ANN ARBOR - Two veteran venture capitalists, Jack Aherns from TGap Ventures, and Tom Churchwell from Midwest Venture Partners, discuss the state of Venture Capital in Michigan. Both men also are coaches for Michigan’s Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest business-plan contest. Listen to what they have to say in this special Entrepreneur’s Corner edition of News Maker Interview.
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Paul Neeb, a vice president at Southwest Michigan First and head of the economic development group’s First Angels investment group, offers entrepreneurs some tips on how they can attract investors. Neeb was part of Great Lake Entrepreneur’s Quest’s seminar series in April. His remarks were recorded in Grand Rapids.
Interview with Art DeMonte, executive director of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, discussing GLEQ’s new FastTrac TechVenture program, an intensive five session, 15 hour program to help tech entrepreneurs create business plans that win them money from investors. The first session starts in Ann Arbor on April 18.
Interview with Skip Simms, Executive Director of the Business Accelerator for Ann Arbor SPARK, who says its time for the state of Michigan to develop incentives for Angel Investors to pour their cash into promising Michigan technology and life sciences startups. Simms outlines what he says some of those incentives should be.
Interview with Tom Anderson - Director of Automation Alley’s Technology Center and Senior AA Vice President, who talks about the $6 million that the technology networking group has to invest in promising Michigan technologies that can be commercialized - read create high tech jobs for the state.
Interview with Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance on the proposed $50 million fund that would help Southeast Michigan accelerators, like Automation Alley, Ann Arbor SPARK, and Wayne State University’s TechTown, provide seed capital to promising Michigan technology and life sciences companies.
Interview with Hugo Braun, a partner in North Coast Technology Investors in Ann Arbor. Braun co hosted a recent talk at the New Enterprise Forum on Venture Capital. His spin is not only do investors need to question entrepreneurs, but entrepreneurs should also question potential investors to make sure there is a good fit.
Interview with Mary Campbell, chairman of the Michigan Venture Capital Association, on the 21st Century Jobs Fund, a $2 billion effort by the state to fund promising technology and life sciences startups. Campbell also talks about what the state needs to do to not only create a more friendly environment for investors, but also entrepreneurs.
Interview with Randal Charlton, Wayne State University’s new Entrepreneur in Residence. Charlton, the outgoing CEO of Asterand, the human tissue bank company he founded at WSU’s TechTown in downtown Detroit, discusses his new role of helping Wayne State create dozens of companies like his. He also discusses the search process for his successor at Asterand.
Newsmaker Interview launches its inaugeral Elevator Pitch, a 3-minute audio presentation by a top executive at a Michigan-based technology or life sciences start up that is seeking investment. The prime criteria for inclusion in this series is the Elevator Pitch has the blessing of one of Michigan’s private equity finance or business-plan development networks. The first Elevator Pitch comes from Creative Byline, a West Michigan start up that hopes to become the Travelocity.Com of the book publishing world, matching authors to publishers.
Interview with Jeff Mason from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. on the status of the first 85 projects named by the state to receive start up funding. Some want it, some have said no, most already have received their checks. But some $34 million from the first round has yet to be allocated by the Michigan Strategic Fund.
Interview with Dick Beedon, founder, MacBeedon Group, who was named the Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Enterprise Forum. Beedon discusses the Entrepreneurial environment in Michigan, and a new $50 million Venture Fund he is organizing to pump money into promising Michigan startups.
