Ann Arbor’s OWN Point of Sale adds 14 jobs, closes $250K angel round

Ann Arbor software developer OWN Point of Sale is starting to scale its principal product, an operating system for coffee shops, its staff, and its seed capital. The two-year-old start-up recently closed on a $250,000 angel round and has increased its staffing from four people a year ago to 18 employees today. Of those, 12 are full-time, and the company also has an intern and independent contractor helping push its sales forward. "Now we're growing," says Verdi Ergun, president of OWN Point of Sale. "We're out of our beta period and adding more stores. It's really exciting." OWN Point of Sale, formerly Ergun Technology based in Ypsilanti, has created software that allows owners and managers of independent retail operations, such as coffee shops, access to real-time activity on their registers, and, hence, higher bottom lines. This allows the owners, managers and investors to see everything from a tablet computer and access in-depth analysis on the operation from a cloud computing database. Ergun is shooting to have his software in 500 stores, with 10,000 users within the next year. He hopes to expand his staff to 35 people to assist in sales and software development, including the incorporation of more social media options. "It's just the way things are going," Ergun says. "The tide is going our way." Source: Verdi Ergun, president of OWN Point of Sale Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.