Entrepreneurship

FamilyMint collects interest as it sprouts in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

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July 13, 2011

FamilyMint is gathering followers, customers and traction as the little start-up that saves is beginning to significantly grow in Ann Arbor's Tech Brewery.The 2-year-old firm has developed a web tool that allows parents to teach their kids the lessons of saving and managing a bank account with the grownups actually holding the money and acting as the bank. The firm offers both web and mobile app options."Our user numbers have steadily grown," says Bob Masterson, co-founder of FamilyMint. "Our revenues are starting to pick up but we're still in start-up mode." He and his co-founder are full-time and have hired two part-timers. They expect to hire one or two full-time employees later this year.Making that growth possible is early adoption of FamilyMint's software by local credit unions. The company has half a dozen credit unions using its product and plans to bring another five online this summer. FamilyMint will also be bringing a local bank and some financial planners onboard, but credit unions look to be its most promising customer base."We'd like to see our strategy with credit unions take off," Masterson says. "We're expecting the number of credit unions to take off in January when they're looking at their budgets for 2012."Source: Bob Masterson, co-founder of FamilyMintWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Latest in Entrepreneurship

What Food Carts Say About Ann Arbor

By Nicole Rupersburg

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General

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July 13, 2011

What do food carts tell us about a city? A lot, actually. From local business development to street engagement, a community's ability to encourage and nurture these DIY businesses can be a barometer of its commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation.

KnowledgeWatch uses Ann Arbor SPARK’s Shifting Gears program to grow

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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June 29, 2011

Donald Hogan has been boot strapping his start-up, KnowledgeWatch, since he started it in 2006. Now it's gaining some traction thanks in part to the talent he is finding through Ann Arbor SPARK's Shifting Gears program.KnowledgeWatch's staff of five employees and an intern is developing software that aggregates, analyzes and sorts online content in a way that is similar to Google searches. Among the downtown Ann Arbor firm's target market are assemblers of trade publications or hobby sites (which number in the tens of thousands). It has found many of its employees and advisors through Shifting Gears, a program offered through Ann Arbor SPARK that helps professionals and executives transition from working at big corporations and into start-ups."We've found some diamonds in the rough through Shifting Gears," says Hogan, CEO of KnowledgeWatch.The company is also in the process of implementing more of its products with existing customers and developing new sales leads. It hopes to perfect its product offerings in Michigan over the next year and go national after that."We're ready to seek funding and we have a customer base that continues to grow," Hogan says.Source: Donald Hogan, CEO of KnowledgeWatchWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor and Ypsi’s Kickstarter Culture

By Richard Retyi

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Economic Development

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June 8, 2011

It's not all about angel investing and venture capital at Concentrate. Some times you've got to focus on the little guy or gal. Which is what Kickstarter does, helping innovative ideas and people to find investment. From food to photography to music and movies, folks in Ann Arbor and Ypsi have used the crowd-sourcing financial service to get their pet projects off the ground.

Video Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

By Keith Jefferies

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Entrepreneurship

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June 8, 2011

From its gorgeous painted labels to its crafted oak barrel flavors, Dexter's tiny but mighty Jolly Pumpkin Ales is all about bringing an artist's touch to brewing. It's an approach that's winning them fans (and awards) all across the nation.

Dexter boomer takes career by the horns with AdviCoach franchise

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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June 8, 2011

David Waymann worked 30 years in the health-care industry in a career that spanned from running a stress test lab to being the U.S. sales manager for a rehab exercise equipment supplier. A few downsizings after the age of 50 changed his perspective on what he needed to support his family and maintain his lifestyle."The picture wasn't as rosy as it once was," Waymann says.He changed course and became more entrepreneurial, taking a stake in a AdviCoach franchise in Dexter a year ago. The goal was to replace his previous salary and help provide economic opportunity in his community by improving local businesses. Today he is on pace to surpass his previous income and plans to hire a couple of associates this year.Waymann likes to say his company fixes sixes, which is the average number his client businesses give their own performance out of a scale of 1-10. AdviCoach helps these clients better manage their time, team and money, improving their bottom line."I continuously saw that health and wealth are the things that impact us the most," he says. "They make us lose sleep and cause stress. And we often sacrifice health to create wealth."Waymann expects to increase his revenue by a multiple of 8-10 over the next year. He hopes to hire 2-3 more people to manage a steady stable of 25-35 small businesses in need of his firm's help.Source: David Waymann, business coach and president of the AdviCoach franchise for southeast MichiganWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M spin-out Brio Device wins Best of Entrepreneur Boot Camp

