Social Media

U-M students sample their possible future in tech business and culture

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November 7, 2012

From Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey to Yelp to the Walmart-sponsored 48-Hour Mobile Apps Hackathon, U-M students get a taste of what's waiting for them in the ever-changing tech marketplace. Excerpt: "Yelp is an aggressive player in the increasingly expensive recruiting wars to find the next tech superstar. “Having a second event today is a great way to have people come back and get a little bit more information,” says Chess. “When you’re at the career fair, there’s a really long line of people, you only get a minute or so to talk to each individual person. You can only communicate so much information in that time.” The solution: Lure students back with a tech talk from experts, four-star Indian food and fairly good odds at leaving with an iPad. The scene almost makes one forget the real reason they’re here." Read the rest here.

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U-M grads leverage microloan to grow start-up Rippld

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Arts & Culture

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August 22, 2012

Another $200,000 in financing has been dispersed by the Michigan Microloan Fund Program, a large portion of which is helping start-ups run by University of Michigan graduates get off the ground. The Michigan Microloan Fund Program provides five-figure loans around $50,000 to locally based start-ups in need of seed capital. The funding helps support the commercialization of their products. More than $2.5 million has been loan through the fund since its inception. Among the most recent recipients is Rippld, a Detroit-based start-up that is creating a connection, collaboration and services exchange platform for creative professionals and the clients that need their talents. Rippld was founded by a trio of U-M grads, Adrian Walker, Wilbert Fobbs III and Lander Coronado-Garcia. "It's going to help both the tools and the man-hours needed to build it out," Coronado-Garcia says. "Some of those funds are going toward the cost of the independent contractors and employees. It is also going toward the infrastructure cost of hosting the site." Another recent recipient is Seelio, formerly known as TruApp. The Ann Arbor-based start-up created by U-M alumni provides a stage for college students to distinguish themselves through an online portfolio of work and connect with companies. The microloan is funding Seelio's recent beta launch, and served as a bridge to the company’s recently closed seed funding round. Source: Lander Coronado-Garcia, co-founder of Rippld Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M grads turn shopping into a social media experience, launch HangTrend.com

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Arts & Culture

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August 15, 2012

A group of recent University of Michigan graduates have come together to create an Internet start-up that combines both shopping and social media called HangTrend.com. "We think that shopping in general is social," says Valentin Gui, co-founder & director of business development for HangTrend.com. "A lot of people still go to the mall. They go with their friends because they want to get a better idea of how a whole outfit will look." HangTrend.com aims to make online shopping a social experience. Think of the site as being a combination of Facebook and visit to the mall. It allows users to look at clothes, make virtual outfits and share them with your friends to get recommendations and ideas. The site has lined up thousands of brands and millions of items. The 7-month old start-up went live in July and has experienced 100 percent growth in users every week since it launched. "I want to have a national scale to the company," Gui says. "I want to be in all the universities in the U.S." Gui (who graduated U-M in 2010 with a bachelors in economics) co-founded HangTrend.com with Leore Avidar (2011, bachelors of business administration), Enea Gjoka (2011, bachelors in chemical and molecular biology) and Zubair Ahsan (2012, masters in pharmaceutical engineering). The company currently employs the four co-founders and four interns. Source: Valentin Gui, co-founder & director of business development for HangTrend.com Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Meritful aims to help make student online presence presentable

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Arts & Culture

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July 25, 2012

Azarias Reda decided to combine two key aspects of his adult life when creating his new start-up, Meritful. The PhD candidate in computer science at the University of Michigan once worked at LinkedIn and has spent a fair amount of his time in Ann Arbor teaching at local high schools. While teaching he noticed every one of his students produced some sort of online content, usually through social media outlets. So last spring he began building a start-up that helped students in high school and college create a professional online presence that would make potential employers happy and their parents smile. "We want to help high school students present themselves better on the web," Reda says. "That's our underlying goal." The Ypsilanti-based start-up plans to conduct a private launch in mid August at a U-M summer camp and fully open up the site in the fall. Reda and his team of four people plan to focus on students in Michigan in the first year and then move onto a national presence in year two. "We want Meritful to become the de facto location if you want to learn the merit of high school students," Reda says. Source: Azarias Reda, founder of Meritful Writer: Jon Zemke

White Pine Systems hires 2 as it expands into behavioral health market

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Arts & Culture

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July 25, 2012

The battle over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) led many of White Pine Systems' prospective clients to freeze until the Supreme Court made a decision. That forced the Ann Arbor-based firm to diversify its client base over the last year, a move that has led to some good growth and future prospects. White Pine Systems specializes in providing online medical records, mainly to physical health specialists for its first six years. The company began making inroads with behavioral health specialists last fall, which has allowed it to keep the growth ball rolling. "It looks like behavioral health is much more ready to engage patients than physical health," says Doug Dormer, founder & CEO of White Pine Systems. White Pine Systems struck a deal last fall with Midwest-based Centerstone, providing software and social media technology to the non-profit as part of an $850,000 grant project. White Pine Systems provided online social media solutions, such as hosting chat services and discussion boards. It also provided online clinical tools, like digital recovery plans. "Since last fall we have felt the market really start to turn and today we're feeling it turn even more," Dormer says. White Pine Systems employs eight people after hiring two software developers over the last year. It is also looking to add some interns in the near future and expects its future growth prospects to push its staff to 20 within the next year. "I see the behavioral health market taking off," Dormer says. "I see the U.S. Supreme Court decision opening up markets that have been dormant." Source: Doug Dormer, founder & CEO of White Pine Systems Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ingenex Digital Marketing hires 3 as it expands social media work

