Entrepreneurship

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

AA PharmaSyn provides safe harbor for 10 ex-Pfizerites

By Newsroom

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March 11, 2009

Hundreds of Pfizer workers were looking for a safe port in the storm created by the drug-maker when it closed its Ann Arbor campus in early 2007. One of those safe harbors turned out to be AA PharmaSyn.Helen Lee and Suemin Cheng both left Pfizer just before it closed, to start AA PharmaSyn because they wanted to stay in Ann Arbor. Today the chemistry contract research organization employs 10 people, all of whom once worked at the pharma giant. "We average about 20 years at Pfizer," Lee says. "We like to call ourselves ex-Parke Davis (the company Pfizer bought to establish an Ann Arbor presence) employees."Many of those hires came quickly after the Pfizer closing in 2007. AA PharmaSyn has been busy managing the work it has since then. The company would welcome new employees if the right ones come along, but Lee and Cheng plan to keep it small for the foreseeable future."We'd really like to keep the door open," Lee says. "We'd like to expand but no more than 20 people."Source: Helen Lee and Suemin Cheng, co-founders of AA PharmaSynWriter: Jon Zemke

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Kitchen incubator envisioned for Chelsea’s Washington St Center

By Newsroom

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Development News

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March 11, 2009

In 1999 Chelsea got a new high school and an empty kitchen. The high school has been heavily used, graduating class after class of student. The kitchen in the old high school, now called the Washington Street Center, has been used sparingly.That looks to change this year if Victoria Bennett has anything to say about it. At least the kitchen part. She wants to turn the industrial-sized kitchen that used to feed hundreds of teens every day into a kitchen incubator for aspiring culinary businesses. Bennett, a Chelsea resident, is an academic associate at Washtenaw Community College and has worked with entrepreneurs at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. She points out that there isn't much of anything in regards to business incubation on the west side of the county and thinks a kitchen incubator will serve a pressing need locally."This is a blatant need that is not being filled," Bennett says.Although the kitchen is only used occasional to prepare meals for senior citizens, she sees lots of aspiring cooks taking advantage of the space as long as there is someone there to follow through on the vision. Bennett knows that person is her and she thinks it won't be hard because a number of people have shown interest."I hope to have it up and going by the end of the year," Bennett says.For information on the fledgling kitchen incubator click here or send an email to Bennett at vbennett@wccnet.edu.Source: Victoria Bennett, academic associate with Washtenaw Community CollegeWriter: Jon Zemke

Karmanos Cancer Inst appoints Ann Arbor resident interim CEO, COO

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 11, 2009

The Karmanos Cancer Institute may be in Detroit but its reaching out to Ann Arbor to find some of its top talent.Excerpt:Ann Schwartz has been appointed interim CEO of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and the Karmanos Cancer Center. Schwartz, of Ann Arbor, will replace Dr. John Ruckdeschel, who is leaving in a few months to take a job in Las Vegas.Read the rest of the story here.

Arbor Photonics gets VC boost from The Wolverine Fund

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 11, 2009

The venture capital continues to pour into Ann Arbor's Arbor Photonics. The latest bucket of cash to fall into the lap of the laser firm comes from The Wolverine Venture Fund, the venture capital firm run by University of Michigan business students.The amount invested has not been made public, but Arbor Photonics has accepted millions of dollars in investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund and the Michigan 21st Century Job Fund since last fall.The money is expected to help build the prototype of the company's first product and hire staff to develop it. Arbor Photonics just hired a new Vice-President of Engineering last month and expects hire more later this year.The University of Michigan spin-off is developing a 3C optical fiber laser for the manufacturing sector. U-M Prof. Almantas Galvanauskas invented the technology that is expected to dramatically improve fiber lasers. The technology is an optical fiber structure called Chirally-Coupled Core Fiber or 3C fiber. The 3C fiber significantly improves the performance of fiber lasers in industrial manufacturing, a $2 billion market that grows about 14 percent annually on average. The company plans to make the product available by 2010 and hopes to hit $50 million in sales within the next six years.The Wolverine Fund is part of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Ross Business School. The fund, the first to be run by students, is worth $3.5 million and has invested in more than 18 companies in industries like information technology, life sciences and alternative energy.Source: University of Michigan and Phillip Amaya, CEO of Arbor PhotonicsWriter: Jon Zemke

Golden Limo plans to add 5 jobs in Ann Arbor this year

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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March 11, 2009

Ann Arbor's Golden Limo has already gone through its dip in the economy and is now on the upswing looking for new jobs.The luxury limousine service watched a good portion of its business disappear when Pfizer left town and British Airways dropped its contract. But that was then and Golden Limo is poised to recapture that business this year while adding five jobs to its staff of 38 employees and 12 contractors.Even though corporate business is down as the economy continues to tighten and cutbacks become the norm, the American consumer is still finding ways to spend on the finer things in life for those special occasions. It's also trying to break into new territory with its Town & Gown tours, the next one set for Thursday."People are still going to take their vacations. They're still going to get married. They're still going to go to prom," says Sean Duval, CEO and founder of Golden Limo. "They're going to spend that money."And Duval expects to continue making it. He started Golden Limo in 1992 while he was managing a fast-food restaurant in Milan. He got some money together and bought a friend's small limo service as his way of capturing part of the American dream. In fact a little bit of corporate work in the beginning played a key part launching the company."We really took off after we took on Weber's Inn," Duval says. Source: Sean Duval, CEO of Golden LimoWriter: Jon Zemke

