Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion, TechTown — Detroit, Michigan (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: How is the Bizdom U program is different from what you offer?

Ebony: They are not an incubator. They have a four-month accelerator program. They accept a small number of folks, and you have to have a full-time commitment. You couldn’t have a job. It is 9 to 5, Monday–Friday commitment. It is a different offering than what we do. We don’t have a 9 to 5 intensive, four-month program. >>>

Seed Capital: Mark Solon, Co-Founder And Managing Partner, Highway 12 Ventures — Boise, Idaho (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What factors receive the most weight when debating whether to invest?

Mark: It’s a combination of a large market opportunity and a great team. We’re looking for three things: a large market opportunity; a unique and compelling solution to that market opportunity; and a small team of entrepreneurs that has consistently demonstrated extraordinary things in their pasts. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion, TechTown — Detroit, Michigan (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: Do you know how entrepreneurs get evaluated for these loans?

Ebony: The loans are based on business worthiness, where they are in their stages of development, who is in place on their team, and the feasibility of their idea, what is their plan, what is their ability to pay the money back, that sort of thing.
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Seed Capital: Mark Solon, Co-Founder And Managing Partner, Highway 12 Ventures — Boise, Idaho (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Mark Solon, co-founder and managing partner of Highway 12 Ventures, which is a $75 million venture fund in Boise, Idaho. Highway 12 invests in high-growth start-up companies in the Intermountain West. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion, TechTown — Detroit, Michigan (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Ebony: We have this quadrant approach. If you think of a quadrant, on the X axis there is the stage of business development. So, the company can be in its early, early idea phase, or it can be in its growth phase. Then, on the Y axis is really the founders’ entrepreneurial experience. So, they can be novices or they can be serial entrepreneurs. And we break down what services we provide based on where they fall in that quadrant. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion, TechTown — Detroit, Michigan (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

I am talking to Ebony Johnson, Entrepreneurial Programs Champion at TechTown, Detroit’s research and technology park. TechTown was established in 2000 by Wayne State University, General Motors, and the Henry Ford Health System with focus on emerging high-technology industries including advanced engineering, life sciences and alternative energy. The 12-block park includes TechOne, the 100,000-square-foot business incubator facility, which now hosts 70 growing companies. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ken Kousky, CEO, MidMichigan Innovation Center, Midland, Michigan (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Ken: So, our client, Advanced Battery Concepts, created a revolutionary technology, lead acid batteries that have a longer life cycle, weigh half as much, and cost less to produce.

We have lead acid batteries all over the world. China would like to have lots of electric scooters. Much of our new alternative energy has problem in that it generates energy in real time, a wind mill or solar collection. This real-time collection might not correspond well with usage time. Batteries are fundamental to green energies.

We think there’s a huge opportunity there. We started working with them about four years ago. We have had lots of mentoring with the company. We helped them raise successive rounds of capital. We believe they are going to be a home run. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Ken Kousky, CEO, MidMichigan Innovation Center, Midland, Michigan (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Do you use a lot of volunteer mentors?

Ken: Yes. Our mentor profiling is I’ll work for fame and feeling good or I’ll work for fortune.

If you want to work for fortune, then you want to eventually get paid, or you’ll take equity. We’re letting our mentors profile and say, “I’m looking for a small company. I really want to mentor and help. But I want a stake in it. I want some equity. I’m doing this as a semiretired professional, and I want to get paid for my services.”

Or, “I’m doing this because I believe it has social and community value.” They have options of defining how they’re willing to mentor. >>>