Rumor has it that Ann Arbor is ripe with small business job growth. But who's been growing and why? Jon Zemke, Concentrate's Innovation And Jobs News Editor, reflects on 2012's third quarter and which sectors were doing their part to reduce unemployment. (Hint: Techies rule!).
With the current debate over whether Ann Arbor should fund a new downtown library, Concentrate's Natalie Burg takes a look at communities around the country that have decided to invest in updating their libraries, not only to meet the changing demands of today but to ready themselves for tomorrow.
In downtown Ann Arbor you can pull a chair up to the bar for an educational session on skin care. DBTS Skin Bar is opening on Nov. 1, with the mission of informing patrons on how to take care of their skin. DBTS Skin Bar is an offshoot of owner Nancy Young's Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa in Pittsfield Township, however: "We don't consider ourselves as a spa at all," Young says. "We consider ourselves a skin therapy studio because what we specialize in is specifically skin science. You're not just going to find someone lathering a bunch of stuff on your face and sending you on your way with products that you don't know how to use." While patrons can have services such as facial waxing and treatments, the studio caters to the "on-the-go" client, with no service taking more than 30 minutes. "There's a lot of walking traffic [downtown], so that's a perfect location to have this type of business model, where it's meant to have people coming in and out, taking a look at the skin care products we have and try them out, then going on their way." Young had only cosmetic work, such as painting and floor polishing, to do in the 1,000 square-foot space at 111 W. Liberty St., which formerly housed the Acme Mercantile. She also installed a four-seat bar and an esthetic chair. The original lighting fixtures have been retained. Young and four other employees, all licensed cosmetologists or estheticians, will staff the studio to begin with, although "We definitely are looking to expand our team," she says. "We're always looking for people that are motivated and passionate about the skin care industry and not just doing it just to pass time." Source: Nancy Young, owner, DBTS Skin Bar and Delicate Beauty Therapeutic Spa Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
A group of five University of Michigan students are turning PhD work into a new back brace and a business called EXO Dynamics. EXO Dynamics is developing an electro-mechanical back brace for medical professionals that prevents injury and lessens pain without reducing mobility. It has developed a couple of prototypes and plans to begin testing the technology in hospitals over the next year. "This means users pain and suffering in their back is reduced," says Jorge Sanz-Guerrero, CEO & co-founder of EXO Dynamics. "It also means the need for surgery is also reduced." The group of innovators have been developing the back brace this year at TechArb, a small-business incubator geared toward student-led start-ups run by the University of Michigan. EXO Dynamics plans to transition to the Venture Accelerator in the university's North Campus Research Complex later this year. The start-up plans to continue testing its product over the next year and hopes to launch its product next year. The firm is looking to nail down some seed funding before the end of this year. "This year we are raising $250,000 through microloans, pre-seed funds and local investors," Sanz-Guerrero says. Source: Jorge Sanz-Guerrero, CEO & co-founder of EXO Dynamics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
It's firms like Llamasoft that are contributing to Ann Arbor's declining jobless rate, which fell to 5% in September, according to the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. Llamasoft, a global developer of supply chain software, has added another floor to its headquarters office in the First National Bank building, at 201 S. Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The firm is now adding the 5,800-square-foot fifth floor to its office domain. It also occupies the building's fourth floor and half of the third floor. "We've already got about half of our folks in [the new space] and will be fully migrated in before the end of the year." Llamasoft Executive Vice President Toby Brzoznowski says. The company recently announced a partnership with Nike, Inc. to co-develop supply chain software to facilitate the athletic wear firm's logistics and environmental aims. It also recently received a $6 million Series A financing round, a combination of venture capital and an investment from Nike. Llamasoft has almost 150 employees. "We have pretty aggressive growth plans. We've basically doubled in size almost each of the last two years," Brzoznowki says. "I suspect that over the next twelve months, there'll be another 30-40 additional heads that will come on board." Source: Toby Brzoznowski, Llamasoft executive vice president Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Youtrivia learned some valuable lessons from its time at TechArb, and plans to leverage those to not only grow its own business model but to create another space for start-ups in Ann Arbor. The 1-year-old start-up was launched by a small group of University of Michigan students who decided to create software meant to help people build up brands through casual video games. The software allows users to create games using feature images, videos, and trivia related to a company's brand. This strategy helps to deliver deep marketing messages to consumers through an entertaining experience. Youtrivia's co-founders realized this wasn't the best business model when they took a closer look at the market while at the TechArb. "We felt the market was very hard to compete in because brands normally trust established marketing firms to handle their brands," says Ricardo Rodriguez, CEO & co-founder of Youtrivia. Youtrivia is now focusing more on end-users, turning itself into a game development company that is focused on producing entertainment products with a focus on music. Youtrivia's founders are also looking to start their own tech hub on the south side of town. The four-person company was having a hard time finding a start-up community it felt comfortable with so it's starting its own. Rodriguez says his company is close to signing a lease for office space on South State Street and expects to share with five other tech start-ups. "We are very excited that we were able to find our own space with other digital companies," Rodriguez says. Source: Ricardo Rodriguez, CEO & co-founder of Youtrivia Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
