growdetroit

Hi K, I remember your name from previous threads on this topic. Would love to meet you in Ann Arbor for coffee and learn more about what ya'll are working on.

We hosted Scott Case (Founding CTO of Priceline.com) at an event in Grand Rapids last week, covering the implications that the JOBS act will have on the Entrepreneurial and Investment communities alike.

It was...to date, the strongest representation of Michigan VCs I've ever seen gathered together at the same time. Absolutely overwhelmed by this group and the interest they had in health tech in the region.

At the same time, had the privilege of meeting a young Entrepreneur who went from founding Avomeen, to creating a very young startup called Labdoor. He's out of Ann Arbor. I'd bet on this kid in a second...he'll do massive things.

Totally agree with your perspective on enterprise software, and inroads to the auto/suppliers/etc being a tremendous opportunity.

I initially thought the same about lack of funding, but it is not true. There are numerous funds as well as angel investors across the state of Michigan that are poorly connected, and historically as a region we've done a poor job of highlighting accomplishments of up-and-comers. We're trying to improve this dynamic.

There are a few opportunities for student outreach from what I've heard. Contact us and we'll see if we can connect you to someone that can help.

I've heard both sides of the argument.

This is just not correct -- plenty of white collar jobs in Royal Oak. There are an abundance of creative/web design shops within downtown Royal Oak area itself.

From my understanding (which may be a big outdated now), Birmingham's primary function was to service ad sales to the Detroit Autos.

Would love to have you build on this...do you live in the area?

Reconsidered.

Would be great to chat over a coffee. [email protected] Here's a nice highlight of the event (and a snapshot of Steve and I):

http://www.xconomy.com/detroit/2012/07/18/steve-blank-on-det...

Upvoted :) You nailed it, couldn't agree more.

Agreed, but you're missing an important point. An influx of workers who move into the community will ultimately yield an increase in grocery stores and amenities.

Companies like Quicken (mentioned in the article) provide significant incentives to get their 4k+ employees to relocate downtown. And it's working...

That's another interesting topic of discussion though!

It's funny that national media (and even our local newspapers here in Detroit) tend to write-off the American autos as out of touch. Not discounting this sentiment, but they are making moves...

The Ford family have been investing in auto tech like P2P car-sharing (Wheelz) via the investment fund, Fontinalis Partners. Meanwhile, GM Ventures is investing resources into startups like RelayRides.

One, thanks for reading (and whoever posted, thank you). I agree with you, personally I think it's a combination of needing more local success stories, as well as recognition by the Nat'l Startup community that we have something to bring to the dance.

Folks like Steve Blank seem to be taking note of the region's efforts. We hosted him last month and his investment into the Michigan eLab (Venture Fund) in your neck of the woods (Ann Arbor) seems to be a strong indicator that something is here...

<3

The question is: are they not here at all, or are they disconnected by virtue of the lack of a community element. I find the former hard to believe -- some of the biggest tech innovators in the US have come out of the state.

With regard to the latter, that's one fight we're making our own, in the hopes that our combined efforts can foster a more united scene here in MI.