Founders Blog
Fundraising is a ‘game’ these are the rules
September 21, 2022
Founder: Sergio Rodriguez-Valenzuela Company: ToDooly Stage: Seed Date Founded: 2019 Industry: Marketplace I didn’t have a safety cushion or the ability to do a family and friends round, so a meaningful capital injection into the company [...]
The Value of Team Service Days
July 25, 2022
Founder: Andy Fowler Company: Nutshell Stage: Growth Founded: 2010 Industry: SaaS Nutshell’s volunteerism and charitable giving have really only begun in the past two years. As a 12-year-old elder startup, that’s pretty deep into “better [...]
Transiency and the road less travelled
May 3, 2022
Founder: Phil Bak Company: atNav Stage: Seed Date Founded: 2022 Industry: Fintech, Capital Markets The coolest thing I ever saw as a kid was a dual VCR player. It was the height of technology, and it was awesome. So what [...]
The Importance of Founder Fellowship
March 28, 2022
Founder: Bhushan Kulkarni Company: InfoReady Stage: Growth Date Founded: 2010 Industry: Software, EdTech During the journey of starting, growing, and sustaining a start-up, we all face many challenges. You can’t find solutions to these challenges [...]
Startups: Build Resilient Teams through Honest Expectation Settings
October 26, 2021
Founder: David Corcoran Company: Digital Cowboy; Formerly Founder of Censys and TrustBearer Stage: Self-Funded Date Founded: 2013 Headcount: 1 Industry: Venture Development William Shatner is one of my favorite actors. My wife and I had [...]
Q&A With Two Michigan ClimateTech Founders
October 5, 2021
Darren Riley, Co-Founder & CEO, JustAir Kai Cui, Founder & CEO, CarbonTag Why did you decide to build a venture ClimateTech? What core problem are you hoping to solve? JustAir: Launching JustAir was rooted in [...]
Spotlight: Founder’s Retreat 2021 – Reignition
August 31, 2021
Back Row Left to Right: Dug Song, Marianna Poisera, Kathleen Craig, Rich Chang, Guy Suter, Kabir Maiga, Bhushan Kulkarni; Front Row Left to Right: Ashley M. Williams, Dr. Susan Shore, Kai Cui, Nydia Cardenas, Jen [...]
Why I moved my startup from California to Michigan
August 26, 2021
An interview with Prateek Sachdeva, Co-Founder and COO of Invisible AI Tell us more about Invisible.ai and why you decided to found a tech company? After college, my now-cofounder Eric Danziger and I were part [...]
Reality Needs Joy: Lessons learned from failure and starting over
July 21, 2021
By Guy Suter, Founder & CEO, Ampll Founder: Guy Suter Company: Ampll Stage: Seed Date Founded: 2020 Headcount: 8 Industry: Wellness Last year I wrote about some good advice I got when my last startup [...]
Communicating with Investors at the Right Frequency
June 8, 2021
For more from Jen Baird, see her blog: Startup CEO Reflections Founder: Jen Baird, Founder & CEO Company: Fifth Eye Stage: Series A Date Founded: 2014 Headcount: 9 Industry: Healthcare The more frequently you communicate, [...]
Focusing on the right problems
May 11, 2021
Founder: Trevor Hough, Co-Founder CEO Company: Yottled Stage: Pre-Seed Date Founded: 2020 Headcount: 5 Industry: E-Commerce and Content Management It’s incredibly challenging to be part of a start-up. There’s pressure from everywhere: meeting customer deadlines, [...]
Building purpose into the bottom line
April 20, 2021
Interview with WorkIt Health and Atomic Object on their Certified B Corp status The tech ecosystem is becoming an increasingly important engine for growth and talent throughout the state of Michigan. Many startups are successfully [...]
The 4 Biggest Lessons I’ve Learned as a Student Founder
April 13, 2021
Founder: Bennett Hilkert, Co-Founder CEO Company: Honesti Stage: Seed Date Founded: 2020 Headcount: 3 Industry: Mental Health & Tech The student founder experience is incredibly unique and challenging. Below I have outlined the 4 biggest [...]
How to bet on yourself!
March 23, 2021
Founder: Ashley M. Williams, CEO Company: RIZZARR Stage: Seed Date Founded: 2015 Headcount: 7 Industry: Marketing and Media It’s Women’s History Month and although the focus is on women, this article is also geared towards [...]
How to build a strong advisory team and who to invite to your startup leadership table
February 25, 2021
Founder: Kathleen Craig, CEO Company: HT Mobile Apps (HTMA) Stage: Preparing for Series A Date Founded: 2015 Headcount: 11 Industry: FinTech Being aware and thoughtful about how you build your leadership table is a key [...]
Startup genesis: choosing a problem to solve
January 28, 2021
For more from Jen Baird, see her blog: Startup CEO Reflections Founder: Jen Baird, Founder & CEO Company: Fifth Eye Date Founded: 2014 Forming a startup means that the founder(s) has an opportunity to choose [...]
Tools every startup should be using
January 28, 2021
Founder: Danny Ellis, Founder and CEO Company: SkySpecs Date Founded: 2012 Headcount: 75 employees Stage: Series C venture-backed tech company Industry: Energy Five minutes reading this article will save you hundreds of hours building your [...]
