Last year (wow, has it really been that long), Matt Dyor contacted me because of my work with The Magic Folder. He had an idea for a type of application/file/anything launcher. We initially started off with a Windows Sidebar Gadget called My.Crocuts. However, Matt – a patent attorney and fellow Microsoft employee – had been recently working with some folks at Office Labs. They were looking for "grassroots innovators" in the company and he pitched the gadget we created to them. They loved it!
About 3 months ago we started working really closely with Office Labs and they assigned a team to our project and really helped us get it off the ground. Actually, they did a lot more than that… a lot. I would have to say that they took our prototype and turned it into a polished piece of professional work. 
My.Crocuts was reborn as Speed Launch. You can download it from here and read an article about my partner and I here…and here. Have fun!