Ann Arbor Startup Community Development H1'09

Ann Arbor Startup Community Development H1’09 @dugsong <dugsong@ .org> 1

David Rose on Startup Community • Base of entrepreneurs with high tech Angelsoft ♥! experience • Educational institutions supporting both entrepreneurship and state-of-the-art technology programs • 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 2

Jason Mendelson’s view of Ann Arbor I miss A2! • Creative class of people – especially on the technical side. • Strong Universities spinning off people and ideas • Professional Support System • 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 3

Must fix our Culture & Community • Poor deal flow, quantitatively AND qualitatively • Connect & grow productive (not just smart) geeks – Innovation stalling out EARLY, or LEAVING – Geeks need to learn how to build businesses, not just technology • 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 – Where to start? CFE, GLEQ, MI-SBTDC, NEF, SCORE, SPARK, UMOTT, ZLI, ... • Don’t let new entrepreneurs start from scratch! 4

What have we accomplished? 5

New Community Hubs 6

Tech Brewery (North Campus) • Coworking for startups and entrepreneurs – Host of Beer:30 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

Workantile Exchange (Main St.) • Coworking for independents • Project-based collaboration • Membership-based, drop-in only • Downtown Ann Arbor, Main St. • http://workantileexchange.com 8

A2 Mech Shop (West Side) • Technical coworking facility for entrepreneurial engineers • Houses 6 separate engineering businesses • Host of monthly GO Tech meetup • http://a2mechshop.com 9

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

New Events & Meetups (only a partial listing via a2geeks / a2newtech) 11

ArbCamp (Dec 08, 250+ ppl) 12

a2geeks Movie Night (Jan 09, 70+ ppl) 13

CloudCamp 09 (Feb 09, 120+ ppl) 14

TECH Cocktail (Mar 09, 250+ ppl) 15

Lessons from Boulder (April 09, 100+ ppl) 16

Nonprofit Board Training (Apr 09, 25+ ppl) 17

Social Gaming & Facebook (May 09, 50+ ppl) 18

Non-Dilutive Startup Finance (May 09, 100+ ppl) 19

A2 Hands-On Local Tech (May 09, 200+ ppl) 20

Ignite Ann Arbor (June 09, 250+ ppl) 21

A2 Mini Maker Faire (coming up Aug 29!) • DIY Makers, Progressive Techies, Old- Fashioned & Indie Crafters, Mad Scientists, Quirky Musicians and Myriad Innovators Gather to Celebrate the Maker Movement • Get involved! • http://a2makerfaire.com 22

Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup (3rd Tues) 23

GO Tech! (2nd Tues at A2 Mech Shop) 24

Ann Arbor Virtualization Users Group 25

ARBSEC (1st Wed) 26

Ann Arbor Startup Drinks 27

CoffeeHouseCoders (every Wed!) 28

SuperHappyDevHouse 29

Local Cross-pollination 30

a2geeks visits Grand Rapids • Hosted by Rick De Vos & friends –Momentum-MI –ArtPrize • ElevatorUp coworking • AimWest design community • ellohay! tech literacy nonprofit 31

Mid-Michigan visits a2newtech • MidMichigan Innovation Center • Incuba8 • Blue Water Angels 32

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 re: Detroit facility • Dexter Village Manager at OpenCoffee –Developing a local incubator • a2geeks at TechNow09 –As sponsors, presenters, attendees, bloggers • Regular CoffeeHouseCoders visitors –Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe, Lansing 33

What’s Next? 34

Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ann Arbor • EFAA, with the support of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation • Corporate citizenship & community-based philanthropy for tech startups • Network of experienced & aspiring local entrepreneurs • Seeking founding members & companies – get in touch! 35

Train A Geek Army • Every geek group in Ann Arbor should know funding sources, sponsors, venue information, community calendar, logistics –open-source event planning on a2geeks wiki • Train & place 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

Support Of, By, & For Entrepreneurs • Entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur events –like Startup2Startup, Bootstrapper’s Breakfast –EFAA 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

Increase Collaboration & Visibility • Flagship a2newtech community event – 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 – Boulder’s (bdnewtech) draws 400+ people out every month • Drive inclusive, diverse high-profile events – Entrepalooza, Ignite, etc. • Company/person/investor directory – like CrunchBase.com • Community social news, calendar at a2newtech.org • Find an enabling (hacker)space – art/tech/design geeks must collide and produce • David Brophy’s Finance 629 class – quick-hit startup incubator 38

Thank you! 39

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Ann Arbor Startup Community Development H1'09

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