Q. What is AMIC?
The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is an annual event that
showcases Michigan’s top entrepreneurial technology, products and services
companies. To date, the competition has
awarded more than $5 million in prizes to 75 companies and student
teams that were then able to leverage the prize money into more than $123
million in future investments.
Q. Beyond the support AMIC
provides the competing group of entrepreneurs, how does the competition benefit
the state of Michigan?
Accelerate Michigan is able to fill a gap in the entrepreneur ecosystem
by creating an opportunity for entrepreneurs to connect with investors, R&D
professionals, business accelerators and incubators, and investment capital
from local to national levels. By creating a competition that attracts
different companies in different stages of funding from different sectors, AMIC
is able to put a wide variety of people into the same competition for a more
diverse networking collective. By supporting and connecting resources in this
manner, we are able to further a more competitive and educated business
community throughout Michigan, and attract national level attention.
Q. Why are student groups also invited to participate?
The youthful energy is a
positive addition to the competition. It’s vitally important that we keep bright and talented university
students in Michigan to create companies and jobs for the future. Bringing them onsite to meet the
semi-finalist companies and investors, as well as pitch their business idea, gives
them access to a broader network and perspective.
Q. Was there anything that stood out to you about this year’s
competition? Good, bad, unique, etc.?
We added several new pieces to
the event that I think added some element of fun and local engagement to the
overall conference. The Detroit
Technology Exchange held an innovation pub crawl that took attendees to
different venues across the city. They stopped at Bizdom, the Center for
Creative Studies, TechTown and NextEnergy for some great local cuisine, craft
cocktails, microbrew and desserts.
We also added some local
artisans to display at the conference and Gala. It gave some good visibility for local companies including Adora Bella,
Happy Hookers, Leadhead Glass, Rebel Knell, Super Business Girl, Woodward
Throwbacks, and Urban Ashes
Q. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for someone thinking about
entering next year’s competition?
I would tell them to look at
the deliverables for each stage of the competition and start putting those
together in Q1 of 2015. I would also
encourage them to be in touch with their local SmartZone or entrepreneurial
accelerator so that they can access coaches and mentors for the 2015
competition.
 Michigan
native Susan Packard, co-founder of Scripps Networks Interactive and former
chief operating officer of HGTV, talked about taking risks and courting
innovation as the keynote speaker at the Accelerate Michigan Innovation
Competition’s awards gala.
Discussing
how she worked to create HGTV and popular lifestyle television brands such as
the Food Network, DIY Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and country
music network Great American Country. Packard said she kept in mind that brands
are about both their functionality and their emotional draw.
She
said that Scripps Network’s goal ‒ after a lot of brainstorming ‒ was to create
programing that was about style, fun and the future. But to even get to the
point where it could discuss programming, the company first had to agree on its
values and shared sense of mission. Only then could it move on to decide what
its new programming should be.
Her
message was especially apt for the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists at the
Accelerate Michigan event. Packard was a high-level executive at NBC when she
decided to take a risk and join the startup HGTV. She also was an innovator at
NBC as well as at Scripps, having been part of the startup team for CNBC. Since
2010, she has worked for Martin Frankel Associates, an advisory group to global
business leaders.
Packard
has written a book aimed at helping women advance their careers. “New Rules of
the Game,” available in early February, advises women to get ahead through a
strategic way of thinking cultivating creativity, focus, optimism, teamwork and
competitiveness – in other words, “gamesmanship,” which she said is often seen
in the gaming and sports worlds but not an approach often used by women. She told
the Accelerate Michigan audience that she can’t figure out why there isn’t more
gender diversity in top business jobs, and pointed out the advantages of having
more women in top management.
After
the sharing her ideas on how to push the boundaries to innovate and create new
products and services, Packard tweeted, “#AccelerateMI event was amazingly well
put on. Kudos to all who had a hand. The #entrepreneur fever was red hot and
the ideas phenomenal!”
 SkySpecs, an Ann Arbor-based company, is developing technology to
enable drones to fly up-close-and-personal to objects in the environment without
running into them. SkySpecs’ custom software and sensor integration gives drones
the ability to see the world around them and automatically make adjustments to
the pilot’s commands to keep it flying safely. SkySpecs consists of nine
University of Michigan engineering graduates, including CEO Danny Ellis, who
have been working together in robotics for more than five years.
This was the third year SkySpecs participated in AMIC, beginning with
the student competition in 2012 where they took third place. During this year’s
competition, the team learned that it needed to focus on a single piece of
technology that they could deliver to market in the best possible format. When they
first entered, they had a much broader approach to the market, which was honed
down to the core technology by the semi-final stage. Focusing on this core
technology was one of the biggest changes SkySpecs made, and as a result has
seen an immediate positive impact on their market traction.
