V2V's racks are filled with the kind of stuff you can buy 'off the rack' ... if you know what I mean. It's the kind of place that'll carry only five a particular outfit and then "pfft" it's gone. Located in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown, this urban-style boutique attract customers far and wide.
Amy Wilson graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2005. She was a "non-traditional" student -- meaning she transfer student. And though she transfered for economic reason she found true value and a memorable experience at EMU.
The venture capitalists at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business have struck again, investing $80,000 into an Ann Arbor-based company. Accio Energy will use the money to develop a wind energy system that generates electricity differently than your standard wind turbine. The "aerovoltaic technology" uses charged particles and wind to generate electricity in a machine that doesn’t have any moving parts.The money comes from the Frankel Commercialization Fund, a student-managed venture capital seed fund. It was formed to help speed up the technology commercialization and company formation at the university and surrounding area. It's the fund's fourth investment and its first in a alternative energy firm. Source:Writer: Jon Zemke
HookLogic opened its new Ann Arbor office with three people about a year ago. Today that office employs 13 people and a few interns and expects to hire another 2-5 people this year.That shouldn't cause too much of a surprise. Most of the New York-based firm got its start at a software development firms in Ann Arbor at the height of the tech bubble about a decade ago. After it burst those people moved to New York and started HookLogic before coming back to drink from the Ann Arbor talent pool."There is a lot of great talent in this city," says Gary Evans, general manager of HookLogic's Ann Arbor office. "We can get it a lot more reasonably price here than we can in Manhattan."HookLogic creates web-based software for a variety of industries. It deals mostly with delivery, management and measurement of customer incentives and promotional messaging for companies. The idea is to help firms get the biggest bang for their advertising and discount buck.The company has offices in New York, London and Ann Arbor.Source: Gary Evans, general manager of HookLogic's Ann Arbor officeWriter: Jon Zemke
After working together, off and on, for nearly 20 years, Bruce Auerbach, Reyn Homan and Brian Krause weren't about to let some cost-cutting corporate decision from the Pfizer to get in their way. That's why the group of three scientists decided to start Alphacore Pharma shortly after Pfizer closed its Ann Arbor campus in 2007. Today the 2-year-old start-up on the city's west side provides steady paychecks for the three men and a growing stable of independent contractors."We've had a lot of good milestone success and a lot of fun doing it," Auerbach says.The company specializes in early clinical research for a protein that could help treat cardiovascular disease. It got the help of some angel investors to help push its research through the early clinical trial process. Alphacore hopes to partner with a larger pharmaceutical company in the near future to further develop the protein into a drug after it finished the early clinical trials.In the mean time the trio of ex-Pfizerites continue to do what they enjoy, work together on drug development research. The only difference between doing it today and three years ago is that they don’t have worry about the boss leaving town.Source: Bruce Auerbach, president of Alphacore PharmaWriter: Jon Zemke
Another happy band of ex-Pfizerites made the jump from corporate paychecks to start-up riches. But the guys at Great Lakes Drug Development didn’t travel the same road as most other start-ups.The 10 guys at the Brighton-based life sciences firm originally opened the office for Decode Genetics after Pfizer closed its Ann Arbor campus in 2007. That didn’t work out the way they expected, and they decided the idea of working for someone else might not be all its cracked up to be."We wanted to do our own thing and take our destiny into our hands," says Kevin Hershberger, COO of Great Lakes Drug Development.Today their year-old firm manages the development of drug compounds and provides consulting service. The original 10 are now nine, but there are a couple of independent contractors helping push the company forward.Great Lakes Drug Development hopes to go on growth spurt within the next year or two now that it's established its footing. That could mean another 5-6 hires as more and more work comes in."We're expanding very nicely," Hershberger says.It also wants more of a piece of an action. The company wants to evolve from a straight consulting firm to one that takes part ownership the intellectual property and drugs that its helps build at the onset."We'd like to have a little more ownership in the game," Hershberger says.Source: Kevin Hershberger, COO of Great Lakes Drug DevelopmentWriter: Jon Zemke
"What about a place for the kids?" is a statement sure to make most eyes roll, but a group of University of Michigan students are dead serious about such a subject when it comes to business incubators.They know about Ann Arbor SPARK and co-working spaces in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, but they want their own home geared toward their needs. So instead of waiting for the adults to get their act together, they decided to create their own – TechArb."The needs (that places like Ann Arbor SPARK cater toward) didn't necessarily cater to students," says Jason Bornhorst, organizer behind TechArb. "The needs of students are definitely different than someone who has graduated."Those needs range from not paying rent to being surrounded by peers who they aren't afraid to fail around. Bornhorst is a fourth year computer science engineering major at U-M and founder of the start-up Mobil33t.com. He and some other student entrepreneurs went looking earlier this year for an incubator space that fit them, such as a basement or a classroom. The ended up leveraging RPM Ventures and the U-M College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship to find their own space in the basement of a downtown Ann Arbor building. About 10 student-run start-ups now call the basement home this summer as part of a trial run. "It's a summer experiment," Bornhorst says. "We have been here for five weeks and its going great."He is cataloging the progress made at the incubator in the hopes that documented progress will show an institution like the university that TechArb is worth funding and not redundant. Bornhorst sees it as sort of minor leagues for young entrepreneurs where they can take big risks with little chance of embarrassing themselves in the big leagues of Ann Arbor SPARK or elsewhere in the everyday business world.Source: Jason Bornhorst
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman made some sharp points about entrepreneurs at last week's National Summit in Detroit.Excerpt:An entrepreneurship panel pointed toward America's small business high tech future late Tuesday morning at the National Summit in Detroit.Part of that involves university tech transfer, according to panelist Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Univeristy of Michigan: "Universities can be major hubs of innovation and entrepreneurism but it's not a give. It has to be rewarded and celebrated, and it has to have an internal champion." She also said turning a university into a consistent technology-based economic development engine involves "opening the door to businesses big and small."Read the rest of the story here.
Detroit's loss could turn into another gain for Ann Arbor.Excerpt:Asterand plc, the anchor tenant at Detroit-based TechTown, the incubator and technology park associated with Wayne State University, is considering a move to Ann Arbor and possible affiliations with the University of Michigan because of what its CEO says is neglect by WSU and its president, Dr. Jay Noren.Martyn Coombs, CEO of the tissue bank company which was the best performer on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ATD) last year, said he has decided to rescind a tentative renewal lease agreement with TechTown and has retained two real estate brokers to look at opportunities in Ann Arbor.“Ann Arbor has a glowing reputation, and so does the University of Michigan,” said Coombs.Read the rest of the story here.
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