In December, Belgium-based Regus will open an 11,000-square-foot flex-office block in the South State Commons building complex at South State Street and Oakbrook Drive in Ann Arbor. The space will be divided into roughly 54 offices, meeting rooms, and an administration area, according to Jeff Harshe, vice president of commercial real estate broker MAVDevelopment.

"It's geared to small businesses who either want a location here quasi-permanently, and they can lease space from Regus, or for companies who have a business need to come and use space temporarily…" Harshe explains. "It can run anything from a meeting on up to permanent space."

Harshe sees the Regus deal as helping to fill an underserved market for office space of less than 1,000 square feet. "There'll be plenty of people who will literally call and want one office," he says.

"There are a lot of start-up businesses, there's a lot of individuals who provide business services, and it's a place where they can hang their hat."

Source: Jeff Harshe, vice president, MAVDevelopment
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
News from Concentrate

Take Kerry Colligan as an example. During the day, he works as the vice president of operations and marketing for software firm SRT Solutions in downtown Ann Arbor. In his spare time he has developed his own call logging mobile app called Carmel.

Carmel logs calls made on a smartphone. After each call it asks the user if he or she wants to log the call, and if so for a few data points. That information is then stored for later use so sales and marketing staff or other interested parties can draw upon that valuable contact information later without sorting through a phone book of nameless numbers.

"You know you need to keep a call log but no one wants to do it," Colligan says. "This makes it easier to do it."

The $5 app is currently available for Android phones and will be available for iPhones in December. Colligan doesn't believe this app will make him rich or even produce enough work to become his full-time job. However, he does believe this little entrepreneurial experience will help him perform his day job much more effectively from a few different angles.

"It gives me a chance to dig into what it's like to build a mobile app from a perspective," Colligan says.

Source: Kerry Colligan, developer of Carmel mobile app
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
News from Concentrate

Take Kerry Colligan as an example. During the day, he works as the vice president of operations and marketing for software firm SRT Solutions in downtown Ann Arbor. In his spare time he has developed his own call logging mobile app called Carmel.

Carmel logs calls made on a smartphone. After each call it asks the user if he or she wants to log the call, and if so for a few data points. That information is then stored for later use so sales and marketing staff or other interested parties can draw upon that valuable contact information later without sorting through a phone book of nameless numbers.

"You know you need to keep a call log but no one wants to do it," Colligan says. "This makes it easier to do it."

The $5 app is currently available for Android phones and will be available for iPhones in December. Colligan doesn't believe this app will make him rich or even produce enough work to become his full-time job. However, he does believe this little entrepreneurial experience will help him perform his day job much more effectively from a few different angles.

"It gives me a chance to dig into what it's like to build a mobile app from a perspective," Colligan says.

Source: Kerry Colligan, developer of Carmel mobile app
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
News from Concentrate

Take Kerry Colligan as an example. During the day, he works as the vice president of operations and marketing for software firm SRT Solutions in downtown Ann Arbor. In his spare time he has developed his own call logging mobile app called Carmel.

Carmel logs calls made on a smartphone. After each call it asks the user if he or she wants to log the call, and if so for a few data points. That information is then stored for later use so sales and marketing staff or other interested parties can draw upon that valuable contact information later without sorting through a phone book of nameless numbers.

"You know you need to keep a call log but no one wants to do it," Colligan says. "This makes it easier to do it."

The $5 app is currently available for Android phones and will be available for iPhones in December. Colligan doesn't believe this app will make him rich or even produce enough work to become his full-time job. However, he does believe this little entrepreneurial experience will help him perform his day job much more effectively from a few different angles.

"It gives me a chance to dig into what it's like to build a mobile app from a perspective," Colligan says.

Source: Kerry Colligan, developer of Carmel mobile app
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
News from Concentrate

Take Kerry Colligan as an example. During the day, he works as the vice president of operations and marketing for software firm SRT Solutions in downtown Ann Arbor. In his spare time he has developed his own call logging mobile app called Carmel.

