Innovation + Job News

The merger and acquisition advisers, The Charter Group, has expanded its operations into Kalamazoo.

The company, which currently has offices in Grand Rapids and Mishawaka, Ind., has entered into an agreement with regional economic development organization Southwest Michigan First and will use its offices as it pursues investment opportunities in Southwest Michigan. The Charter Group primarily handles transactions ranging from $5 million to $50 million.

Principals at The Charter Group also manage Michigan Accelerator Fund I, a venture capital fund that provides early-stage capital to Michigan-based ventures.

John Kerschen, Managing Director of The Charter Group and the Michigan Accelerator Fund-1 says the partnership with Southwest Michigan First will enable his company to offer merger and acquisition services to local businesses with more ease of access.

"Together, we provide companies with the right combination of resources and funding that will enable them to thrive and help grow our regional economy," Kerschen says.

The Charter Group will be holding office hours at least three days a month as part of the formal partnership agreement.

"This partnership will help us to match, better serve and produce successful outcomes for strong companies and qualified investors," says Ron Kitchens, Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Michigan First.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: John Kerschen, The Charter Group and the Michigan Accelerator Fund-1

Sometimes a small business owner doesn’t know where to turn for the information needed to get a business up and running and then keep it that way.

Two upcoming programs can help.

"Fundamentals of Starting a Business and Writing a Business Plan" offered by the Michigan Small Business Technology Development center, will be offered at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Western Michigan University Haworth College of Business. The course is $35.

This course outlines the Guide to Starting a Small Business in Michigan and teaches how to create and write a comprehensive business plan for your small business.  

The three-hour course will discuss each section of a business plan including: Executive Summary, Business Description, Marketing, Operations, Management, Sales, and Financial statements, along with how to conduct market research and prepare a marketing plan.

For those in business in the Benton Harbor and St. Joseph area the opportunity is to learn how to better keep the books.

Cornerstone Alliance Small Business Services will be conducting an "Introduction to QuickBooks" seminar in March. Classes will take place at 6 p.m. March 12, 19, and 26,  at Cornerstone Alliance, at 38 W. Wall Street, in Benton Harbor. The deadline to register for the class is March 7. The class is $145.

Small business owners using or planning to use QuickBooks in their business will learn how to: create your company's books from scratch, set up accounts, enter and process checks, bills, and payments and prepare and interpret important financial reports and more.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: MI-SBTDC and Cornerstone Alliance Small Business Services

It’s estimated that two-thirds of college seniors graduated in 2010 owing student loans and they carried an average of $25,250 in debt. Is anyone willing to give these graduates a hand?

The founders of Fund Scholars believe there are people willing to do that and have created a website to connect them with college students. Crowdfunded scholarships offered through the site would help students each semester, reducing the amount of debt students have as they graduate.  

A group of Kalamazoo entrepreneurs developed the idea at a Start-Up Weekend event in Grand Rapids earlier this month and put the website together over the subequent 54 hours. When he set out for Grand Rapids, Nathan Cahill, founder, didn't know he would find other entrepreneurs from the Kalamazoo area interested in working with him.

Cahill says the greatest challenge over the weekend was determining why people might want to participate in crowdfunding scholarships for students. But as the weekend went on his team realized that such donations already are taking place -- relatives give students money for college when they graduate from high school, civic organizations offer scholarships. The desire to give to students appears to be strong, Cahill says.

The website offers those who are willing to give an opportunity to donate. It also offers students a way to seek funds from a broader base than their immediate friends and family.

Donors are encouraged to connect with students to find out about their educational pursuits. Students are urged to list the classes they want to take for the upcoming semester, and their academic and extracurricular goals. They are encouraged to create a pitch that reflects their personality and tell a story. They also can upload a Youtube video. Scholars are encouraged to let people know about their funding needs through Facebook and other means and direct would be funders to their Fund Scholars page.

