There are people with X and Y chromosomes, and then there are MEN. Maddox knows the difference. Want to know how you (or the man you love) measures up? Come see the master of masculinity read from his hilarious The Alphabet Of Manliness. Chuck Norris haters need not attend.
As the debate over density rages in Ann Arbor, perhaps the city should consider looking to other similar university communities that have navigated the political twists and turns of urban renewal and found success on the other side.
The brain might seem like one big mystery to some folks, but it's pretty simple to Greg Gage and Tim Marzullo.The neuroscientists and co-founders of Backyard Brains are taking advantage of this, creating cheap kits than can show grade-school students how the brain works in real time. "We call ourselves Johnny Appleseeds," Gage says. "Instead of seeds, we're planting knowledge about neurons."The duo teach how the brain works in local schools, and about a year ago decided there had to be an easier (and cheaper) way to do this while reaching more people. So they decided to take on a $100 laptop-style project focusing on creating a kit to show how the brain's neurons work with simple parts purchased at a local Radio Shack. "Can you record neurons for less than $100?" Gage posits. "We spent last summer trying to figure this out and now we're able to do it."That led to the "Spiker Box," a $100 kit that students can put together to measure the brain waves of insects commonly found in one's backyard. Gage points out that an insect's brain is remarkably similar to that of a human. Right now the company, based in the TechArb in downtown Ann Arbor, is self-funding a small manufacturing run of its prototype. The two-person-plus-interns firm plans to double in size within the next year, as it expects to reach mass manufacturing of its products. It's also looking at developing an iPhone application.Source: Greg Gage, co-founder of Backyard BrainsWriter: Jon Zemke
Add Phonagle's name to the steadily growing list of Ann Arbor-based start-ups looking to cash in on the iPhone.The University of Michigan spin-off is a partnership between three U-M School of Information graduate students and one of the school's graduates. They are working with the School of Information and U-M's Center for Entrepreneurship to develop apps (jargon for applications) and games for the iPhone.The Phonagle foursome (Sergio Mendez, Jeremy Canfield, Eric Garcia, and Benjamin Malley) have also received a little funding to push their four-month-old start-up forward. Its first offering will be Outword, a combination geo-location and Scrabble game for the iPhone due out later this year. Future versions for other smart phones could also be in the cards."We'd love to expand to different platforms in the future," Mendez says.Right now the fledgling company is focusing on establishing Outword and a few other apps. That means not only creating the program, but creating awareness of it. Unless a firm has five figures' worth of cash to throw at it, that means viral marketing and taking advantage of social media outlets locally and spreading out from there."It's difficult to make a case for your applications," Mendez says.Source: Sergio Mendez, co-founder and project manager for PhonagleWriter: Jon Zemke
John MacGregor and his partners spent most of their career working for the man. That is, until they decided to jump into the entrepreneurial world and become their own bosses by starting AA EDM last July.The Ann Arbor-based firm bought the assets of a bankrupt company that made electronics technology for machines used in diesel engine manufacturing. MacGregor and his partners (George Barbulescu and Nicky Borcea) are now making a go of it after spending several decades each in the industry."We made other people money," MacGregor says. "We decided we were going to do it for ourselves. Even though the company went under, it still had a viable product."It also came with some inventory, demonstration machines, and a built-in customer base. The company builds machines and tools for diesel engines manufacturing, but it is such a niche market that the trio aren't worried about the work being shipped overseas.Instead, they work away from offices on Jackson Road with their three employees. They hope to add 3-5 more within six months and they continue to slowly but steadily build their own company."It's not a fast-growing business, but it's a profitable one," MacGregor says.Source: John MacGregor, president of AA EDMWriter: Jon Zemke
MedHub has been on a contract signing spree this summer and is gearing up for a hiring spree this fall.The Ann Arbor-based start-up currently employs five people and has up to four positions open right now. Most of those positions are for software developers and can be applied for here."We definitely want to prime for more big deals and we have more in the pipeline," says Peter Orr, president of MedHub. The 7-year-old firm, a University of Michigan spin-off, uses web-enabled enterprise residency management solutions to improve communication, collaboration and residency information management in teaching hospitals. Simply said, it provides a system that tracks medical school students during their residencies. It makes hospitals get all of the Medicare reimbursements they are entitled to, which means more than $85 million for U-M Hospital.MedHub recently signed the University of Iowa, University of Washington, and Seattle Children's Hospital to lucrative deals, and is on the verge of signing another big hospital from a Big Ten school. That's on top of signing contracts with the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, among others, earlier this year. Source: Peter Orr, president of MedHubWriter: Jon Zemke
