Entrepreneurship

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

White Pine Systems to create 10 jobs in Ann Arbor this year

The internet has helped empower consumers by putting valuable information at their fingertips. White Pine Systems plans to do the same thing, but with medical records and patients.The company gives its customers access to their medical records, allowing them to help become more knowledgeable of their conditions so they can work with their doctors more effectively. The idea is to help them get a better picture of their health, thus helping eliminate unnecessary medical care and ensuring they get the right treatment."We are on the cusp of empowering the consumer and consumers' families to do some important things," says Doug Dormer, president of White Pine Systems.This goes beyond people struggling with chronic illnesses who regularly visit hospitals. White Pine Systems works with long-distance races, such as marathons and half- marathons, so a runner and potentially first responders have access to important medical information.White Pine Systems got its start in 2006, but was shelved until late 2007 so society could catch up to the technology. It now employs 10 people who work virtually from all over Ann Arbor. White Pine Systems plans to add some interns this summer or at the latest by this fall. Another 10 people are expected to come on board by the end of this year."We expect to grow," Dormer says.Source: Doug Dormer, president of White Pine Systems Writer: Jon Zemke

Latest in Entrepreneurship
Compendia Bioscience uses better data to lure more business

Compendia Bioscience continues to grow in Ann Arbor.Excerpt:After redesigning its principal product - a cancer profiling database system - Compendia Bioscience is exploring how to leverage the value of its extensive data to secure new revenue.The Ann Arbor-based health care IT and consulting services firm is also looking to add five employees for a total of 25, said John Freshley, chief business officer.The move comes as Compendia finished redesigning the Oncomine database, which was originally created at and licensed from the University of Michigan. For Compendia, which experienced 300 percent revenue growth in 2008, the new version of Oncomine represents an upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0."We've been working on this release for quite a long time, probably over 18 months," Freshley said. "We almost completely rebuilt the product and the data from scratch."Read the rest of the story here.

Former regent Phil Power sells U-M students on entrepreneurship
Entrepreneur profile: Yan Ness of Ann Arbor’s Online Tech

Yan Ness, 46, is the man behind the magic that keeps Online Tech hiring. The Ann Arbor-based firm has 15 employees and 12 independent contractors. It recently hired two people and plans to hire another 2-4 this year.Ness, a 1985 University of Michigan alumni with a BS in Computer Science, is a serial entrepreneur living just outside of Ann Arbor. He helped co-found Company Crafters and has built and sold two other companies - WorkWell and Systems and Software Group.Describe your business in two sentences or less?We provide a secure, reliable, scalable network of data centers to house our clients' servers, some of which we manage. Clients use us for high availability large scale hosting, or disaster recovery for their production data center.Why did you decide to set up shop in Ann Arbor?Grew up here, family, great talent, midwest values with a global perspective. Recently supportive (thanks Spark!) of commercial ventures.What are some of the advantages to doing business here?It's cold in Michigan (good for data centers). Lower costs. More win-win attitude.What do you see in Ann Arbor that other people who live outside the area don't?Brains, global perspective, lots of entrepreneurial experience.What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about opening a business in Ann Arbor?Don't put your office downtown. The city doesn't want you there.If you could change one thing about Ann Arbor, what would it be?Lower the taxes. Better fiscal prudence from the political leaders and support for commercial activity.Source: Yan Ness, CEO of Online TechWriter: Jon ZemkeAre you a Washtenaw County business owner and want to stand in Concentrate's entrepreneur spotlight or know of someone who should? If so, send an email to Jon Zemke at jmzemke@gmail.com

Ypsilanti’s SPARK East incubator receives $250,000 in grant funding

Ann Arbor SPARK's East incubator in Ypsilanti landed a little bit of green ($250,000) from the Michigan Strategic Fund.The Strategic Fund's money comes from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the state. The money is supposed to help get the fledgling incubator off the ground."It will help us with the operating costs for the facility," says Michael Finney, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. "It will cover a little bit of everything."Ann Arbor SPARK opened its third incubator in downtown Ypsilanti earlier this year. There are now four companies in its 8,000 square feet facing Michigan Avenue, next to Bombadill’s Cafe.The incubator offers two conference rooms, utilities, high-speed Internet, copiers and convenient parking for its tenants. It also provides expert business support from Ann Arbor SPARK and provides numerous opportunities to network with other new economy entrepreneurs. For information on leasing space click here or send an email to shamar@annarborusa.org or call (734) 527-9171.Source: Michael Finney, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M start-ups Ikanos Power, Husk Insulation take Clean Energy Prizes

