It's not uncommon for a fledgling business to raise capital through crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. But what do you do if you're seeking investment partners through social media? That's the path the folks behind Tecumseh Brewing Company decided to take ...and they helped to change Michigan law along the way.
What we at Concentrate love almost as much as a story about a local musician developing technology to help his fellow artists is that this U.K. publication considers Ann Arbor part of Detroit. Yay regionalization! That's the spirit! Excerpt: "The dad-of-two, who now splits his time between visiting his children in Preston and Ann Arbour in Detroit, has performed in front of 25,000 people at Ewood Park after winning the Rock FM Rock Idol competition back in 2002. However, part of the ?reason for him developing the app was to allow musicians to have their music discovered without relying on radio play." Read the rest here.
First there was the popular Facebook page "Humans Of New York," which supposedly sets out to capture the rich pageant of living in America's largest city. Then Ann Arbor created its rather more homogeneous counterpart. Then the inevitable happened. Grad student Jeremy Kaplowitz sought to unmask the lizard people of New York who actually control our world. Now that mission has spread to Ann Arbor as well… though no hidden reptilians have yet to be revealed. Yet. Further proof of a conspiracy? Humans Of New York: https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork Lizard People Of New York: https://www.facebook.com/lizardpeopleofny Humans of Ann Arbor: https://www.facebook.com/HumansOfAnnArbor Lizard People of Ann Arbor: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lizard-People-of-Ann-Arbor
When the team developing startup Branch decided it wanted to work in software, it didn't just try to create the next best thing in social media. The six young people from Ann Arbor are trying to reinvent the entire sector. "We started from the ground up," says Ryan Wolande, co-founder & CEO of Branch. "We scrapped what we had been conditioned to from other social media outlets." Branch is a mobile app that is meant to turn people's digital presence into a real-world interaction. The software finds individuals who share the same interests and are in close proximity to each other and connects them. "It's about fostering real-world relationships," Wolande says. "It's about social media in the physical world." The Ann Arbor-based startup and its team of six people is in the homestretch of developing the software platform. Branch plans to start Beta testing soon and make the technology public later this fall. Source: Ryan Wolande, co-founder & CEO of Branch Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Music, photos, and social media are three of the hottest trends in tech today. Lots of startups make their way specializing in one of those things. Selocial is making a name for itself by connecting all three. The Ann Arbor-based startup likens itself to when Instagram meets Spotify or Pandora. The 1-year-old company’s software allows users to make a "Selomix," which is a 15-minute visual playlist that combines the users preferred music with a photo. "When any song is played on Selocial instant news about that artist is activated," says David Baird, co-founder & CEO of Selocial. "It's a more social experience than Instagram or Pandora." Baird considers himself an artist with published work as a songwriter and author. His songs have appeared in the movie "White Chicks" and TV show "House of Lies" on Showtime. His career over the last 15 years led him to believe that there had to be a better way for independent artists to attract attention, which served as the inspiration for Selocial. "I thought artists weren’t being discovered the way they should be," Baird says. "How can I help artists like myself get discovered?" Selocial launched the public Beta version of its platform in May. The team of six behind the startup is working to grow its user base to 5,000 to 10,000 people by the end of the summer. In the mean time, the Selocial team is working to better link user accounts and introduce real-time chat. "We want to improve our sharing," Baird says. Source: David Baird, co-founder & CEO of Selocial Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
A text book definition of serial entrepreneur might very well include a picture of Tim Schaden. From Quiznos to Reservision to Fluency Media, this Ann Arborite has got business creation in his genes. With his Internet marketing firm Fluency, Shaden sees a growth in talent and healthcare clients as the inevitable path to even greater success.
From kitchen table to acquisition, a U-M social media startup see bright days ahead. Excerpt: "When Seelio launched, Lee envisioned it as an alternative to LinkedIn for the Millennial set—a place where students could showcase their talent, experience, and hobbies. For example, users could create a page that detailed a fictional company created for a business course complete with photos, videos, and information about the company’s business model." Read the rest here.
EMU joins Wayne State University, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and the University of Michigan for a Google-sponsored program that teaches search optimization and digital marketing experience to students in order to help them support local businesses. Excerpt: "Five Eastern Michigan University students have been accepted into Google's Community Leader's Program, a volunteer operation in which students help equip local small businesses and non-profits to compete in the digital age. The five EMU students, Mahdi Alkadib, Patrick Cotter, Joseph Wendl, Robert Larson, and Sean Tseng, will work with various local businesses and organizations throughout southeastern Michigan, introducing them to tactical Google tools like Google+, Google Apps, Google Analytics and Google AdWords." Read the rest here.
Twitter has entered Ann Arbor City Council chambers. Twice a month local tweeters comment live on what our local council critters are up to. Sometimes informative, sometimes snarky, they turn what can be an evening of dry procedure into an energetic community conversation. And they even hold council-viewing parties!
Nic Stelter loves keeping with his favorite athletes and sports teams through Twitter, but he is not the biggest fan of the social media site. That prompted him to launch SportsFactory in Ann Arbor. The startup creates a web app that aggregates tweets from the users favorites athletes and teams. So if you are a diehard University of Michigan fan, you can use SportsFactory to collect the tweets about the university’s athletic department, athletes and recruiting efforts instead of sorting it all out on your own Twitter handle. The web app makes the tweets look like they do on Twitter so the user gets an authentic experience. (Check out a video, created by Ann Arbor-based Media Academica, describing the service here.) "I wanted to make something non-Twitter users can use to read tweets," Stelter says. He adds, "we have tried to make the experience as much like Twitter as possible." Stelter leveraged the services of Tech Brewery-based Alpha Jango to build the web app. He plans to release a mobile app for Apple and Android products later this year. "It's going to be a slow climb but people really like it so far," Stetler says. Source: Nic Stelter, founder of SportsFactory Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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