U-M launches Venture Shaping Program to turn ideas into startups

Business ideas don't always make profitable businesses. A new program at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business hopes to make that transition more commonplace in Ann Arbor. U-M is launching the Mayleben Family Venture Shaping Program through the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The new program is being funded by a gift from Aastrom Biosciences president & CEO Tim Mayleben (a U-M graduate) and his wife,... [Read More...]

Buycentives Cites Microloan Funding in Article About its Success to Date

In a recent interview with Xconomy, local start-up Buycentives cites Ann Arbor SPARK’s microloan funding program as critical support for its growth.  Buycentives also mentions its time as part of our incubator as having impacted its evolution to date. “The startup, founded in 2009 and incubated at the Ann Arbor SPARK program, is talking with potential customers in the auto space and is looking to begin a pilot program in the coming... [Read More...]

California’s Innovation Model… Michigan?

A great article in the San Fransisco Business Times talks about how California can get its “innovation game back,” it should follow Michigan’s example. 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. The article notes Michigan’s robust entrepreneurial eco-system as having an impact on our... [Read More...]

Crain’s identifies SPARK as “scratching the entrepreneurial itch”

From Crain’s cover’s Washtenaw/Livingston …Goldschmidt is one of the nearly 70 new startups that have begun working with Ann Arbor Spark this year, a roughly 25 percent increase from the same period in 2008, according to Skip Simms, director of business acceleration services at Spark. Much of the spike is driven by an increased awareness of the resources available to Ann Arbor’s entrepreneurial community and an increase in... [Read More...]