Beyond the Blue Badge Microsoft Alumni Network

Prasanna  (Sankar) Sankaranarayanan, a former software engineer for Bing, is skilled at building, growing and scaling startups — mostly with success, and always with learning. In this episode of the Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, he talks with host T.A. McCann about his start up experience including his path to becoming co-founder of unicorn company Rippling and now founder of 0xPPL, a decentralized social network for the crypto natives. Reflecting on his journey, he emphasizes the importance of understanding market trends and executing effectively.

Creating a more positive place with technology policy and ethics 

Julie Inman-Grant has over 30 years of experience in the corporate, government and non-profit sectors, working at the intersection of technology, public policy and online safety. She started her career as a legislative assistant in the US Congress, and later joined Microsoft in 1995 as the second government affairs professional in the company’s Washington, D.C. office. In her 17-year career at Microsoft, Julie held various public and government affairs roles including leading Internet safety, privacy and security first for APAC and then globally. After serving in leadership roles at Twitter and Adobe, Julie is now the Australian eSafety Commissioner. In this Beyond the Blue Badge episode, Julie shares her perspective on online safety challenges today and how she brings passion, persistence, and purpose to everything she does. 

Making the most of markets, people and leadership
Jan Muhlfeit joined Microsoft in 1993 after being with Software602 (then a startup), and he said it was one of the best decisions in his life. It’s been 10 years since Jan left his 22-year career at Microsoft, and he has carried forth the focus on unlocking potential. When Jan left the company, he was Chairman of Europe and now he coaches executives and Olympic athletes, runs seminars for global corporations, speaks at universities, helps children explore their strengths, and authors books. In this Beyond the Blue Badge episode, host Sabine Morlock talks with Jan about approach to markets, people, and leadership. 

How data science and generative AI are changing the world — for good. 

In his last role at Microsoft, John Kahan headed up what would become Microsoft’s AI for Good efforts. To this day, John continues to use data and AI to help solve the world’s problems whether it’s via his work with Aaron Matthew SIDS Research Foundation at Seattle Children’s hospital or advising organizations that include U.S. Venture, MidOcean Partners, Stagwell, Novartis Foundation and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation.
In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, host Rich Kaplan talks with John about advances in data science, AI for Good and the evolution of artificial intelligence. 

The path to board service starts with planning, networking When Steve Guggenheimer left Microsoft as a corporate vice president in 2020 after a 27-year career, he had already been thinking about what he wanted his next career milestone to be — board service. He started laying the groundwork for that while still at the company, and now he is a non-executive director for HSBC Holdings, Forrit, Leupold & Stevens and the Software Acquisition Group. He’s also an advisor to 5G Innovation Labs and Tensility Venture Partners. In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, Steve talks with host Rich Kaplan about his Microsoft career, the intentional steps needed to find corporate board positions and why your network truly matters.

Corporate investing with Adam Coccari
Advice for startups eyeing corporate venture capital
Adam Coccari leads Intuit Ventures. Before that, he was on the early Microsoft Ventures team, which became M12. Before that, he was a startup founder. Adam shares insights about differences between venture capital and corporate venture capital, or CVC, advice he has for startup leaders and more when he talks with host T.A. McCann.