Start Up Capitol
Yes that's a play on words. A few of us in West Michigan have noted that there seem to be more startups in Grand Rapids than in some other areas of the country. Now I don't know if that's actually true or just a perception. Some modest research shows Michigan near the bottom middle of states with per-capita allotted startup capital, so I could be wrong. I don't know if that stat includes angel investors or not, either. What is exciting is that we have some local entrepreneurs that are putting up some funds to help local startups - like the 5X5 Night and the Momentum Lean Startup Project.
This last month aimWest also touched on Startups, covered by M-Live, with young and old startups alike on the panel. Zipments' Founder, Garrick Pohl, in response to a question about "Where did you raise your Start Up Capital Capital?", said that 100% came from West Michigan! The others had various answers, but all said that a large portion came from donors, angels and resources in Michigan. So why not start a business here? We do have millionaires and billionaires here. I started Evolve Solutions with some investment money back in 2002 during the height of the Dot Com Bubble Bust. I don't think I would have done the "Pay For It With Your Own Money" route like some do, even though it's the smartest route (in my opinion and in retrospect).
One take away that I liked from Roger Jansen, PhD (@Kidtelligent), Co-Founder of Kidtelligent, was that all companies must assign as much budget to Marketing as any other major portion of their business. Of course, what I liked about the statement was that I help companies with internet business marketing, from SEO to Social Media.
For any of you considering starting a business the Small Business Association has some great information including how to write a business plan. Check out their site - There's info on everything from writing a business plan and obtaining licenses to finding a mentor. I recommend doing all of these things. And revisiting your business plan after a couple years and every few years after that to revise and update.
So I'm hoping for a bit of a discussion here:
- Are you a small (or medium) business in Michigan?
- Where did you get your start up capital and was it the smartest move to go that route? If you're not but want to comment, I'll take all comers.
- What about your marketing budget, and do you outsource or have you hired someone that has been forced to learn all this new Social Media and Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing stuff?
- Is West Michigan a start-up capitol?
... and one last plug for aimWest: we're having the Momentum Lean Startup companies out to the downtown GR campus of WMU for their pitch night... come check it out.
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