U-M start-ups score $34K in Dare to Dream grants

The University of Michigan's Dare to Dream grants aren't so much about growing student-led start-ups as they are about growing the student entrepreneurs themselves. The Dare to Dream program, organized by U-M's Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, distributes up to $100,000 each academic year to U-M students. The grants range in size from $500 to $10,000 and help students fund things like feasibility studies, business plan development and elevator pitch practice. "We think that the student start-up ideas are great vehicles to those entrepreneurial skills," says Paul Kirsch, associate director of the Zell-Lurie Institute and leader of the Dare to Dream program. This fall, 22 U-M student-led start-ups split $34,500 in seed capital. One of the big winners includes $10,000 to SecureHealing, which specializes in privacy monitoring and reporting across healthcare software systems. Another grant winner is Smart Peru, an all-inclusive Peruvian website, that won a $500 Venture Shaping Grant. Some winners also received invitations to Ann Arbor SPARK's Entrepreneur Boot Camp and $5,000 worth of business consulting. The Zell-Lurie Institute has offered the Dare to Dream grants since 2002. Many of the start-ups never took off, but some have turned into the darlings of Michigan's entrepreneurial class lately, such as Are You a Human and Own Point of Sale, both of which recently closed more than $1 million in venture backing each. Source: Paul Kirsch, associate director of the University of Michigan's Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.