At our inaugural Thinc Iowa event in October, Microsoft BizSpark provided complimentary drinks at our closing party at Americana. Photo by Anna Jones | Art of Photography and Ikonix Studio.

We are sending out a special Thinc Iowa thank you to the amazing team at Microsoft BizSpark for their support of this year's event, as well as their continued support of our work at Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News.

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, as well as providing them with marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs who are launching a business.

They have been a longtime supporter of the community's work through our premier events, Thinc Iowa and Big Omaha. As we head into 2012, look for more to come from our partnership around additional areas of participation.

Not only did Microsoft BizSpark help to produce this year's Thinc Iowa event, the team also helped to bring in Douglas Olson to present during the event. Olson shared his insight from almost two decades of lessons learned in the software business and entrepreneurial career to his current position as the partner director of development for Microsoft’s suite of creative design and media applications, Microsoft Expression Studio. If you missed Olson's talk, see our post: "Thinc Iowa Video Series: Douglas Olson of Microsoft Expression Studio".

Microsoft BizSpark's continued support is invaluable to us as we collectively worked towards a shared vision of enabling the creation and scaling of more businesses within the Silicon Prairie.

Please extend your thanks to the team at Microsoft BizSpark on Twitter, @BizSpark, and specifically Brian Gorbett, @Gorbett, and Chris Bernard, @ChrisBernard, for their continued support of the efforts taking place in the Silicon Prairie!