Offering a Word for the web solution for the pains of website maintenance are Mike Monan and Stephen Colson, the founders of Switchback, an internet business based on Drupal technology. This week they dish with Concentrate's Jon Zemke on downtown workspaces and the wilds of entrepreneurship.
When Merit Network counts the money from the grants it receives, it takes six zeros off the end to make the math easier. The Ann Arbor-based non-profit recently received a $69.6 million federal grant on top of the $33 million federal stimulus grant it received earlier this year.The latest federal grant (thanks, federal stimulus) will pay for spreading high-speed Internet across Michigan's Upper Peninsula and much of its northern Lower Peninsula. That should add up to 1,000 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure across 29 counties. The idea is to help create more economic opportunity in these rural areas by increasing access to the Internet."We're trying to push this economic development into rural areas," says Elwood Downing, vice president of member relations & communications for Merit Network. "We're trying to create that economic benefit across the whole state."The Ann Arbor-based non-profit manages high-bandwidth communication lines between the major universities in the Midwest, in cities like Ann Arbor, Chicago and Detroit. It has a staff of about 77 people and five interns from the likes of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. It has hired at least 10 people in the last year and has four positions that are either being filled or are about to be filled."We're looking at a minimum of at least six new staff," Downing says. "At least one of them will be a remote commuter from the northern part of the state."Source: Elwood Downing, vice president of member relations & communications for Merit NetworkWriter: Jon Zemke
Switchback is growing in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown, thanks to new projects with name-brand technology firms.The company has partnered with HealthMedia (Yes, that HealthMedia) to launch a website. It's also working with Weather Underground (the weather website jokingly named after the 1960s fringe group) on a joint project handling the national firm's Drupal work."In college I did a lot of work for them," says Mike Monan, co-founder and problem solver at Switchback. "Now they're in the same building. It was like, 'Hey, guys. How are you doing?' in the halls. Now we are managing their Drupal system for them."Switchback recently hired two engineers and is in the market for a salesperson. That leaves its workforce at about 11 people. Monan expects to add at least one more engineer in the next year as the company continues to expand its customer base. It utilizes a Drupal programming platform to create software that helps businesses better manage their websites without needing IT departments or in-house experts. "We have seen increasing demand for the product," Monan says. "It's been a nice surprise."Monan and Stephen Colson started Switchback not long after meeting at a local Drupal Users Group meeting in 2007. Switchback utilized local programs, such as Ann Arbor SPARK's Entrepreneur's Boot Camp, to help grow the company from the two partners working on their kitchen tables to one of downtown Ann Arbor's promising start-ups.Source: Mike Monan, co-founder and problem solver with SwitchbackWriter: Jon Zemke
Local Orbit is shortening and strengthening local food chain.The downtown Ann Arbor-based start-up created online software that helps consumers order fresh food directly from local producers. The experience is similar to shopping on Amazon, where the farmer drives the food to a local hub so the buyer can pick up, say, produce within hours of its harvest."I saw a lot of fundamental problems and challenges in the food chain," says Erika Block, founder and CEO of Local Orbit. "I saw a way to use interactive technology to solve some of those problems."Block began cultivating the idea two years ago and really began putting it into practice in 2009. Today, the firm employs three people and creates work for another three independent contractors. She expects to hire 5-7 additional staffers within the next year. The hiring will take place after Local Orbit finishes proving its concept at pilot sites in Ann Arbor, Richmond, and Brooklyn. The start-up also recently received a microloan from the Michigan Microloan Fund Program to help finish its pilot projects and begin expanding its concept across Michigan. It expects to add a fourth site in Michigan later this year, as part of an expansion plan to tailors its operations to the communities it serves."Every community has different needs when it comes to local food systems," Block says. "One size doesn't fit all."Source: Erika Block, CEO and founder of Local OrbitWriter: Jon Zemke
