LeadersConnect The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Part II Recap

Francis Glorie: 

• Community Access: How do we get young people to embrace entrepreneurship from the earliest? How do we direct some of the startup ecosystem resources to  underrepresented social groups and nieghboroods?
• Affordable repurposed business space and integrators from a diversified business base (Tech/NonTech); Affordable personal housing.

Can Ann Arbor learn from Detroit? “Don’t Brooklyn my Ypsi!”

• Sustainable Mobility: E-cargo bikes for businesses locally and light rail corridors (e.g. Ann Arbor / Detroit)
• We also discussed Capital Access but mostly as it relates to underrepresented groups

Emily Heintz: 

Ann Arbor’s tech community could benefit significantly from several strategic focuses to foster growth and evolution:

1. Support for Medium-Sized Businesses: There’s a need to shift some focus towards businesses generating $1-10 million in revenue. While they may lack the allure of brand-new startups, these established entities are crucial for job creation and sustainable economic growth.

2. Corporate Innovation: Encouraging larger corporations to invest in innovation could enhance the local talent pool. This could also provide smaller companies and startups with built-in corporate customers, promoting a more interconnected business environment.

3. Resource Accessibility: Many resources are available at the state level, but there’s a gap in awareness or accessibility. Providing clearer guidance and easier access could help local businesses thrive more effectively.

4. Strengthen Connections with Other Hubs: Building stronger networks with major entrepreneurial ecosystems could open doors to additional capital, talent, and resources, enhancing the local tech community’s capabilities and reach.

By implementing these strategies, Ann Arbor can create a more robust, interconnected, and sustainable tech community.

Bob Royce: 

1. Make it easy for people to find opportunities to network such as LeadersConnect.
2. Promote cross-generational events where young entrepreneurs can interact with those who have been around the block a few times.
3. Support the ability to find interns and connect interns with mentors.

Rob Krochmal

• The existing Ann Arbor entrepreneurial ecosystem foundation is a great building block.  The general feeling in Ann Arbor is that people want to try and help other people succeed whether by making introductions or holding networking events.  We should all continue to help each other and have more events.
• The region could do a better job of trying to keep the incredible talent graduating from UofM to stay in the region and build upon the entrepreneurial ecosystem, versus taking the knowledge elsewhere.

We should emphasize how important Ann Arbor SPARK is to the region.  They can help any entrepreneur, whether you are one person with an idea, but do not know where to start, or you are a strong and stable company looking to continue scaling.  They are a one-stop shop to help grow the ecosystem. (yes, I am on the Ann Arbor SPARK Economic Development Committee, so I had to throw this in!)

Miche Rayment

Our discussion was more about what each community member can do to further support entrepreneurship rather than things that need to be in place. The operational distinction for the culture that I use with The Hire Effect clients consists of two major components: what are the Drivers of the group (what does the group deeply care about that shapes every action and decision) and the Mood (how do members of the group treat one another and stakeholders). The Mood component generally shows up as a list of adjectives (innovative, loud, creative… things like that).

Our small group discussion ended with focusing on the Mood in our entrepreneurial community as:

• Showing Up: Coming to events
• Listening: Being curious about what is going on for others
• Connecting to Help: Introducing entrepreneurs to the help they need in the moment or in the near future.

Marilyn Clark

Our group brought up affordable housing but the main discussion was on the generational divide in the workplace and building a culture that supports that difference. It was noted that young people don’t want to connect in the workplace like older generations did. Creating spaces to help people connect, like LeadersConnect is so important. Learning from each other is an important ingredient of the entrepreneurial journey, and lots of people are willing to share their knowledge, creating opportunities to do that is a key to Ann Arbor’s success.

Brandon McNaughton

A big question in a vibrant and upcoming entrepreneurial community is how to facilitate more growth and support. Our group’s answer is to emphasize the unique characteristics of Michigan and enable access to the existing strength of resources in the community. Everything we need is here—we just need to put the pieces together. There are many great reasons to be in Michigan as an entrepreneur. This is where we would benefit from increasing awareness—we have a kind and helpful community, a livable lifestyle, a great place to start and run a company, etc.

Eric Fretz

Our group discussed how the ENTR mindset was so useful even outside of ENTR. That small innovations inside a company or just applying skills learned in or for ENTR are helpful to success

We noted how collaboration, which took a bit of a break during COVID, is now back to normal, it is the future. Working well with others is a vital skill.
We discussed how it is hard to keep up with all the ENTR events/groups/changes even just in the local A2 or SE Michigan area. We wished for a simple way to coordinate or share information across the ENTR community.

We embraced A2 as a wonderful community for ENTR.  That it is, and can be more of, a magnet for ENTR.  As a base for hybrid Headquarters when some live here and others are scattered around.  We should make A2 even more sticky with better transportation, housing, and childcare options.  Keep MI talent in MI!!

We agreed that it would be better to refer to our geographic areas the “Great Lakes Region” as opposed to the more amorphous and inaccurate “MIDWEST”.

Helene Gidley

More help on how to take what you give away and turn it into paid work. Giving back is nice, but entrepreneurs need to fuel their economic engine as well. Especially when they are starting up.

Also our group was asking for help on making the connections to those with the skill sets needed for entrepreneurs. Ideally we’d like to leverage what’s already here such as SPARK.