David Merritt is one of those entrepreneurs who sees his business through a different lens than the rest of us.The recent University of Michigan graduate (he captained the U-M basketball team) started I Miss You with a bigger idea than selling clothing. He wants it to serve as a force for improving communities and a vehicle for making people feel better."We really feel we can change communities, change their perspectives," Merritt says.It starts with the brand. The words "I Miss You" are meant to inspire a feeling of belonging and being valued. It's the type of mindset that is meant to make people want to do better through the lifestyle that I Miss You offers. It accomplishes this by mandating its employees dedicate at least 8-10 hours a month to community service. Customers can also get a discount by giving their time or money to local causes that help impact communities, especially young people."This is a people company," Merritt says. "The brand is about people."Right now I Miss You is Merritt, an employee and handful of independent contractors. He hopes to bring on some interns, too. They are concentrating on making shirts to start but hope to expand to other forms of clothing as the business grows."I have plans for days," Merritt says.Source: David Merritt, president and CEO of I Miss YouWriter: Jon Zemke
People can get a cup of Zingerman's coffee in two locations, and the newest one is in one of Ann Arbor's most unlikely spots.Zingerman's Coffee is opening a retail-and-processing site in an industrial area on Plaza Drive, in the Airport Plaza Business Park next to the world-famous eatery's Bake House and Creamery. The Zingerman's brand houses a family of businesses that all specialize in creating food or services around food, such as bread, customer service and coffee.Although the original deli serves as the officials face and base of the umbrella company, many of its offshoots have facilities outside of the Kerrytown location to meet demand. Zingerman's Coffee has had to turn down business because its previous facilities weren't big enough. Its new 6,400 square feet is expected to solve that problem while giving lovers of Zingerman's coffee one more place to enjoy their product."One of the things we like to say is you can buy the products where they're made," says Pete Sickman-Garner, marketing manager for Zingerman's.Zingerman's Coffee products are only available at the Kerrytown location for the time being. The new location won't have the same coffee-shop theme as the main coffee house, but it promises to have the Zingerman's flavor that gives the business its unique character.For years Zingerman's has stood it ground at its original location, turning down opportunities to franchise or open new locations outside of Washtenaw County. Zingerman's has looked at the idea of opening a Ypsilanti location because so many of its employees live in that emerging bohemia that the founders so readily identify with, however, nothing has yet to come from that idea. It is still looking at expanding its Kerrytown location.Source: Pete Sickman-Garner, marketing manager for Zingerman'sWriter: Jon Zemke
Ann Arbor's newest tech chief, Stephen Forrest, is making the case for more incentives to lure more new economy businesses to Michigan.Excerpt:Stephen Forrest doesn’t mind picking winners.In fact, he thinks it’s imperative.Forrest, the University of Michigan’s vice president for research and chairman of Ann Arbor SPARK, is a fervent proponent of leveraging university technology to reconstruct Michigan’s economy on the backbone of alternative energy and other technologies. Michigan’s attraction of $1.3 billion in battery grants from the U.S. Department of Energy in July marked a key step in the state’s economic revival plan, he said. Read the rest of the story here.
Lots of people look at Ann Arbor's West Park and think its area with potential to be so much more. Now the city is poised to capitalize on that."We got ranked very high for federal stimulus money so we're zooming the project forward," says Amy Kuras, a park planner for the city of Ann Arbor.The upgrades include making the park much friendlier to the environment and patrons. The $3.5 million project could begin as early as next summer.On the environmental end, the project will include creating a number of bioswells, linear depressions similar to rain gardens filled with native plants, that will help absorb the water runoff that runs through the park's east/west crevice. It will include a boardwalk along part of it and another part will snake in front of the band shell.The band shell will have a plaza built around it to facilitate more seating and gathering for events. The basketball courts on the east end will be moved to higher ground to make room for a new community garden. The stairs coming down from Huron Avenue will also be replaced.Source: Amy Kuras, park planner for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke
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