Entrepreneurship

Coverage of those starting up businesses and community resources to help them thrive.

Small Company Innovation Program helps U-M start-ups

By Newsroom

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March 3, 2010

More and more non-traditional ways are materializing to help local start-ups bridge the seed capital gap. One of the latest from the University of Michigan involves the Small Company Innovation Program and the $30,000 it recently awarded.Excerpt:Software that translates drawings of chemical compounds into standard notation is moving from a campus research project toward commercial application, with help from the University of Michigan.Officials say it's part of a broader effort at Michigan to encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship on campus.Read the rest of the story here.

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Ann Arbor’s ePack doubles in size, plans to hire more

By Newsroom

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Education

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March 3, 2010

The gadgets that make technology so cool these days aren't exactly resilient on the inside. That's where ePack comes in, helping tech firms protect their latest innovations.The Ann Arbor-based firm is developing technology that helps protect micro devices, such as the motion sensor in a Nintendo Wii. Without such protection these micro devices would be dead on arrival."A small amount of moisture or small particles can ruin their performance," says Jay Mitchell, president and CEO of ePack.The 2-year-old University of Michigan spin-off is starting to raise grant money, which has allowed it to go from its two founding members to a staff of three people, an independent contractors and a couple of advisors. The firm hopes to hire one more person this year and several more in 2011.For right now it's trying to finish development of its technology so it can go for equity investment in 2011 or later. The long-term plan is to reach the point where it can open a manufacturing facility and produce the technology is developing.Source: Jay Mitchell, president and CEO of ePackWriter: Jon Zemke

EMU start-ups win seed capital from Skandalaris Biz Plan Competition

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 3, 2010

Not all business plan competitions are for high-powered start-ups geared toward the new economy. Some, like the The Skandalaris Business Plan Competition, give opportunities for younger entrepreneurs or people who want to start a good, old-fashioned business.The winners of the Eastern Michigan University Center for Entrepreneurship-based competition include Saline High School alumna and EMU student Carrie Eichler for her business plan called Carrie’s Consignments and fellow EMU student Deborah Merz who won for her plan called Healthcare Integrators. Both received $1,000.Bill Shaffer took home $700 for his plan called The Shaffer Boys and its presentation. That business plan centers around a carpentry business for commercial buildings. The 23-year-old journeyman carpenter is a senior majoring in construction management at EMU. Shaffer was inspired by his father and uncles who once owned their own carpentry business."My whole family is in the carpentry business," Shaffer says.All business plans were welcome to the competition, which presented its plans at the Sesi Midwest Entrepreneurship Conference. About 300 students, educators and future entrepreneurs attended the annual conference this year.Source: Eastern Michigan University and Bill Shaffer, owner of The Shaffer BoysWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s Beagle Brain Gain

By Constance Crump

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Economic Development

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March 3, 2010

Ben Falk did what many U-M grads do after graduation - moved somewhere else. But a year and half ago he returned from NYC to open his computer repair business in Ann Arbor's downtown. It's hard not to see Beagle Brain's presence in Nickels Arcade as the perfect metaphor for how the city honors its past while embracing its future.

North Coast Fisheries plans for organic farm fishing

By Newsroom

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Education

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March 3, 2010

If organic farming has taken off as a profitable, new food-oriented industry, why not organic fish farming? It's a rhetorical question the group of University of Michigan students behind North Coast Fisheries would like to answer.MBA students Andrew Chamaj, Philip O’Niel, Aaron Skrocki and Matt Turner see a growing demand for fish around the world on a planet where pollution, over-fishing and invasive species are threatening aquatic populations and habitats."We see this as a tremendous amount of opportunity around the world," says Aaron Skrocki, CEO of North Coast Fisheries. He once worked for a fish raising firm and says he saw a pent-up demand for high-quality fish.The start-up plans to raise fish that are free of antibiotics, growth hormones and methyl mercury. This will provide fish native to the upper Midwest for both consumption at high-end restaurants and grocery stores, and also to stock ponds, lakes and other waterways. There is also potential for a side consulting business that specializes in fish raising and management.The firm hopes to secure land in Jackson County next year and begin operations in 2011-12. Source: Aaron Skrocki, CEO of North Coast FisheriesWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M student start-ups take 98K from Mich Biz Competition

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 3, 2010

More seed capital is creeping into the coffers of local start-ups now that the Michigan Business Challenge has awarded nearly $100,000 to student-led start-ups from the University of Michigan.The Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the U-M Ross School of Business awarded the grants to these new economy-based start-ups for excellence in new business plans and concepts. Eighty-five teams competed for the grants with a couple dozen walking away with money. That's a new record for the competition that is now in its fourth year.Two of the start-ups that landed four figures in seed money include $2,000 to North Coast Fisheries (an organic fish farm firm) for "Best Written Business Plan" and $1,000 to Milo (an e-commerce site for cosmetics for women of color) for advancing to the final round. Each found immediate uses for their winnings."These funds are a great first step as far as exploring all of the legal issues to create a legal entity," says Aaron Skrocki, a MBA student at U-M and CEO of North Coast Fisheries."The $1,000 went straight to the web designer," says Kimberly Dillon, a U-M MBA student and founder of Miilo.The Michigan Business Challenge lets the student entrepreneurs receive support, training and feedback from judges at each phase of the competition. The students are exposed to a rigorous business development boot camp that reinforces the notion that a solid business foundation is necessary to commercialize a great idea.A list of this year's major winners of the competition can be found here.Source: University of Michigan, Kimberly Dillon, founder of Miilo and Aaron Skrocki, CEO of North Coast FisheriesWriter: Jon Zemke