Toyland 2.0

By Julianne Mattera

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Economic Development

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March 4, 2009

Hans and Tricia Masing take their toys seriously. But that wasn't always the case. Once upon a time they made their living in engineering and IT. Then their son took an interest in Thomas the Tank Engine and everything changed. Combining tech savvy with a love for toys, the couple has built a small Internet empire that still understands the value of community connection.

Chess master: Ann Arbor’s Ben Finegold to take on 50 opponents at once

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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March 4, 2009

Come one, come all and try and topple Ann Arbor's chess master, if you dare.Excerpt:International chess master Ben Finegold of Ann Arbor insists you don't have to be especially smart to be good at chess."Anyone can enjoy chess and get good at it," he said, adding with a smile: "I've been accused of being good at nothing but chess."Perhaps Finegold is being a bit modest."He's the best in the state," said Jennifer Skidmore of Pittsfield Township, the vice president and the scholastic coordinator of the Michigan Chess Association, the state organization that awards titles, organizes state championship events. "Ben recently won three state championship events in one weekend. He's brilliant. He's impressive."Finegold will undoubtedly impress people Saturday night when he simultaneously plays against 50 members of the Detroit City Chess Club at the Detroit Institute of Arts."I haven't played 50 boards in a while, so that'll be fun," said Finegold, 39. "I'll have to put my walking shoes on."Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti’s Anita Johnson shines on White House stage

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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March 4, 2009

Even Stevie Wonder could see one of Ypsilanti's brightest stars shining during his performance at the White House.Excerpt:Wayne Brady wants to buy her CD. President Barack Obama praised her "lovely" voice. "He had his arm around me, he touched me," she screamed to her mother.The women wanted to know who - not what - she was wearing.The Washington Post gushed about her "pure, gleaming" soprano rendering of Stevie Wonder's 1970s ballad, "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer."Wonder himself wants her to coach him on technique.Ypsilanti's own Anita Johnson's life changed this week, and everybody who's paying attention in the music world knows it.Johnson, Ann Arbor-born and Ypsilanti-raised, is a New York-based lyric coloratura operatic soprano, the kind of light and agile soprano whose range can extend two scales above high C.She sang Wednesday night at the White House, at the request of¬¬ pop legend Wonder, who was honored by the Library of Congress and Obama with the Gershwin Lifetime Achievement AwardRead the rest of the story here and The Washington Post's coverage of it here.

Genetics Squared’s cancer test to create 15 jobs in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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March 4, 2009

Genetic Squared thinks it's onto something big when it comes to cancer treatment. The Ann Arbor-based firm is close to marketing a prognostic test for a certain type of cancer. It's a test company officials believe could lead to significant cost savings in treatment."This is potentially a very big deal," says Bill Worzel, CEO of Genetics Squared.About 70 percent of the cancer patients that could use the test don't need to undergo chemotherapy after successful removal surgery. The remaining 30 percent do and they face grave consequences if they don't get it soon after their operation.Genetics Squared's test would be able to tell which category the patients fit into, potentially saving hospitals loads of money in unnecessary treatment and patients debilitating chemotherapy. The company hopes to begin marketing the test by the third quarter of this year."We think the uptake will be pretty quick," Worzel says. "A lot of people will be talking about it by January, 2010."He adds that the product, one of the first to come from the human genome project, helped the company land a $1.6 million investment from the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund and another $500,000 in additional venture capital. Genetics Squared started in 2002 with two people. Today it employs eight people full-time, a handful of independent contractors and the occasional intern. It just hired two people last year and expects to hire another 4-5 people this year. Another 10 people are expected to come on board in 2010.Source: Bill Worzel, CEO of Genetics SquaredWriter: Jon Zemke

Arboretum rising on list of Midwest’s influential VC firms

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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February 25, 2009

Local venture capital firm Arboretum Ventures is becoming a bigger and bigger player in the U.S.Excerpt:Ann Arbor-based Arboretum Ventures is emerging as Michigan's leading venture capital firm during an economic crisis that threatens to cramp the state's efforts to build a vibrant VC industry.Arboretum has officially finished fundraising for its second fund. The firm, led by managing directors Jan Garfinkle and Tim Petersen, raised $73 million - more than three times the size of its $24 million first fund, which closed financing in 2005. They've got room to make another 10 investments or so in the next two-three years.For Garfinkle and Petersen, the new fund immediately places them near the top of the list of the Midwest's most influential venture capitalists. In the midst of the global economic crisis, venture capitalists have struggled to raise financing from even their most dependable institutional backers.Read the rest of the story here and more about local venture capital here.