Why We Migrated ClaimDuty to Microsoft Azure (And Why It Matters for Veterans)

I've been working at Microsoft for years, leading teams in the defense sector. I'm also a veteran — Air National Guard, 90% VA disability rating. And like most veterans, I know firsthand how overwhelming the VA disability claims process can be.

That's why I'm building ClaimDuty.

It's an AI-powered SaaS platform designed to help veterans navigate the labyrinth of VA disability claims. We're talking about a system where the difference between a 70% and an 80% rating can mean thousands of dollars a year — and where most veterans leave money on the table simply because they don't know what they're entitled to or how to document it properly.

We launch March 17, 2026. And we just completed a migration that I'm genuinely excited about.

The Technical Pivot That Became Personal

When we started building ClaimDuty, we did what a lot of early-stage SaaS founders do: we went with the fastest path to MVP. Vercel for hosting, Supabase for the database, third-party APIs for AI. It worked. We got something into veterans' hands quickly.

But as we got closer to launch — and as I started thinking about the weight of what we're actually handling — I realized we had a problem.

We're not building a todo app. We're handling veteran medical data. Disability documentation. Service records. Personal health information that veterans are trusting us with because they believe we can help them get the benefits they've earned.

That's HIPAA territory. That's data that deserves enterprise-grade security, not just "pretty good for a startup."

So we made the call: migrate to Microsoft Azure.

Why Azure Was the Right Choice

HIPAA and FedRAMP Compliance Built In. Azure isn't just compliant — it's built for this. The Business Associate Agreement (BAA) comes automatically through Microsoft's Data Protection Addendum. No negotiations, no custom contracts. It just works.

When you're handling veteran medical data, you don't want to be figuring out compliance as you go. You want it baked into the infrastructure. Azure gave us that from day one.

80% of NIST 800-53 Controls Inherited. NIST 800-53 is the security framework for federal systems. It's exhaustive — hundreds of controls covering everything from access management to incident response. With Azure, we inherit about 80% of those controls just by using the platform.

For a small team building a product that matters, that's the difference between launching confidently and launching scared.

Azure OpenAI and GPT-5.3. ClaimDuty is powered by AI. We use it to analyze veterans' service records, suggest conditions they should claim, draft nexus letters, and guide them through the evidence-gathering process.

Azure OpenAI gave us access to GPT-5.3 in an enterprise environment. That means:

• The data stays in our tenant. It doesn't get used to train public models.
• We have compliance guarantees around how the AI processes veteran information.
• We can fine-tune and customize the models as we learn what works best for the veteran community.

Azure Founders Hub. Microsoft's Azure Founders Hub provided credits to help us get started. It's also a signal that Microsoft gets what we're trying to do and wants to support mission-driven startups.

The Technical Stack

• Frontend & API: Next.js running on Azure App Service
• AI: Azure OpenAI for all AI-powered features (GPT-5.3)
• Database: Supabase PostgreSQL (migrating to Azure SQL later in 2026)
• Orchestration: Azure Foundry for workflow management
• Infrastructure: Fully managed, auto-scaling, and compliant out of the box

What This Means for Veterans

Most veterans won't care that we're on Azure. They won't care about NIST 800-53 or BAAs or GPT-5.3.

But they will care that their data is safe. They will care that the AI helping them is private and purpose-built. And they will care that we took the time to build something that treats their service — and their information — with the respect it deserves.

Veterans Building for Veterans

I'm not building ClaimDuty because I think veterans are a good market. I'm building it because I am a veteran, and I know what it's like to sit in a VSO's office and feel like you're guessing your way through a process that should be straightforward.

ClaimDuty is what happens when a veteran who builds secure systems at Microsoft decides to use those skills to help other veterans navigate the system that's supposed to help them.

We're not trying to replace VSOs or claims agents. We're trying to give veterans the tools they need to advocate for themselves — whether that's understanding what conditions they can claim, gathering the right evidence, or just knowing what questions to ask.

What's Next

We launch March 17, 2026. If you're a veteran, or you know a veteran who's navigating the VA disability process, check out claimduty.com.

If you're a founder thinking about infrastructure decisions — especially in healthcare, government, or any space where trust and compliance matter — feel free to reach out. I'm happy to talk through what we learned.