New Economy News

Season's greetings from TechTown

TechTown extends warm greetings to you, your colleagues, friends and family during this holiday season. We are thankful for the opportunity to support so many companies in this year of exciting growth and eagerly anticipate another year of encouraging entrepreneurship in Detroit. We wish you a very prosperous new year and look forward to serving you in 2010.

TechTown forges new funding partnership aimed at retaining Jewish entrepreneurs

TechTown is proud to announce a new partnership with Hebrew Free Loan, a private community organization with a 115-year history of providing interest-free loans to assist Jewish individuals in need.

HFL has pledged a starting pool of $300,000 to begin issuing short-term loans to Jewish entrepreneurs committed to remaining in Southeast Michigan. As Detroit’s largest and fastest-growing small business incubator, TechTown will be responsible for identifying loan candidates who have viable business ideas, have successfully completed a TechTown FastTrac program, or are currently enrolled in TechTown’s two-year SmartStart business accelerator program. Candidates who are granted a Hebrew Free Loan will also receive access to TechTown’s comprehensive entrepreneurial support system which includes business coaching, mentoring, workshops and space for lease.

Initially, loans will range between $1,000 and $25,000.

 “To truly help this community stabilize, we knew we had to reach out and become a part of something bigger than we are,” said HFL Executive Director Mary S. Keane. “What is so important in starting our partnership with TechTown is its ability to deliver a package of resources all in one place to anyone with an entrepreneurial idea. TechTown offers us the greatest leap that we’ve ever taken in helping our small business clients.”

TechTown seals the deal on new digs

Former Dalgleish Cadillac building on Cass to become TechTwo

TechTown is expecting something slightly unusual under the tree this holiday season: a 130,000-square-foot former Cadillac plant destined to be its next business incubator facility.

Wayne State University has purchased the former Dalgleish Cadillac building at Cass Avenue and Amsterdam in the 43-acre TechTown research park for $1 million, pending a mandatory environmental review. The building was constructed in 1902 as the first Cadillac plant, and the Dalgleish family has been selling Cadillacs there since 1964. The dealership was closed by General Motors Corporation this year. The building is 30,000 square feet larger than TechOne, TechTown’s current business incubator facility at 440 Burroughs Street.

Kick your startup into high gear in the new year

Apply for SmartStart by January 15

The SmartStart business accelerator program is accepting applications through Friday, January 15 for innovative startup companies seeking revenue growth and profitability in the new year. Companies that are admitted into the program are eligible to receive small business loans, along with a myriad of other business support services including one-on-one coaching, mentoring, practical education, access to investors and much more.

SmartStart is a comprehensive milestone-driven program for startups with a new technology, new know-how, a unique service delivery, or a new business model—in short, companies doing something different. SmartStart companies come from a range of industries such as life sciences, alternative energy, advanced manufacturing, education, technology and logistics.

Growing pains, plans and perks

Henry Argasinski discusses the challenges of managing Michigan's largest business incubator facility plus upcoming expansion plans for the park

In our featured podcast of the month, TechTown Real Estate and Facilities Manager Henry Argasinski discusses some of the technical challenges of converting an old car factory into a mixed-use business and medical building.

Argasinski also talks with us about a problem he faces that is unique among property managers in Michigan these days: skyrocketing demand for office space but scant slots to assign  prospective new tenants.  With 160 tenants, more than any other incubator in Michigan, TechTown has become a victim of its own success and has temporarily run out of available offices and cubicles. TechTown now has a waiting list but Argasinski discusses expansion plans for the growing park to accommodate the demand for space, plus some of the perks tenants enjoy.

TechTown adds three additional entrepreneurs to SmartStart staff

Three more experienced entrepreneurs recently joined the SmartStart team as business coaches for startup companies, Vita Merlotti, Linda Jiminez and Steven Bessonny. As support leaders for the SmartStart business accelerator program, they will use their experience and knowledge to help new entrepreneurs meet milestones on the path to maximum revenue growth. 

Innovation in Israel, even at the dining table

The latest from Randal's Detroit blog

I had wanted to do it ever since I was a kid.

But when I was young my elders stopped me. “You can’t have dessert until you have finished your meat and potatoes,” they would say without further explanation. When I grew older I would occasionally see enticing signs like “Life if short. Eat dessert first.”

Somehow my sense of what was normal, acceptable behavior always got the better of me.

Until my recent trip to Israel, that is.

Kauffman's Urban Entrepreneur Partnership Detroit 150 announces its first class for the entrepreneurial minority auto supplier retooling program

Ten of Detroit’s leading minority auto suppliers, representing approximately $2 billion in revenues and employing more than 2,000 Michigan residents, have been chosen for the first class of the UEP Detroit 150-a program of the Kauffman Foundation that recently opened an office in TechTown. This $3 million, 3-year endeavor is designed to retool minority industry leaders who have been impacted by the turbulent economic environment in the automotive industry. Those invited to participate in the UEP Detroit 150 will receive one-to-one coaching. They will also be connected to leading executives who will provide retooling opportunities in other industries, including aerospace, alternative energy, medical devices, military, and homeland security.

Thanks to Nie Edwards' "angel investors"

TechTown would like to thank the many generous people who contributed to the Nie Elizabeth Edwards trust fund. These "angel investors" succeeded in raising approximately $1,700 to help secure the future of young Nie, a toddler orphaned after her father and mother were killed in a car accident in October.

Nie's father, Nathaniel Edwards, worked for Qwk2lrn, a long-time tenant company at TechTown, specializing in restoring old computers that are later distributed to inner city schools across metro Detroit. Edwards, 31, and his daughter's mother, Jocelynne Walker, also 31, were in the car together when their vehicle was struck by a pickup, reportedly stolen by a three teenagers.

Donations are still being accepted for the Nie Edwards trust fund. For more information, contact the TechTown marketing coordinator at (313) 879-4478.

TechTown tips its hat to 2010 with upcoming changes to First Friday

Help TechTown tip its hat to the new year by networking with one of Detroit's largest, most diverse communities of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and service providers on Friday, January 15, 2010 from 4 to 6 p.m.

We're planning a First Friday to remember, starting with the news that First Friday is being temporarily moved to the third Friday, for January only. Look for more exciting improvements to First Fridays in the months to come.

The change is due officially to the holidays, but it's also a subtle signal of TechTown's plans to take on the new year with new excitement, new urgency and lots of new ideas to help entrepreneurship become the engine driving Detroit towards better days.

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