With its high proportion of college students, rental housing makes up a significant chunk of the housing stock in Washtenaw County. In Ann Arbor alone, rentals comprise about 50% of the residential market, according to Jamie Kidwell, a sustainability associate for the city of Ann Arbor. Accordingly, the city received a grant to improve the energy efficiency of rental units in Washtenaw County, under the umbrella of the county's $3 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Communities Challenge grant. The three-year, $250,000 "greening rental housing" grant will be implemented through a partnership between Washtenaw County, the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of Michigan, and will focus on two big categories of rentals: student and affordable housing, Kidwell says. Landlords tend to pass utilities costs onto tenants, which gives them little incentive to make energy-cutting improvements to their properties. "Just to put it in scale a little bit, I think U-M cranks out about 7,000 new renters each year...Our residential sector counts for about 20% of our community-wide greenhouse gas emissions. When you start to stack these numbers up, you see that making an impact on our rental housing is going to help our community a lot in terms of energy conservation, increasing our housing affordability," says Kidwell. While there are already city and countywide energy-savings programs in effect, such as the PACE (Property-Assessed Clean Energy) program for commercial properties and the Better Buildings for Michigan program for homeowners, "I think the challenge will be those smaller-scale landlords, trying to figure out what's the right kind of program for them." The grant funding will cover staffing for the program over the next three years, as well as education and outreach. Over the next couple of months, focus groups of tenants, landlords, and contractors will be convened, with policies and programs likely defined by fall of 2013, says Kidwell. She adds: "Our community energy spend, excluding [U-M's buildings], I believe is about $140 million for natural gas and electricity, so even if you could save 10% of that energy, you've got about $14 million in theory that would go back into our local economy." Source: Jamie Kidwell, sustainability associate, city of Ann Arbor Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
TechArb is graduating 31 business teams this fall, making for almost 100 student-led start-ups that have passed through the small business incubator since its launch in 2009. The University of Michigan developed the incubator with the idea of creating a space designed to encourage college student entrepreneurship. It has since helped launch a number of new economy-based start-ups, including companies in software, bio-tech and alternative energy. Each semester-long class has carried about 30 start-ups on average, but the leaders behind TechArb are planning to shrink those class sizes in the new year, cutting particioation in half to 15. "These teams we're letting in are much more mature and venture quality," says Moses Lee, associate director for student ventures at TechArb. In the past, TechArb had welcomed both mature start-ups that went onto score investment from venture capital firms (Are You A Human) and the raw entrepreneurial ambitions of students with business ideas. Lee expects the future, more mature start-ups will still span a number of industries and expects this class to have start-ups in the software, bio-tech and engineering spaces. Source: Moses Lee, associate director for student ventures at TechArb Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Toyota's North American research and development facilities found not one but four homes in Michigan. To celebrate their three and a half decades here they handed out grants to local non-profits like 826Michigan, Ele's Place, The hope Clinic, and Growing Hope. Excerpt: "Toyota Technical Center (TTC) has been the driving force behind Toyota's North American engineering and research & development (R&D) activities since 1977. Headquartered in Michigan, TTC has R&D facilities in Ann Arbor, Saline, Plymouth and Livonia. In California," Read the rest here.
Downtown Ann Arbor-based re:group is setting some personal bests this year as the Internet marketing and branding firm continues to grow. The 9-year-old company has hired five people over the last year, including a copy writer, a digital strategist and some creatives. The firm now employs 25 people and an intern and it sees its business growing more in the near term. "This has been our best year ever," says Carey Jernigan, vice president of business development for re:group. "We added DTE Energy and Citizens Bank as agencies of record. It's been a big, big year." Over its first decade, re:group has traditionally handled clients in finance, bio-tech, retail and franchising. The addition of an energy utility and banking institution is helping the company grow its customer base and set the stage for more growth in 2013, a strategy that has worked well so far. "Every year we built onto the prior year," Jernigan says. "The economy is improving so our clients have more money to spend." Source: Carey Jernigan, vice president of business development for re:group Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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