Fund Scholars evaluates the college credentials of students seeking funding and verifies their enrollment. The site also gives the funds directly to the university so that funders can be assured the money is going toward tuition and fees, not a student’s bar tab.

Students have a semester to raise their goal and if it it not reached funders are not obligated to make a donation.

The money is collected through Paypal.

Cahill says that news about the website has spread by word of mouth and about 30 students already have posted their requests for funding on the week-old site.

So far the most successful student on the week-old site is Elvira, from Guatemala, who originally dropped out of school at age 12 and then decided six years later to pursue her education. Today, she is 23, and is in her second year at AMERG (Association of Guatemalan Rural Teachers) working toward a degree secondary education. She has raised more than half of her goal.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Nathan Cahill, Fund Scholars

These days most people know what IT is. But if you know what AT is you might be blind or have limited vision.

Assistive technology is the specialty of the A T Guys, a Kalamazoo-based company whose business is all about innovative solutions that enhance the lives of the blind and the visually impaired.

Mobile solutions, unique online services and custom applications are a few of the company’s offerings. One of its most popular services is one that it helped develop that reads bar codes and offers a wide range of information about a product to those who otherwise had no access to it. BCScan is a free service that allows people to organize, catalog, learn about, and manage such items as their groceries, CDs, movies, household products, medications and much more. It works using a bar code scanner and databases including over 10 million products.

Another popular product is a tactile screen protector that facilitates navigation of touchscreen devices, and helps users input text and access screen controls quickly and efficiently. It is produced by Speed Dots.

The two-person company got its start in 2008 and recently moved into the Bureau, a shared workspace in downtown Kalamazoo. Matt McCubbin says the company made its move as it works to build its recognition locally to match its international reputation. Customers from Ireland, Palestine and South Africa all have found the company through the Internet, but the company is less well-known in Kalamazoo.

The move to the Bureau has been positive as it has opened up networking possibilities for the company. It also leases an office in the co-working site so interviews with clients can be better conducted privately when needed, McCubbin says.

In addition to its website, where products and services are sold, A T Guys maintain a blog that talks about its business and new assistive technology as it finds it.

Company president J.J. Meddaugh says on the blog that it is intended to offer readers some insight into how the company operatesand "perhaps be inspired to join the ranks of blind business professionals all over the world."

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Matt McCubbin, A T Guys

A green initiative with roots in Ann Arbor is branching out to Southwest Michigan.

The Clean Energy Coalition will work for nine months in 2012 to support efforts to reduce petroleum consumption and emissions from vehicles. Outreach and education events are planned to show business owners how they can save money through green initiatives.

Clean Energy Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting clean energy technologies as a way to create healthier, energy independent communities. Its goal is to foster a consensus to bring new clean vehicle projects to the area.

Clean Energy Coalition Project Manager Aaron Champion will serve as the Clean Cities Coordinator for the region. He will meet with fleet managers and others as he works toward making the area as eligible for Department of Energy designation that provides resources for research, discussion and work that lays the groundwork for eligibility for future federal funding.

Clean Energies already has been at work in Southwest Michigan. Champion worked with Western Michigan University officials in securing a $700,000 grant for the installation of solar panels on campus that will be used in the charging of electric vehicles.

Further work will involve meeting with those interested in building fleets of green vehicles such as those that use compressed natural gas or hybrid electric vehicles and determining how best to implement the infrastructure that makes use of those vehicles possible. For those who will be putting alternative fuel vehicles on the road, the Clean Cities program provides technical support and can help overcome obstacles.

Champion will continue to be based out of the Clean Cities Coalition’s Ann Arbor office where they employ about 20 people, but he will regularly be in Southwest Michigan.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source; Aaron Champion, Clean Cities Coalition

After watching family members and friends struggle with keeping their medical marijuana in untidy plastic bags, Chad Pillars decided there had to be a better way.

"It seemed like they should be able to keep it in a proper container," says Pillars, who has family members who have cancer. A company to sell glass jars with sandblasted designs emerged from that concern. He and three friends now creat Ganjars to meet that need.