Bebaroo is a unique start-up that bills itself as the NetFlix of used baby clothes, with a not-so-unique driving force. One of its founders is about to become a father.Luis Calderon and Allen Kim became intrigued with the idea after Kim's aunt gave birth and bought a boatload of clothes and accessories that her baby outgrew in short order. The pair of University of Michigan students began researching the idea of selling these gently used baby clothes over the net. When Calderon's wife became pregnant, that lit a fire under the entrepreneurs to find an answer for the expensive proposition of raising a child."At first when you have the baby you get excited and buy all of this stuff," Calderon says. "Then you say, 'Holy crap! What am I doing?'"The Ann Arbor-based firm is creating its pilot website and has 70 people who have already signed up to buy and sell baby clothes and other products on it. The 2-month-old start-up expects to grow to 2,000-3,000 users within a year and begin raising seed capital early next year. It expects to hire 10-20 people as it sets up a warehouse and logistical operations. "We're off to the races," Calderon says.Bebaroo is a catchy version of the word Bebary, which means 'To give nice things to children'. Kim is one of five finalists in the running to become Entrepreneur magazine's 2010 College Entrepreneur of the Year.Source: Luis Calderon, co-founder of BebarooWriter: Jon Zemke
The best hope for revamping and reinventing Michigan's economy is from the entrepreneurs who aren't entrenched in it yet. Don't believe it? Go check out the fresh produce in a Detroit city liquor store and ask yourself who made that possible. Excerpt:A relative's complaint about pricey special occasion clothes for an infant who would quickly outgrow them sparked Allen Kim's idea for an online rental service for baby clothing.A desire to make credit-card purchasing safer and more convenient inspired Daniel Pearson to develop a smart card that combines multiple credit cards into one.The ideas have earned Kim, a University of Michigan senior, and Pearson, a Central Michigan University senior, the honor of being two of the five national finalists in a competition run by Entrepreneur magazine.The fact that two of the five finalists are Michigan students is likely a testament to the increased emphasis on entrepreneurism in the state. It's an emphasis some say is crucial to turning the state's economy around. Not only is much of the job growth happening in small companies, but experts say an entrepreneurial mind-set -- including being open to new opportunities and developing different ways to do business -- is crucial to being successful working in large companies.Read the rest of the story here.
For the last year or so writer and Googler Kate Rose has waxed poetic about living the Gen-Y experience in Ann Arbor. Each month she's offered up thoughts on how our region can slow the migration of ambitious and innovative young professionals elsewhere. Now Kate has become part of that migration, and using the film High Fidelity as her inspiration, she takes a bittersweet last look at the place she used to call home.
Conventional wisdom dictates that a company whose business model is based on automotive sales would not have done well over the last year or two. Buycentives is not that kind of firm."Even in the downturn we have gotten a lot of interest because our product allows them to spend their marketing dollars more effectively," says David Goldschmidt, co-founder of Buycentives.The 1-year-old start-up housed in Ann Arbor SPARK's downtown incubator specializes in making sense of this big, bloated morass of incentives for both sellers and buyers. Its software lets automakers target small groups or even individual consumers with the right incentives, helping auto manufacturers eliminate inefficiencies in the buyer incentive pool.Buycentives has spent the last year introducing its principal product to the market and is readying it for other types of Internet sales leads. The 3-person firm expects to hire a few sales people to facilitate its growth over the next year."We have made significant progress," Goldschmidt says. "We're gaining some traction with local car companies and dealership groups."Source: David Goldschmidt, co-founder of BuycentivesWriter: Jon Zemke
How do you get to the top of Google's first page? Catherine Juon and Linda Girard have a few ideas. It's why they started the successful website optimization firm Pure Visibility. Jon Zemke sits down with these Ann Arbor entrepreneurs to talk about sharing leadership, running a company in downtown A2, and teaching school kids more about business (among other topics).
LookInTheAttic is a small miracle in downtown Ypsilanti. Small because it's a small-but-growing business in the city's center; miracle because it's a small-but-growing business that is firmly rooted in the housing sector.The store specializes in selling antique reproduction hardware and housewares both at its storefront and online where most of its sales (about 85 percent) are made. It also owns and operates Silver & Gold, an online jewelry store. "Our sales are solid," says John Coleman, president of LookInTheAttic. "This July will be our best July ever."The 13-year-old company has been able to hire two people over the last year, expanding its staff to 11, with three independent contractors. It's also looking for a few good interns. LookInTheAttic achieved this growth by continuing to expand its product base and finding smarter, leaner ways to manufacture those products. For instance, it found that the same brass plate can be used to create four different products, such as a push plate or a door knob. Coleman credits this mass customization idea to the likes of Dell Computers."It works a lot of different ways," Coleman says. "By doing it smartly like that we can reduce our inventory and use that to grow."LookInTheAttic expects to continue to experience 10 percent revenue growth over the next few years. That should allow it to add another employee or two within the next year.Source: John Coleman, president of LookInTheAtticWriter: Jon Zemke
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