Carmel logs calls made on a smartphone. After each call it asks the user if he or she wants to log the call, and if so for a few data points. That information is then stored for later use so sales and marketing staff or other interested parties can draw upon that valuable contact information later without sorting through a phone book of nameless numbers.

"You know you need to keep a call log but no one wants to do it," Colligan says. "This makes it easier to do it."

The $5 app is currently available for Android phones and will be available for iPhones in December. Colligan doesn't believe this app will make him rich or even produce enough work to become his full-time job. However, he does believe this little entrepreneurial experience will help him perform his day job much more effectively from a few different angles.

"It gives me a chance to dig into what it's like to build a mobile app from a perspective," Colligan says.

Source: Kerry Colligan, developer of Carmel mobile app
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
News from Concentrate

Sassa Akervall, COO of Akervall Technologies, and Skip Simms, senior vice president of Ann Arbor SPARK

Akervall Technologies recently repaid its Michigan Microloan Fund Program award, making it the first microloan recipient to repay funding.  The company, whose work on the innovative Protech Dent™ mouth guard was also awarded phase I SBIR funding, repaid its $15,000 microloan in just 15 months, nine months before it was due.

“Akervall Technologies is the perfect example of how the microloan funding is suppose to work,” said Skip Simms, Ann Arbor SPARK senior vice president and administrator of the Michigan Microloan Fund Program.  “Microloan funding helped Akervall jump the chasm between development and commercialization, providing a boost that the company used to market its product and acquire customers.  The Michigan Microloan Fund Program fills a critical funding gap for emerging companies entering the market.”

The Protech Dent is a semi-custom mouth guard made of a non-compressible thermoplastic with precisely positioned perforations that disperse impact forces before they can reach the teeth, using crumple zones to further reduce impact.

“The microloan we received from Ann Arbor SPARK helped us to buy goods for our first inventory of products and to redo our website,” said Sassa Akervall, chief operating officer, Akervall Technologies. “We were also able to bring in consultants to help us with social media marketing and a market analysis, activities that were invaluable in helping us lining up the right avenues for marketing and sales.”

“Akervall Technologies is now in a position of seeing our sales increase by 300 percent this year,” Akervall added.  “We are currently launching a new sales organization for North America and are also seeing an increase in international sales.  All of this activity was initiated with the help of the Michigan Microloan Fund Program award.”

The $15,000 of principal plus interest Akervall Technologies paid will be re-invested in the Michigan Microloan Fund Program.

Lakeside Software plans to invest $6.1 million to expand existing operations in Bloomfield Hills, as well as locate operations in Ann Arbor. The company expects the projects to create up to a total of 198 direct new jobs, 73 in Ann Arbor.

“The Ann Arbor region is rich in software development talent,” said Skip Simms, interim director and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK.  “For a fast growing company like Lakeside Software, that immediate access to talent is an important consideration when choosing a location for expansion.  Being able to hire the right talent, quickly, will boost Lakeside Software’s expansion efforts.”

The MEGA award helped convince Lakeside Software to invest in Michigan over a competing site in California.

“Companies that received support from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund are currently employing 285 people throughout the state and have attracted outside investment.  Matching support from other funding sources totaled $16.4 million for these Michigan companies.

A combined $2.5 million in Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund investments in 2010 were awarded to:

• Advanced Battery Concepts
• Armune BioScience, Inc.
• Current Motor Company
• Downstream, LLC
• Intervention Insights
• Innovative Surgical Solutions
• InfoReady Corporation
• InPore Technologies
• Inventure Enterprises
• NextCAT, Inc.
• Tangent Medical Technologies

Photo courtesy of San Fransisco Business Times

Noted venture capitalist Tom Baruch offers insight on where we’re  getting it right and what other states can learn from Michigan.

Since the Michigan Microloan Fund Program was established in July 2009, 42 companies have received over $1.6 million in subordinated loans.

Read more about the news here.