Ganjars began selling on Etsy and wider distribution is in the works. The jars are one product of GJ4Designs, LLC, a company that got its start not quite one year ago.

Three of its four employees work from a 600-square-foot space in the Parks Trade Center, 326 W Kalamazoo Ave. Suite. 135, in downtown Kalamazoo. Each of them work at least once a week sandblasting decorative designs onto the jars.

The fourth employee works in Colorado where he is in charge of national sales for the jars and other GJ4 Designs products.

The company will soon be moving into designs for glasses used at bars and coffee shops, Pillars says. Considering the rapid growth of the craft beer movement in Michigan and the proliferation of coffee shops, the company sees this as a significant potential growth area.

Pour Michigan is the company’s line for coffee shops, Pillars says.

Up next for the company is attendance at a trade show in Los Vegas and two expos in the Detroit area where it hopes to find a range of customers for its glass containers and specialty glasses.

The jars and other sand blasted glass products feature designs by Josh Abernathy, of GJ4Designs. Pillars is general manager, doing whatever is needed. Simon Dezsi is the project manager for the company. And Jud Lindsey handles sales.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Chad Pillars, GJ4Designs

Businesses owned by those with low incomes, or disabilities, or by women and minorities who traditionally find it difficult to find the funding they need have a new financial resource.

The Fifth Third Bank Venture Fund -- a collaboration between Fifth Third Bank and Cornerstone Alliance Small Business Services -- will go to entrepreneurs who need small business loans but lack commercially acceptable credit, business ownership experience or adequate collateral. The  Venture Fund, a $10,000 loan fund, is part of a $50,000 grant the bank awarded to Cornerstone Alliance.

Applicants receive training and technical support from Cornerstone Alliance Small Business Services. "Once an applicant is approved for a Venture Fund loan, staff and volunteer business advisors will nurture the relationship between these borrowers and established banking community to expand the long-term financial opportunities for their small business," says Cornerstone Alliance Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Vaughn.

Area entrepreneurs may be eligible to borrow and repay progressively larger amounts, starting with loans as low as $500 and up to $5,000. Total debt of the project must not exceed $25,000. Initially, the emphasis will be serving those in rural Cass and Van Buren counties. All loans will have a fixed interest rate of 10 percent.

Funds may be used to purchase business equipment such as machinery, fixtures, or furniture. The funds also may be used for business supplies, materials, inventory and as some working capital.

The money cannot be used to pay off existing debt, tax payments, purchases of real estate or down payment on real estate.

Fifth Third Bank’s Vice President, Community Affairs Manager Patrick Lonegran says, "The goal is to help these entrepreneurs become 'bankable' in the future and eligible for larger loans from commercial lending institutions such as Fifth Third Bank."

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Jamie Nilson-Balkin, Cornerstone Alliance

Updated Jan. 26, 2012

Shared working space is an idea whose time has come and it’s come to Kalamazoo.

The Bureau is a 6,000-square-foot space with a large common work area, four conference rooms, more than 200 square feet of white boards and a shared photography studio all overlooking the Kalamazoo Mall.

"The Bureau is an absolutely amazing space," says Ryan Goins, co-founder of StartupZoo. "We held our most recent Startup Weekend event there and all of the entrepreneurs fell in love."

Goins says the space provides ample work areas, vast whiteboard space and unlimited coffee -- "everything the entrepreneurs needed to build some really great companies over the weekend."  

An official launch event for the space that had its soft opening in early December drew a crowd that filled the space. Those who turned out toured the offices, networked, munched on appetizers, sipped wine and watched a video (by Act Naturally Studios) about the co-working space. The event was hosted by StartupZoo, an organization formed to foster the sharing of ideas, resources among entrepreneurs and connect them with investors, community leaders and thought leaders. After the ribbon cutting, a number of Startup Weekend companies talked about about how they have grown since the event.

Matt Vernon, founder of The Bureau, welcomed everyone to the space and expressed his excitement for the potential of the space that now has a dynamic space with a health care model in terms of payment.

