Hello, and welcome back to Equitya podcast about the business of startups, where we unravel the numbers and nuances behind the headlines.

This is our Show on Wednesday, where we usually focus on one person, but today we talk to two people! – think about their work and unpack the rest. This week Alex spoke to Hans YangMicrosoft’s GM for Startups, and Tom Davissenior director of Microsoft for Startups, on how the tech giant is working to integrate more deeply into the startup world and all things AI.

Microsoft’s startup-focused team recently created australiabusinessblog.com for its new Pegasus program, which offers a range of benefits to accepted startups. That work is in addition to Microsoft’s efforts to provide capital to emerging startups through its venture arm.

As traditional venture capital shrinks in a more conservative market and founders find themselves cutting costs and looking for ways to increase revenue, working with a tech giant like Microsoft can be appealing. Note: startup-focused work is common among big tech companies: Google has a startup program, as does Amazon.

Basically, if you are a big cloud player, it’s just a good thing to get into the good graces of the following technology breakthrough stories.

Finally, Microsoft is close with OpenAI, which puts its work on the cloud in a different context than it did a year ago.

Equity will be back with our news roundup on Friday, then on Monday with our weekly kick-off show and next Wednesday with an interview that we’re really excited about. Until then, you can follow us on Twitter: @EquityPod.

Talk soon!

For episode transcripts and more, visit Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us Apple podcasts, Cloudy, Spotify and all casts. australiabusinessblog.com also has one great show on cryptoa show founders being intervieweda dat describes how our stories come together and more!