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Arts & Culture

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June 6, 2012

Remember Lindsay Blackwell, the recent University of Michigan graduate who last year launched a social media campaign to be hired as U-M's new social media director? Derek Mehraban remembers. And although Blackwell didn't get the job, she did land one with Mehraban's firm, Ingenex Digital Marketing. The downtown Ann Arbor-based Internet marketing firm has experienced some steady growth thanks to its expansion into social media work. The 6-year-old company has hired three people over the last year, including Blackwell who is heading up the firm's social media efforts. "The clients just love her," Mehraban says. "Our social media work has really increased. That was a big stride we took in one direction." Ingenex Digital Marketing is also launching a buzz tour, featuring a restored 1972 VW camping bus. The Digital Bus will come with Wi-Fi and a number of other digital technology options and tour across Michigan and beyond. "We're going to go on a summer tour of Ann Arbor, Detroit and perhaps New York," Mehraban says. "It's all part of our plan to create buzz." Source: Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing Writer: Jon Zemke

Arbormoon expands thanks to comprehensive mobile marketing

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Arts & Culture

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April 25, 2012

Arbormoon Software is already a well-known quantity in the local software and mobile technology scenes. Now the downtown Ann Arbor-based start-up is looking to become a leader in the mobile tech field by taking a comprehensive approach to it. The 9-year-old firm has partnered with Keith Bourne, a leading local advocate for the app economy. He organizes a slew of events oriented around mobile technology, such as Mobile Mondays in Ann Arbor, Detroit and across the rest of Michigan. Bourne and his peer Dave Koziol will now work to offer comprehensive mobile technology solutions for Arbormon Software's customers. "There is a lot more to implementing mobile technology than just building an app," says Keith Bourne, mobile strategist for Arbormoon Software. "There is marketing and sales and a whole slew of other activities." This kind of pro-active approach and the growth of the overall software/mobile technology market has allowed Arbormoon Software to grow significantly. It has hired a handful of people over the last year, expanding it staff to a dozen people and a few interns. Bourne expects those numbers to grow as Arbormoon Software brings more marketing strategy to its mobile technology services and play a bigger role in supporting mobile technology events. Source: Keith Bourne, mobile strategist for Arbormoon Software Writer: Jon Zemke

PWB Marketing Comm leverages SEO/social media hire for more biz

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Arts & Culture

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April 25, 2012

Ask Sean Hickey which way Internet marketing is heading and he will give you two answers: Search and social. Media, that is. The COO of PWB Marketing Communications has watched those areas go from a driver of his company's growth to a integral part of its product portfolio. So much so that its most recent hire, a SEO/social media worker, has become a vital force in the company. "We have been really surprised how our clients have needed and embraced that skill set," Hickey says. "We're at the point where we are starting to see the need to add people." Which is a step in the right direction for an Ann Arbor-based company that was just trying to keep its head above water in the depths of the recession a few years ago. Today the company plans to make a hire or two and add a major client while increasing its product offerings to include ad buying for it customers. All of this is possible because of the company's recent pitfalls in the recession. "We went through the '09 downturn and used that as opportunity to reinvent the company," Hickey says. "What we did 10 years ago is much different than what we do today." Source: Sean Hickey, COO of PWB Marketing Communications Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Domino’s workers go independent with flipfrog start-up

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Arts & Culture

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April 4, 2012

Ever try to remember which concert you're supposed to go to but can't remember which digital calendar that information is located? The co-founders of flipfrog not only feel your pain but think they have an answer to the problem. The Ann Arbor-based start-up is creating software that allows users to merge all of the different digital calendars for things like concerts into one single location. It will also provide event discovery so users can easily access suggestions of events they might be interested in on their normal calendar. "We wanted to solve the problem where all of our events were in too many different calendars," Anthony Montalbano, co-founder of flipfrog. "We thought we could aggregate all of these events into one calendar." Montalbano and Brian Ritter started flipfrog six months ago. The duo met while working on software at Domino's and set out to start flipfrog last year. The pair have the technology available on an invite-only basis and hope to have an open registration by the end of this spring. "A year from now we would like to be able to say we can make your life organization a lot better," Montalbano says. Source: Anthony Montalbano, co-founder of flipfrog Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Youtrivia brings do-it-yourself software to brand managers

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Arts & Culture

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April 4, 2012

Lots of people love playing casual video games, like Angry Birds or Tetris. Youtrivia, an Ann Arbor-based start-up, wants to bring the ability to create casual video games to consumers. "We believe that casual games are a powerful way to communicate," says Shamik Ganguly, who co-founded Youtrivia with Ricardo Rodriguez. "Youtrivia brings that power to everybody." The TechArb-based start-up's software is meant to help people build up brands through these casual games. The software allows used to create games using feature images, videos, and trivia related to your brand that can deliver deep marketing messages to consumers through an enjoyable experience. The 8-month-old start-up and its team of six people is working to help create games for the University of Michigan and hopes to spread to other big brands. They plan to launch in two months and begin expanding their customer base to both big brands and small businesses. "Hopefully there will be a lot of smaller companies that use our technology," Ganguly says. Source: Shamik Ganguly, co-founder of Youtrivia Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.