As entrepreneurs begin to explore funding options, Grand Angels provides an application process for potential investments. The Grand Angels group is dedicated to finding appropriate businesses that will cultivate the local market. Mentoring from experienced professionals and a relatively patient…
Early Stage: Flip Learning
Chris Spielvogel’s path to becoming the CEO of a tech startup started on sabbatical from a position as a tenured professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Two seed accelerators, two business partners, and a few employees, Chris’ product, “Flip…
Gilda’s Club: Laughfest
Tailoring Talent Recruitment in Social Entrepreneurship What do 55,376 people, 925 rubber chickens, 228 events, 10 days, worldwide media coverage, and Grand Rapids, MI have in common? The answer: social entrepreneurship. Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids (GCGR) celebrated its 10th anniversary by flexing…
URBAN LINC
Engineering a Community of Entrepreneur Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerber serve as prime examples that entrepreneurship can be a very lucrative career choice. In 2011, The Kauffman Foundation estimates that the 11.9 million self-employed business owners in the…
Question & Answer: Bonnie Wesorick
Bonnie Wesorick founded the CPM Resource Center while working as a nurse in a local hospital. The center has developed a field-tested and effective way to improve all elements of the care process, from point-of-care clinical decision support to healthy…
Forging a Pipeline
Driving Growth With Collegiate Talent Over $6 Billion dollars in investments have been funneled into the Grand Rapids infrastructure since 1980. In just the past eleven years a third of that amount, roughly $2.6 billion, has reshaped and retuned the…
Putting the “Ability” in Disability
The Successes of Entrepreneur James R. Albright Rain poured down his face as he waited outside an entrance on Grand Valley’s campus. He was cold and wet. The broken handicap button separated him and his wheelchair from the dry inside.…
Uptown Kitchen
Food-preneurs Get a Kitchen Her idea stemming from a business class at Calvin College, Kelly LeCoy soon acquired the seed capital needed to create a kitchen facility that helps food inspired entrepreneurs create their own culinary venture. The National Restaurant Association estimates that roughly…
Incubating Green Ideas
Michigan Green Technology and Entrepreneurship Academy It’s rare that a university professor, postdoc or PhD student would be found listening to lectures in the confines of a classroom, yet it perfectly describes the scene at the inaugural Michigan Green Technology…
Is It the Horse or the Jockey?
The Value of Talent In New Enterprises in West Michigan It is often asked in venture investing whether you bet on the horse (the market and the idea) or bet on the jockey (the manager and the management team). The…
NEU 