Two University of Michigan start-ups recently made the Ann Arbor area proud, taking the two runner-up slots in the inaugural Clean Energy Prize.Ikanos Power and Husk Insulation took home nearly a quarter of the $100,000 prize pool - a competition geared toward alternative-energy start-ups, which was sponsored by the University of Michigan and DTE Energy. They plan to use that combined $24,500 to further research into their products.Husk Insulation tries to convert plant-based agricultural waste into high-grade insulation that is a fraction of the thickness of conventional insulation for the refrigeration industry. Ikanos Power creates efficient, portable and fuel-flexible electric power generators that could be used on vehicles such as military tanks and tractor-trailers.Ikanos is made up of five principals. They include two serial entrepreneurs from the U-M Business School and three chemical engineering PhDs."It's a good blend of the business and engineering schools," Townsend says.Ikanos (Greek for efficient) Power is trying to raise money right now to further its research and create a prototype. The product is still several years away from becoming reality, but it has a huge upside, according to Townsend."This is huge," Townsend says. "We’re looking at a $50 billion market. We’re talking about taking the fire out of the combustible engine when it comes to fossil fuels. That’s huge."Source: Jason Townsend, CEO of Ikanos Power and the University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor entrepreneur Rick Snyder wants to take start-up vision to governor’s mansion

Rick Snyder, one of Ann Arbor's start-up icons, wants to put the innovation lessons he learned from Gateway and Ardesta to use on a state level as Governor. Excerpt:An entrepreneurial investor as Michigan gubernatorial candidate? That's the value proposition that Rick Snyder, who is officially considering a gubernatorial race in 2010, would be offering Michigan. But Snyder, chairman of Ann Arbor SPARK and former president of Gateway Computers, faces significant challenges related to name recognition and funding competition.Snyder, also CEO of Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm Ardesta and former chairman of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s executive committee, hinted that he may seek to overcome those obstacles by relying on entrepreneurial business skills."Fortunately I've been in the startup world for the last 10 years plus. There's a tremendous amount of analogies from doing a startup and running a campaign in the sense that you have to come up with a vision, you have to build a team, you have to raise funds and you have to get something done," said Snyder, who also briefly ran Gateway as interim CEO.Read the rest of the story here.

MASTERMIND: Eve Aronoff

When it comes to Ann Arbor restaurants there's eve and then there's everyone else. Since opening in 2003, Eve Aronoff's initmate bistro has emerged as an ambassador to the city's hipster/ foodie scene. From her curried mussels to Thursday night's popular cocktail scene to the sublime ginger-lime martinis, Eve has help redefine the local culinary landscape.

U-M Innovation Partnership targets diseases with funding

The University of Michigan's Innovation Partnership is off to a fast start, raising $2 million of its $10 million goal and investing $680,000 into four promising projects.The university announced the partnership last year as a way of breathing life into promising healthcare research at U-M's Life Sciences Institute. Many of these discoveries never make it out of the ivory tower due to the lack of seed funding at the onset before commercialization.That's called the Valley of Death by researchers and venture capitalists. Often there isn’t enough venture capital or angel investors to go around for all of the discoveries made by U-M's top-shelf researchers. It hopes to bridge this valley with precious start-up funds.The partnership is funded with philanthropic sources. The partnership also pairs up researchers with mentors and advisors to help them bring their discoveries to commercialization and help create more jobs locally.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s iSold It on eBay breaks into upper echelon of sellers

It might strike some people as strange that something like iSold It on eBay Ann Arbor is flourishing in a town that prides itself on its geeky knowledge of all things technoloical. But that's what happening with the 4-year-old firm.The three-person company recently reached the 10,000 feedback in eBay sales milestone, moving it to the "shooting star" level as one of the top sellers on the eBay market. So far iSold It on eBay has sold more than 20,000 items, ranging from musical instruments to electronics.It's been able to service the Ann Arbor area's senior population, which often has concerns about identity safety on the Internet or just isn’t familiar enough with web markets. Then there is also the 'I don’t have enough time' crowd."Doing an eBay sale requires a lot of work," says Carol Kamm, owner of iSold It on eBay Ann Arbor. "A lot of homework needs to be done beforehand to make an item sell. We answer the questions during the sale. We wrap it and ship it."And apparently it's doing it well, hitting 99.7 percent positive feedback from its customers. That in turn makes Kamm a happy person. It's not exactly the career move she envisioned making when graduating from the University of Michigan's School of Engineering in 1982. She worked several IT and software development jobs before seeing an ad for iSold It on eBay franchises. Suddenly such a move made sense for her with her family history in antique selling."I saw that, showed it to my husband and said I can do that," Kamm says.Source: Carol Kamm, owner of iSold It on eBay Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

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