{"id":51,"date":"2021-02-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-10-15T01:49:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T09:49:37","slug":"5-retail-facing-startups-at-nrf2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/startups\/blog\/5-retail-facing-startups-at-nrf2021\/","title":{"rendered":"5 retail-facing startups who crushed it at NRF 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First order of business for Microsoft for Startups in 2021 was the annual event for the National Retail Federation. NRF 2021 Chapter One was an entirely virtual affair spread over several days in January. The move to virtual gave the whole show a little more room to breathe than normal and it seems to have paid off in terms of engagement and participation satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We first previewed the event with one of our in-program startups, Uncrowd, where CEO Richard Hammond returned to write a guest blog<\/a> for us about his year since the last NRF show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also showcased some of the great retail-facing startups we are proud to work with when our own Tom Davis wrote about maintaining focus<\/a> ahead of the event launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day before the show began in earnest Microsoft hosted an opening event for five of our in-program startups where they had the opportunity to interact with and demo solutions for some of the biggest names in retail. Right after the main session, we hosted breakout rooms so that the conversations could continue and so far we estimate that around 10 new opportunities were created for these Microsoft for Startups portfolio stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A real highlight of the show itself was the virtual round table that Microsoft for Startups hosted with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n