Working With Microsoft

Mark Relph

Seattle / Vancouver / Toronto
Send Message

I'm a technology evangelist, experienced business leader, team builder and Microsoft veteran. My 20 year track record in tech includes executive leadership, technology evangelism, marketing, sales, business development and product management. Now I am focused on backing and advising startups while exploring my options to lead or join an exciting new venture. I spent 15 amazing years at Microsoft in a variety of roles in Canada and the US. I was VP of Developer Evangelism for Microsoft Canada. I focused on the early adoption of the Microsoft platform with developers. My team drove business development for high profile projects like the Winter Olympics, partnerships with app developers and I had responsibility for the dev tools business in Canada. I was also part of the executive team for Microsoft’s Canadian subsidiary. I then joined the Windows group in Redmond leading the Ecosystem Product Management team. My team was responsible for building a rich ecosystem of hardware and developer partners for Windows. I was part of the launch of Windows 7 and the planning team for Windows 8. Most recently, I lead the Emerging Business Team at Microsoft which focused on venture backed startups, the venture capital community and providing an “ear to the ground” on key trends in the startup market. In Silicon Valley, my team orchestrated Microsoft’s relationship with the top VCs and investors. We also worked directly with key startups to align them with Microsoft product groups and connect them to commercial opportunities. Currently, I am EIR at Growlab working with their companies and building the plan for my next endeavour. I am a proud Canuck and I am a Charter Member of the C100, an organization dedicated to supporting Canadian technology entrepreneurship and investment.