The Bureau is now open daily as a hub for entrepreneurs to connect and grow their individual businesses while sharing ideas and infrastructure. It’s become a central location where business people work with each other to fuel development of a business ecosystem in Kalamazoo that supports the entrepreneur.

Space is available for $150 for one month, $75 for 10 visits and free for one visit. Prices are negotiated for companies that have a team of employees who need flexible space.

The Bureau has already become home to several local businesses including Iron Shirt Media -- a new Marketing Agency focused on integrating traditional, digital, and social media; ATGuys.com -- an online-retailer of technology accessibility tools for the visually and hearing impaired, and this fall’s Startup Weekend winner YourBucketlist -- a web and Facebook app that helps people take steps to achieve their life goals using the vast resources across the Internet.

Matt Vernon, founder of The Bureau, says he has seen how the space has made connections possible between businesses that were both active in the community but which had never met.

"These connections are spawning opportunities for some of these businesses to find resources locally they previously would have gone out of town and or out of state for, keeping the local economy local," says Vernon.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Ryan Goins, StartupZoo

For the past two years, efforts have been under way to turn what once housed a large industrial enterprise into a home where small businesses can grow. Those efforts are beginning to pay off, says Brian DeLong.

The Business Center of Southwest Michigan, in Dowagiac, is located in what once was National Copper Products. Today, the facility has many of the same services and benefits of a business incubator, but businesses that locate there will not be asked to move on when they reach a certain size as required by traditional incubators.

The Business Center totals 617,000 square feet and sits on almost 35 acres of property.

DeLong says when National Copper Products shut its doors some wanted to demolish the building, but he asked to be allowed to try and bring new life to the property. He was given permission to see what he could do. Due to economic conditions during the past 24 months that work has been a challenge, but today there are 16 businesses, mostly small startups with at total of 36 employees.

Several of the businesses are working together on auto parts projects. "They are all partnering very well," says DeLong, who is vice president of Prairie Ronde Realty Co.

Because of its history, the property has some unique attributes. There are three large industrial areas ready for tenants. It also features a 135,000-square- foot space complete with nine shipping docks and indoor rail. A rail spur comes directly onto the property.

"This makes it very attractive," DeLong says. "It’s a great advantage to manufacturers."

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Brian DeLong, Business Center of Southwest Michigan

A Western Michigan University professor of biological sciences is learning more about the ability of the adult human brain to recover from damage due to injury or disease through her work with zebrafish.

Christine A. Byrd-Jacobs has received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study the mechanisms that are part of the degeneration and regeneration of the human brain, research that could ultimately suggest treatments for stroke and degenerative brain diseases.

Byrd-Jacobs recent work on zebrafish involves removing olfactory sensory input, which causes degeneration of the olfactory part of the brain. Zebrafish share similar basic cell types with humans, which makes them useful in predicting similar reactions in human tissue. When she restores sensory input, there is some regeneration of the brain, indicating that the adult central nervous system can recover from long-term damage.

The work involves the study of deafferentation, or the interruption of communication between nerve cells, a method of revealing the complex workings of nerve impulses, in the zebrafish. This, coupled with specific labeling techniques, allows researchers to closely observe the reactions of the cells and track the increase in newly generated cells.

The new grant will allow Byrd-Jacobs to pursue experiments that will examine the mechanisms involved in brain degeneration and regeneration processes, with the future goal of looking for treatments for stroke and degenerative brain diseases.

A WMU faculty member since 1996, Byrd-Jacobs serves as graduate advisor for the Department of Biological Sciences. She has received several National Institutes of Health grants to support her research.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Jeanne Baron, Western Michigan University

Using short, intense X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser (one with a beam of electrons accelerated to almost light speed) a team of physicists led by Western Michigan University’s Dr. Nora Berrah are providing a new way to explore atomic structure.

Work at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University in Menlo Park, Calif. has resulted in direct observations of what has previously been a theoretical concept regarding the ability to tell the difference between similar chemical systems.

