Ann Arbor Startup Community Development 2009

A report of our challenges and progress in actively building and supporting the tech startup community in Ann Arbor, MI, mid-2009

Transcript

1. Ann Arbor Startup Community Development H1’09 1 Dug Song <dugsong@ .org>
2. David S. Rose on Startup Community • Base of entrepreneurs with high tech experience • Educational institutions supporting both entrepreneurship and state-of-the-art technology programs 2 • Access to early stage capital to fund new ventures • Affordable work spaces for startups, and the infrastructure supporting them • Access to a technologically skilled workforce • Coordination, integration and promotion surrounding all of the above Angelsoft ♥!
3. Jason Mendelson’s view of Ann Arbor • Creative class of people – especially on the technical side. • Strong Universities spinning off people and ideas • Professional Support System 3 • Financial Capital • Management Talent – Perception, probably not reality • Engaged community with a real desire to see their ecosystem succeed – Perception? • Supportive legal environment (not horrible, though) • Culture of risk-taking and respect for failure • History of Success I miss A2!
4. Must fix our Culture & Community • Poor deal flow, quantitatively AND qualitatively • Connect & grow productive (not just smart) geeks – Innovation stalling out EARLY, or LEAVING • Connect & grow better entrepreneurs & teams – More do-ers, not enablers! – Michael McCorquodale, Mobius founder – Startup-to-startup, entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur, active advisors • Teach & publicize our local startup histories – 50+ Ann Arbor Startup Execs (angel/venture-backed) on LinkedIn • Find patrons of innovation (better angels) • Coordinate & streamline efforts – Uh... SPARK, GLEQ, NEF, MI-SBTDC, UMOTT, SCORE, CFE, ZLI, ... • Don’t let new entrepreneurs start from scratch! 4
5. What have we accomplished? 5
6. New Community Hubs 6
7. Tech Brewery (North Campus) • Coworking for startups and entrepreneurs – in an historic 1880’s brewery • Hub for recruiting and retaining top-notch, young entrepreneurial and technical talent – less than 1 mile from UM Engineering campus • http://techbrewery.org 7
8. Workantile Exchange (Main St.) • Coworking for independents • Project-based collaboration • Membership-based, drop-in only • Downtown Ann Arbor, Main St. • http://workantileexchange.com 8
9. A2 Mech Shop (West Side) • Technical coworking facility for entrepreneurial engineers • Houses 6 separate engineering enterprises • http://a2mechshop.com 9
10. TechArb / McKinley Tally Hall basement • TechArb coworking for UM students • Annual RPM-10 summer program • Ann Arbor Startup Weekend 2008 • Hanukkah Wonderland 2008 :-) • http://techarb.org 10
11. New Events & Meetups (a2geeks/a2newtech) 11
12. ArbCamp (Dec 08, 250+ ppl) 12
13. a2geeks Movie Night (Jan 09, 70+ ppl) 13
14. CloudCamp 09 (Feb 09, 120+ ppl) 14
15. TECH Cocktail (Mar 09, 250+ ppl) 15
16. Lessons from Boulder (April 09, 100+ ppl) 16
17. Nonprofit Board Training (Apr 09, 25+ ppl) 17
18. Social Gaming & Facebook (May 09, 50+ ppl) 18
19. Non-Dilutive Startup Finance (May 09, 100+ ppl) 19
20. A2 Hands-On Local Tech (May 09, 200+ ppl) 20
21. Ignite Ann Arbor (June 09, 250+ ppl) 21
22. A2 Mini Maker Faire (coming up Aug 29) • Get involved! • http://a2makerfaire.com 22
23. Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup (3rd Tues) 23
24. GO Tech! (2nd Tues at A2 Mech Shop) 24
25. Ann Arbor Virtualization Users Group 25
26. ARBSEC (1st Wed) 26
27. Ann Arbor Startup Drinks 27
28. CoffeeHouseCoders 28 (every Wed!)
29. SuperHappyDevHouse 29
30. Local Cross-pollination 30
31. a2geeks visits Grand Rapids • Hosted by Rick De Vos & friends –Momentum-MI –ArtPrize • ElevatorUp coworking • AimWest design community • ellohay! tech literacy nonprofit 31
32. • MidMichigan Innovation Center • Incuba8 • Blue Water Angels Mid-Michigan visits a2newtech 32
33. SE Michigan • i3Detroit visits TechBrewery –Invited, along with Detroit Industrial Arts League, to meeting with UM Associate VPs, TechShop founders, Make magazine founder, A2 Mech Shop, etc. folks 33 • Dexter Village Manager visits OpenCoffee –Developing a local incubator • Regular CoffeeHouseCoders visitors –Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe, Lansing
34. What’s Next? 34
35. Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ann Arbor • EFAA, with the support of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation • Corporate citizenship and community philanthropy for tech startups / entrepreneurs • Network of experienced and aspiring local entrepreneurs • Seeking founding members & companies – get in touch! 35
36. Train An Army • Like terrorist cells ;-) • Every geek group in Ann Arbor should know funding sources, sponsors, venue information, community calendar, logistics –open-source event planning on a2geeks wiki • Train, land geeks on nonprofit boards –NEW, EFAA can help • Cross-pollinate with art/design/mktg/YP groups –already happening, actively accelerate • Meetup of meetup organizers –geeks love recursion! 36
37. Support Of, By, & For Entrepreneurs • Entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur events –like Startup2Startup, Bootstrapper’s Breakfast –Entrepreneurs Foundation can help • Drive startup acceleration through active peer mentorship & advisors –Get every successful entrepreneur to advise –Advisors can get equity, but shouldn’t need $! • Directory of service providers & services –with ratings & comments • Private fundraising forum –entrepreneurs should know deal activity too! 37
38. Increase Collaboration • a2newtech community events –Current organizers represent UM Center for Entrepreneurship, UM Ross Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance, GLEQ, UM Ross EVP & High-Tech clubs, UM Tech Transfer • Company/person/investor directory –like CrunchBase.com • Social news aggregator • Find an enabling (hacker)space –art/tech/design geeks must collide and produce • David Brophy’s Finance 629 class –quick-hit startup incubator 38
39. Thank you! 39