Detroit Startup List • Hacker News Board

Re: Detroit Startup List

#11

Post by kj1210 » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 4:56 AM UTC

rick888 wrote: post #2

This list is misleading. over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor. They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

Silicon Valley encompasses many cities in a "region". Here in Detroit, we don't have a name (yet?) to describe the region so we use Detroit to encompass the whole area. Ann Arbor falls within that area. It's roughly a 45 minute drive from Ann Arbor to Detroit...or 35 minutes for me ;)

The Detroit "region" or sometimes known as "Detroit Urban Area" or "Metro Detroit", is actually quite large and has many beautiful communities with in it. This wikipedia page sums it up well. The "region" is actually the 9th most populated urban area in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Detroit

People also forget how large the actual city of Detroit is. If you look at the map linked below, you'll see that Boston, San Fran, and Manhattan all can fit within the city limits of Detroit.

http://markmaynard.com/?p=56

Re: Detroit Startup List

#12

Post by chaselee » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 4:59 AM UTC

Newmind wrote: post #4

rick888 wrote: post #2

This list is misleading. over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor. They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

There are a number of cities in the valley that all consider themselves the same community. I think this is the same sort of concept. The list appears to be based on where the companies were founded not where they currently have presence.

You're first two sentences are the most right.

Re: Detroit Startup List

#13

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:01 AM UTC

jerf wrote: post #9

Newmind wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a number of cities in the valley that all consider themselves the same community. I think this is the same sort of concept. The list appears to be based on where the companies were founded not where they currently have presence.

I live in Brighton, 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor, where I work. No, we do not consider ourselves to be "just part of the same community". Detroit's "over there". Detroit does extend out past Detroit proper and there are municipalities where one might just say for convenience "I live in Detroit" to those from out-of-town even though the mailing address isn't Detroit, but there's a lot of not-Detroit less than an hour…

[deleted]

Re: Detroit Startup List

#14

Post by jeffheng » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:06 AM UTC

rick888 wrote: post #2

This list is misleading. over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor. They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

Ann Arbor is practically 35-40 minutes away from Detroit via I-94. The region as a whole is how it should be identified/branded. Fragmentation doesn't help anyone nor any community.

For example; Mountain View, Cupertino and Palo Alto are all roughly 45-50 minutes away from San Francisco. Yet, it is perfectly fine to say that they are in the Bay Area, or sometimes even as San Francisco for simplicity, familiarity and recognition sake.

There is really no reason to treat Detroit like a plague ..... it is 2011, let the dark history be by-gones, and give these start-ups the due respect that they deserve. They could be successful anywhere at all. Detroit and Southeast Michigan are glad to embrace them and support their goals.

Great job, Alex, for putting this list together.

Re: Detroit Startup List

#15

Post by jerf » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:07 AM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #13

jerf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Brighton, 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor, where I work. No, we do not consider ourselves to be "just part of the same community". Detroit's "over there". Detroit does extend out past Detroit proper and there are municipalities where one might just say for convenience "I live in Detroit" to those from out-of-town even though the mailing address isn't Detroit, but there's a lot of not-Detroit less than an hour…

[deleted]

"In terms of the sorts of things that might be of interest to Hacker News, there's not much point to resurrecting Detroit..." Kindly don't chop important words off of quotes, please.

It was never a startup hub, it was never a computer programming tech hub, it was full of the sort of Suits that that startup culture is in large part a reaction against, it is bizarre to insist on trying to turn Detroit into some sort of startup hub when there's one radically further along and tied to a world-class University just an hour west. If you want to resurrect it because it's your home, or because you feel for the people who live there, or because you have other interests that are relevant, go nuts. But I don't get Hacker New's obsession with the topic. A few articles about a case study of a modern city in major decline is interesting from a sociology perspective, but it gets a lot more attention than I'd expect from that.

Re: Detroit Startup List

#16

Post by nbashaw » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:14 AM UTC

rick888 wrote: post #2

This list is misleading. over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor. They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

I don't think it's misleading at all. Here's a direct quote from the page:

"While we focus on the Metro Detroit area, we do include entries from throughout the entire state of Michigan. For us it’s about the cause, not about drawing lines in the sand."

Re: Detroit Startup List

#17

Post by philwelch » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:28 AM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #13

jerf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Brighton, 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor, where I work. No, we do not consider ourselves to be "just part of the same community". Detroit's "over there". Detroit does extend out past Detroit proper and there are municipalities where one might just say for convenience "I live in Detroit" to those from out-of-town even though the mailing address isn't Detroit, but there's a lot of not-Detroit less than an hour…

[deleted]

Cities have risen and fallen before. Part of the creative destruction of the last few decades involved wealth and power disappearing from Detroit and growing in Silicon Valley. I understand for Detroiters the sentimental value of Detroit, but there's no need for economic activity to happen in Detroit or in any other particular place so long as it happens and happens productively. In fact, it may be against this country's interests for otherwise useful and productive resources to be misdirected towards trying to rebuild failed cities like Detroit when they could be more productively invested elsewhere.

People see a city like Detroit turn to ruins and think this is terrible, this needs to be a thriving city again. No, really as long as we have more prosperity elsewhere, Detroit can stay in ruins.

Re: Detroit Startup List

#18

Post by tuebor » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 5:34 AM UTC

Over 100 companies have presented at the Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup (mostly from Ann Arbor, but we try to have some representation from the greater Detroit metro area): http://a2newtech.org

There've been several exits (AtD bought by Automattic, Mobiata bought by Expedia, GiftZip bought by SVM, etc.), many venture deals (Livio Radio, Duo Security, Benzinga, Life Magnetics, Shepard Intelligent Systems, Deep Field Networks, Scoutforce, Own, Zferral, Are You A Human, etc.), and maybe a smaller deadpool than you'd expect for the amount of activity here.

Join the meetup, and check out the 2-3 events held by any of 60+ geek groups in Ann Arbor every day: http://a2geeks.org http://www.a2techevents.com

Also, all are welcome to join us Oct 28 for the Halloween edition of our weekly http://TechBrewery.org Beer:30 startup social hour (wear a costume)! We'll have food, drinks, and music sponsored by LanguageMate, who recently arrived here. :-)

Re: Detroit Startup List

#19

Post by SkyMarshal » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 6:55 AM UTC

scottmcleod wrote: post #10

Were looking for a founder for a college related application. Have investors, pre-beta list growing, designs done, and developers lined up. Contact me@scott-mcleod.com

Sounds like you've already done most of the founding. You sure you need another one?

Re: Detroit Startup List

#20

Post by temphn » Mon, Oct 17, 2011, 7:00 AM UTC

jeffheng wrote: post #14

rick888 wrote: post #2

This list is misleading. over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor. They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

Ann Arbor is practically 35-40 minutes away from Detroit via I-94. The region as a whole is how it should be identified/branded. Fragmentation doesn't help anyone nor any community. For example; Mountain View, Cupertino and Palo Alto are all roughly 45-50 minutes away from San Francisco. Yet, it is perfectly fine to say that they are in the Bay Area, or sometimes even as San Francisco for simplicity, familiarity and…

The only thing is that the problems with Detroit are not in the past, but very much in the present. Ann Arbor and UMich, for better or worse, have a much better reputation in 2011 as engineering centers than Detroit.