Wolverine Venture Fund scores 4th profitable exit with Mobius

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 3, 2010

The Wolverine Venture Fund is starting to hit a nice streak of profitable exits in the local start-up game.The student-led venture capital fund has announced its fourth profitable exit with the acquisition of University of Michigan spin-off Mobius Microsystems. This is on the heels of its most profitable exit ($2 million) with the sale of HandyLab."It allows us to participate but at a higher level now, and for more rounds," says Thomas Kinnear, who oversees the Wolverine Venture Fund. He adds that the fund's small size prevented it from investing in the later rounds of the HandyLab deal, but hopefully that will not happen again.The fund is 11 years old and worth about $3.5 million. It is run by students at the U-M's Ross School of Business. It has invested in more than 18 companies that have some sort of connection to either Ann Arbor or the University of Michigan. Its current portfolio is comprised of 13 companies.Kinnear says he would be very surprised if another profitable exit occurred for the Wolverine Venture Fund within the next 12-18 months. However, he says its possible since the Wolverine Venture Fund is invested in maturing start-ups like NanoBio."It's hard to say but there are several positive signs," Kinnear says. "But no one counts their money before it's in the bag." Mobius Microsystems deals with precision all-silicon oscillator technology. More simply said it is a company that makes microchips operate more efficiently. It was acquired by San Jose-based Integrated Device Technology.Mobius Microsystems was incorporated in Detroit and eventually moved to California after raising venture capital. It still maintained an office in Ann Arbor of 2008.Source: University of Michigan and Integrated Device TechnologyWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s VC community looks to student ventures

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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February 24, 2010

The future of venture capital in Ann Arbor might not be in the start-ups about to break out into very profitable exits, but in the business students at the University of Michigan.Excerpt:Devin Chasanoff, a finance and accounting student at the Ross School of Business, graduated from the University last spring, entering one of the toughest job markets for a college graduate in recent history.At the University he had studied to become an investment banker and had hoped to get a job right out of college. But after multiple interviews with recruiters from investment banks and consulting firms around the country, and not one offer in sight, he took an unpaid internship in New York City at Maxim Group — the investment banking firm he had interned with the previous summer. While the arrangement mirrored that of many of his B-school friends who were also having trouble lining up permanent jobs, Chasanoff was still disappointed."It hurt not to be able to find a job after putting in so much work, going to one of the most prestigious business schools in the country," Chasanoff said. But just a week into the job, sitting in the company’s Chrysler Building office on the east side of Manhattan, Chasanoff thought of an idea that would pull the New York City native back to Ann Arbor.Read the rest of the story here.

Start-ups discover Michigan’s shores

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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February 24, 2010

Could start-ups be the answer to saving Michigan's hard-hit economy? One tech magazine says so.Excerpt: A start-up IT services firm -- headed by veteran offshoring executives -- has opened up an offshoring alternative in Michigan, a state with a 17.5% unemployment rate and a well-educated labor pool. Fremont, Calif.-based Systems In Motion Inc. (SIM) has 35 IT workers in Ann Arbor and hopes to employ about 1,100 in Michigan within five years. SIM's plans for the state were cited by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in her State of the State address earlier this month. SIM's business approach, which it calls "inshoring," emphasizes streamlined processes and an intensive worker training program to keep costs 30% below those of in-house IT departments. Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor’s Weather Underground hits No. 2 in weather web traffic

By Newsroom

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Education

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February 24, 2010

If you live in the Ann Arbor area and check the Internet for weather forecasts, surf local and go to Weather Underground.The Ann Arbor-based company runs the second most visited weather website in the U.S. -- and in the world. That has translated to upping its revenues and profits by 75 and 25 percent, respectively, in 2009. Last year the firm made four new hires and hopes to add another three in 2010.Weather Underground ranks as the No. 56 most visited website now (mainly because weather systems have been making headlines) and drops only as low as the 70s when traffic is slow. It averages about 10 million page views per day."That puts us a little bit ahead of the New York Times," says Jeff Masters, director of metreology for Weather Underground.The company spun out of the University of Michigan in 1995, thanks to a few academic types plunging into entrepreneurship with the help of the university and some National Science Foundation funds."That was the year the world wide web went commercial," Master says. "It was a bit of untested waters for us."Weather Underground has its headquarters in Ann Arbor and an office in San Francisco (where most of its employees are based). It is now looking to grow in overseas markets.Source: Jeff Masters, director of meteorology for Weather UndergroundWriter: Jon Zemke