The international team of physicists led by Berrah used the free-electron laser pulse to displace the two innermost electrons from each of the atoms that form the molecule they were studying, creating a double-core hole. This effect needs to be achieved very fast -- within a few femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second.

The key innovation the team developed was demonstrating that double-core holes can be measured to fingerprint molecules that are so similar their spectral lines can’t be resolved using other spectroscopic techniques that use single-core-hole ionization.

An article on the work reviewed by Phys.Org.com appeared in an October issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is the first published piece that compares the work and earlier theoretical modeling on how molecules can be differentiated by using free-electron lasers to create a double-core hole by ejecting two electrons from their positions.

"Plotting our experimental data against the theory demonstrates clearly the agreement, which is very good concerning the structures we observed," Berrah says in the article. "However, there are discrepancies regarding the intensity of the structures, which may be due to effects not included in the calculations. That being said, the calculations guided us very well."

Berrah is an atomic physicist and longtime researcher whose work has been regularly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. She is on sabbatical from the university this year and is in France doing research at the light source facility in Paris called SOLEIL.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

Industry in Michigan has a new way to connect with state universities in ways intended to help the economy grow, one organizers say is the first of its kind in the country.

The Michigan Corporate Relations Network, or M-CRN, is a collaboration between Western Michigan University and five other state schools -- Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan's campuses in Ann Arbor and Dearborn.

The M-CRN will be developed with more than $1.8 million from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the Michigan Strategic Fund Board. The overall program funding will exceed $3 million after an industry match of more than $1 million is raised.

At WMU, the M-CRN will be housed in the Haworth College of Business and will work collaboratively with the Small Business and Technology Development Center.

"This new effort will help our research universities work more closely together and develop tools like a statewide database on faculty expertise that will ensure business requests for assistance are funneled to the researchers who are best equipped to assist them," says Bob Miller, WMU associate vice president for community outreach who has been working on the M-CRN since its inception.

The first six initiatives for the M-CRN are:

• Establish or enhance business engagement offices, giving businesses and economic development agencies "one-stop shops" for access to university research expertise and student talent.

• Launch of a Small-Company Innovation Program to help companies partner with universities for applied research and development of identified technologies.

• Create an Instant Innovation Program that brings faculty experts from the universities together with Michigan companies to tackle significant business and research challenges.

• Create a Small-Company Internship Award program to encourage student job placements with company partners in Michigan and provide funding for students to work as summer interns or in cooperative positions with corporate partners.

• Development of a single-point-of-access web tool for businesses searching for faculty expertise across the M-CRN universities.

• Increase access to university library resources.

"Companies like Google, Facebook and Dell were born on college campuses, and we want to keep helping our leading universities turn the latest developments into jobs," says Michael Finney, president and CEO of the MEDC.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

November was a very good month for Advanced Cooling Therapy.

The Kalamazoo-based medical device company received a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The company also won $25,000 in the medical devices sector of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition for its development of devices to solve problems health­care providers face in con­troll­ing patients' tem­per­a­tures. To qualify for the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition prize monies, businesses must make a commitment to locate and grow in Michigan.

Advanced Cool­ing Ther­apy also became a partner in Novenber with Michigan Medical Device Accelerator, a virtual incubator in Southwest Michigan that assists companies as they move through developing an idea into a medical product and bringing it to market. WMU Business Technology and Research Park, Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, Southwest Michigan First, and Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund all are partners in the Michigan Medical Device Accelerator.

The company has developed patent-pending biomedical devices that induce mild therapeutic hypothermia, help maintain normal body temperatures and reduce fever in patients after cardiac arrest, during surgery, and in an intensive care unit.

The company says its devices are easier to use than existing methods, have been shown to double patients' survival, and cost less than half the cost of competitors. Unlike other temperature controlling technologies that go either on the surface or through the vein, ACT's system goes through the esophagus.

