deployed in my subscription. I’ve explored both the Build with AI and Benefits tabs, which match what support mentioned. I’ve also deployed 2 AI solutions and claimed 22 benefits so far.

Additionally, if past requests are closed, what's the best way to follow up with engineers? I’ve reached out to Founder's Hub support a few times, but the response has only been this link each time: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-for-startups/get-more-benefits-faq#engagement-score.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Smaran Thoomu 35,125 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2024-11-06T11:35:48.8433333+00:00
Omar Ansari - Thank you for your follow-up and for sharing your detailed observations! Here's some clarification on your questions:

Engagement Score: The reason you're seeing "No Score Available" under the Engagement Score is that this score isn't available for accounts with Azure credit offers of $5,000 or less. For accounts with $25,000 or more in Azure credit, the score starts calculating after three months. During the first three months, you’ll see "No score available," and it will show up starting from month four.

Azure Services: There’s no specific number of Azure services that need to be used. The key is to show active and diverse engagement with Azure's offerings. Since you have 111 resources deployed, you’re on the right track! Just ensure you're using a wide range of Azure services to maximize your engagement.

Following Up with Engineers: If past requests are closed and you need further assistance, I'll share the feedback with the internal team to ensure we can address your concerns. In the meantime, feel free to reach out again through Founder's Hub support for any immediate follow-up.

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries.

If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Smaran Thoomu 35,125 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2024-11-07T18:37:25.8233333+00:00

@Omar Ansari Following up to see if the above answer was helpful. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Jackson Walker 5 Reputation points

2024-12-10T22:20:31.91+00:00

@Anonymous Did you end up getting approved for more credits? If so, what did you do and how long did it take?

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MS Founders Hub - Engagement Score Urgent

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