By Newsroom

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Education

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June 8, 2011

The journey to create Brio Device started with University of Michigan researchers working on a post-graduate fellowship in the U-M Medical Innovation Center. The bio-tech start-up's most recent stop comes with winning "Best of Boot Camp" in Ann Arbor SPARK's Entrepreneur's Boot Camp competition.Hannah Hensel, Laura Walz, Douglas Mullen and Dr. Sabina Siddiqui started last year by creating an extensive list of things that needed to be improved in the health-care industry and came up with the SmartAirway, a new tool that improves the efficacy and safety of emergency intubation. "This is something we felt compelled to pursue," Hensel says. "It was there from a clinical need and market size. This is something we can really make some advancement with."Brio Device's team of four is in the early stages of developing a prototype. Hensel expects to have a couple more engineers working on the project within a year and use the prototype to help raise seed capital. Commercialization could come as soon as 2013.Brio Device won "Best of Boot Camp" based on the quality of its elevator pitch and business plan. It won in-kind services from Ann Arbor SPARK and the educational experience of working at Entrepreneur's Boot Camp."It was very worthwhile," Hensel says. "They were prepared for people who were in varying stages of development. They were able to tailor the experience to each start-up."Source: Hannah Hensel, co-founder of Brio DeviceWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Vision Computer Solutions opens new downtown Ann Arbor office

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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June 8, 2011

Vision Computer Solutions has opened an office in downtown Ann Arbor so the Northville-based IT firm can better take advantage of the growth in the area's emerging technology sector."We would like to do more business with some of the companies out there," says Peter Marsack, vice president of business development for Vision Computer Solutions. "Ann Arbor is very loyal to Ann Arbor businesses so we want to make a splash out there."Prompting this move is the exponential growth of one of its largest clients, InstruMedics. The start-up specializes in surgical tool repair and equipment. "They're definitely in an aggressive growth mode," Marsack says.Vision Computer Solutions' Ann Arbor office will have 2-3 staffers. The company plans to expand that office while maintaining its downtown Northville headquarters. It employs 11 people overall.Source: Peter Marsack, vice president of business development for Vision Computer SolutionsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor childcare entrepreneur looks to launch new iPad app

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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May 25, 2011

Robert Kennedy sees a lot of paperwork in his child-care center business. Enough that the boss of 70 employees that oversee 300-plus kids is pioneering a new mobile app for smartphones and iPads to help eliminate that paperwork and make children more accessible to their tech-savvy parents.The way it stands now, Kennedy's employees fill out a piece of paper each day that serves as a report of the child's activity. For instance, it says if they took a nap, a bathroom break, etc. Kennedy is working with a team of local mobile app developers led by Mobile Monday Ann Arbor founder Keith Bourne to digitize this information and more."There has to be a better way than all of these pieces of paper at the end of the day," says Kennedy, CEO of Childcare Daily App. "We also want child-care centers to take advantage of this technology."The new app, expected to be widely available to the public by September, provides a much more comprehensive report for parents. It will tell them when their kids went to the bathroom, if there were any irregularities, when they took a nap and how long it was, among other details that worried parents often call the childcare center about.The Childcare Daily App will also store all of this information so parents and caregivers can see any sort of patterns and receive real-time updates. Not to mention, all of the paper that once held this valuable yet scattered information will now be safely stored in their mobile devices.Source: Robert Kennedy, CEO of Childcare Daily AppWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor developer, Bubble Tea pioneer app to track rewards points

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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May 18, 2011

The newest mobile app technology could come from a Bubble Tea store in Ann Arbor.The founders of Bubble Island, the Ann Arbor version of the Bubble Tea craze in Asia, had become frustrated with reward programs for their loyal customers who couldn't always remember to bring their reward cards. "It defeats the purpose of these things if they keep forgetting," says David Linn, president of Bubble Island.So Linn, a University of Michigan graduate and MBA student, reached out to Keith Bourne, who runs the Mobile Monday meetups in Ann Arbor and Detroit. The two led a team that developed a smart phone app for customers to keep track of their reward points and to give retailers like Bubble Island the information they need to give better service.The free app keeps track of customer reward points for various participating retailers, allowing consumers to keep a few less punch cards in their wallets. It also comes with software for the retailers to keep track of their customers' habits. All consumers have to do is give a retailer their phone number and the information is logged. "You don't need your phone, in case it's dead or lost," Bourne says. "You just need your number."Bubble Tea is using the prototype of this app right now. Bourne hopes to find a larger market for their technology over the next year.Source: David Linn, president of Bubble Island and Keith Bourne, founder of Mobile Monday Ann ArborWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.