The U.S. mar­ket for tem­per­a­ture man­age­ment is made up of 5,000 hos­pi­tals treat­ing up to 1 mil­lion car­diac arrest patients, 3 mil­lion ICU patients, and 10 mil­lion surgery patients annu­ally, the company says. It estimates that is a $1 bil­lion annual mar­ket, grow­ing at more than 15 percent per year.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Advanced Cooling Therapy

AzulStar Inc. is expanding its wireless broadband services to Kalamazoo and two other Michigan cities.

The Grand Haven-based company, established in 2003, is a privately held provider of 4G and 5G wireless Internet.

The company says its WiMAX networks provide a faster speed, lower-priced, quicker set-up alternative to national telecom giants. Its services include high-speed Internet access, managed wireless networking and others. WiMax, is a wireless network, sometimes described as WiFi "on steroids."

The service has proven attractive to landlords whose tenants pay for it as part of their rent. Tenants simply find the building’s Wi-Fi network using their own computer, smart-phone or tablet, select their speed plan and have access to very high speed Internet within minutes. Because AzulStar does not have to pay another party, such as a phone company, it can offer the service at competitive rates.

Unlike fixed networks that require wires in order for users to be connected and which can takes weeks for installation, AzulStar’s wireless service can be connected much more quickly.

Other critical customers for AzulStar are those that have fixed networks through telephone or cable companies but who use AzulStar as a backup service for times when the other service fails.

"It’s a little bit of a niche, but it’s a very nice niche," says AzulStar Chairman and CEO Tyler van Houwelingen.

In Kalamazoo, AzulStar will market its service to business owners, apartment complex managers and public agencies, such as Western Michigan University. Some universities already are abandoning their fixed networks and moving entirely to WiFi and its a trend van Houwelingen expects his company to benefit from as it continues.

Two angel investment organizations recently put money into AzulStar for undisclosed amounts making it possible for the company to grow, says van Houwelingen. Grand Angels and Blue Water Angels together have provided the company with the largest investments it has ever received. The company’s expansion in Kalamazoo, Lansing and Muskegon is possible at this time as a direct result of the venture capital money it received, he says.

The company, which currently employs 16, has one person now working in Kalamazoo, van Houwelingen says. The staff is expected to grow further during the coming year.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Tyler van Houwelingen, AzulStar Inc.

Weidenhammer, a company that specializes in management software for schools, has outgrown its current location at the Holiday Terrace and has purchased the Granite Park I building in Western Michigan University’s Business Technology and Research Park.

Weidenhammer develops management tools for primary and secondary educators such as gradebooks, accounting and payroll software, "whatever enables administrators to  operate the schools," says Weidenhammer President John Weidenhammer.

The company initially will occupy 3,500 square feet when it moves into the site in December, but expects to be able to expand beyond that as needed, he says.

Within 18 months, the company’s local staff of 20 will grow by at least 10. The company also expects to use the new site to move employees from its other locations and to build a data center in the building to accommodate the cloud computing needs of its clients.

"We’re seeing a decided movement among our clients in general. They’re rapidly moving from their onsite IT departments to the cloud," Weidenhammer says.

The company was attracted to the WMU's business park by the proximity of other IT firms in the building, he says. In other similar locations the company has worked with others in an exchange of ideas, Weidenhammer says, and the company looks forward to similar collaborations here. "Western Michigan (University) has a great IT department. We want to collaborate with professors and the research being done there."

The company already employs interns from WMU and that practice will continue and grow in the new location at 4664 Campus Drive.

Nationwide, Weidenhammer employs about 200 IT professionals and its clients include more than 1,000 school districts in 40 states.

The company has been in Michigan since 2004 and has corporate headquarters in Reading, Pa. It also has Pennsylvania locations in Bethlehem, Lancaster and Philadelphia. Other offices are in Denver, Col., and Mesa, Ariz.

Launched in late 1999, the BTR Park is home nearly 40 companies directly employing about 700 people.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: John Weidenhammer, Weidenhammer