SkySpecs plans to use the prize money to accelerate their progress,
while participating in the R/GA Accelerator where they will build their brand,
productize their technology, and bring the product to market. The AMIC prize
money will allow them to dedicate resources to making their product more robust
and deliverable to their beta customers.
SkySpecs is very passionate about the entrepreneur community in
Michigan and believe AMIC is one of the best events in the Midwest. Each year they’ve
participated, they looked forward not only to the competition, but also to
seeing all the other companies pitch.
The company believes AMIC benefits Michigan because it showcases the
talent in the state and helps build excitement around the growing
entrepreneurship community. They feel the competition is attracting investors
and talent to the area and helping fuel additional growth of new companies.
The biggest advice SkySpecs has for companies looking to enter the
competition is to determine a core technology, focus on it 100 percent, and be the
best at it. Don’t be enticed to try to solve everything in the industry at
once. Make sure that the technology is answering a customer-driven problem, and
that there is a market big enough to go after.
For more information, contact: Danny Ellis - danny@skyspecs.com
 EV Airway Innovations’ Endotracheal Tube (ETT) was developed by Eric
VanMiddendorp while working at Spectrum Health Innovation (SHI) through a
Michigan Initiative for Innovation & Entrepreneurship grant. The company
was formed to license the product and bring it to market, in the hopes of
positively impacting millions of lives.
Eric participated in AMIC to gain public speaking experience, for the
networking opportunity, and also for the potential awards that could be used to
move the business forward. He found great motivation in the feedback he
received regarding his product, and gained confidence in his ability to pitch
his company to possible investors.
He will use the prize money to fund a bench test that will provide data
validating the design of the ETT, and for development of several prototypes.
According to Eric, AMIC is a great opportunity to learn more about
becoming an entrepreneur, forming a business, and putting together a business
plan and pitch deck. It also is a great chance to network with other
like-minded people that you can learn from, or even find investors.
He believes that making sure Michigan is on the leading edge of new
business development is vital for maintaining a strong, growing economy ‒ and
that AMIC does just that.
Eric’s advice to students looking to enter next year’s competition would
be to work with your school’s entrepreneurship resources. Schools may be able
to put you in touch with people who have entered business plan competitions
before, which can be a great asset for fine tuning a pitch deck and dialogue
for the competition.
For more information, contact: Eric VanMiddendorp - vanmidde@mail.gvsu.edu
Inspiring women entrepreneurs who “made the jump”
to pursue their dreams and start successful companies were part of an Inforum
role model and investor series panel discussion at AMIC that was moderated by
Paula Sorrell, vice president, entrepreneurial services, innovation &
capital at Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Attendees had the
opportunity to learn about angel and venture capital investments, how to gain
access to prospective funders, and how to position their company for
investment.
The discussion started with brief introductions of
the panelists, which included Christie Coplen, president of Versicor; Andrea Roumell
Dicksen, president and CEO of ENT Biotech Solutions, LLC; and M. Christine
Gibbons, president and CEO of HistoSonics, Inc.
Gaining access to funding and guidance is one of
the first things to consider when building a start-up. Panelists informed the
audience where they found assistance when starting out. Andrea, like many tech
entrepreneurs in the Detroit-area, was familiar with TechTown where she sought
counsel. However, she also spent time searching out additional resources including
Automation Alley’s Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship. For Christie, it was BBC as well as Automation Alley. She also recommended taking the time to
figure out your business strategy and focus. Christine supported Christie’s
statement, stating that homework needs to be done first, especially on how to
get funded. She educated herself by working with venture capitalists at the
University of Michigan, as well as venture investors and firms.
One of the biggest challenges companies face when
searching for angel or venture capital funding, is the ability to deliver a
company pitch in less than 60 seconds. Paula had each panelist give their
60-second company pitch as an example:
-
HistoSonics, Inc. is a medical device company that
is developing a technology called histotripsy that will remove tissue
non-invasively and will allow the patient to have a smoother recovery.
-
Versicor provides a software platform for startup
to midsize companies. Versicor helps companies simplify product development,
decrease risk, and reduces the time needed to bring a company to market.
-
ENT Biotech Solutions manufactures a medical device
that removes tonsils and adenoids, which is the most common surgery in the United
States. ENT’s product makes the procedure safer and recovery time faster.
With any startup, there will be challenges along
the way. Christie, Andrea and Christine shared some of theirs including the FDA
regulations, lack of time in the day, a constant need to prioritize as not
everything will be addressed immediately, distractions, goal setting, and
having a plan B. All agreed there will be risks, so identifying those and figuring
out ways to mitigate them is extremely important.
Lastly, before a startup attempts to raise capital
there are some things that need to be taken into consideration. The panelists
stressed the importance of taking time and being patient, focusing on the
product at hand, creating multiple prototypes, and not talking to investors
until you’re absolutely ready as investors want to see a start-up with large
market opportunity, a strong propriety position and hundreds and millions in
potential.
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