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Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

crainsdetroit.com

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Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#21

Post by valarauca1 »

dominotw wrote: post #17
ThomPete wrote: post #16

I have said it before and I will say it again. Detroit is the perfect place to build the robotics industry and they should call it Uncanny Vally.

>Detroit is the perfect place to build the robotics industry Why?

Mechanical and Technical engineering base of the city already exists.

The automotive industry has already created a host of general consulting engineering companies specializing in everything from hydraulics to electronics to fluid flow is insane.

One area of the city is literally known as "automation alley" due to the huge number of PLC controlled robots it produced in the 80's and 90's.

The ideas of line automation were invented in Detroit.

Also the exposure the metro-area children get to this technology is unpresendented. While HN doesn't seem to be "big" on First/FRC high school robotics competition. Nearly every school in the suburbs has a team that builds at least 1 50k+ robot per year to compete locally. There are multiple programs and competitions FIRST isn't the only. I bring this up because Michigan teams don't exactly compete but dominate was a better word before the region limiting system was put in place.

Finally the education system is also in place. Lawerence/Kettering university were founded by Ford and GM as trade schools to crank out engineers for their companies, now they're private universes. But the it demonstrates just how many engineer degrees come from the state let alone the metro area.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#22

Post by johnvschmitt »

cj wrote: post #12
johnvschmitt wrote: post #9

Great news & I have more hope for the community. However, many people outside of the startup scene have misconceptions, as they see survivor bias/success bias in the reporting. One item in the report feeds this misconception: "The average company got $1.9 million in funding." The median raised would be far more revealing of the actual experience that a startup faces than the average.

Techstars is incredibly transparent with their stats. Full funding data available here: http://www.techstars.com/companies/stats/ I just pulled some numbers quickly... In the last 3 Techstars NYC batches (not including the most recent), there were 37 companies with median funding of just over $1.6 million. 28 are still active, 6 have been acquired and 3 have failed.

Thanks. That is indeed an incredible level of transparency. I didn't see a CSV download but just scanning, it looks like it's more like a $200k median, with 1.6M average. Medians just make far more sense in letting someone outside the system know what to expect. Just like, "The average actress in Hollywood makes $250k, when in fact the median is $30k and a few make $100M).

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#23

Post by borat4prez »

Igglyboo wrote: post #13
valarauca1 wrote: post #2

As a Detroiter hopefully this will give me a reason to start going downtown. The current problem with the Detroit Metro area is when ever outside money comes in. Most the time the offices open in the northern/western suburbs. I say this because most high paying jobs are in the suburbs. Because that's where the businesses are. The suburbs are doing well. At first I was very excited and hoped they'd open relatively clo…

The only time I ever go downtown is for events at the Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall. There's really no reason to otherwise, unless you like to gamble. Pretty much everywhere outside of the immediate area around Cobo is really bad anyway.

The music scene is pretty good down there. Been to some great shows over the past few years.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#24

Post by rezistik »

marksc wrote: post #20

This is great news! Though, I'm surprised they aren't coming to Ann Arbor- the real startup hub of Michigan.

I live in Ann Arbor, and I've worked at a start up in Detroit, in what world is Ann Arbor the start up hub?

Detroit has far more start ups and venture capital firms...mostly owned/invested in by Quicken but the point stands.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#26

Post by cj »

johnvschmitt wrote: post #22
cj wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Techstars is incredibly transparent with their stats. Full funding data available here: http://www.techstars.com/companies/stats/ I just pulled some numbers quickly... In the last 3 Techstars NYC batches (not including the most recent), there were 37 companies with median funding of just over $1.6 million. 28 are still active, 6 have been acquired and 3 have failed.

Thanks. That is indeed an incredible level of transparency. I didn't see a CSV download but just scanning, it looks like it's more like a $200k median, with 1.6M average. Medians just make far more sense in letting someone outside the system know what to expect. Just like, "The average actress in Hollywood makes $250k, when in fact the median is $30k and a few make $100M).

They don't have a CSV export, but here's a quick Javascript script that pulls the fundings and calculates the median and average.

Total companies: 486

Median funding: $450,000

Average funding: $2,039,918

Total funding: $991,400,000

  var fundings = $('.batch .parent .right').map(function(){ 
    return +this.innerHTML.replace(/(\$|,| )/g, '') || 0;
  }).toArray();

  fundings = fundings.sort(function(a, b) { return a - b; });

  var totalFunding = fundings.reduce(function(a, b) { return a + b; });

  console.log('Total companies: ', fundings.length);
  console.log('Median funding: ', fundings[Math.round(fundings.length / 2)]);
  console.log('Average funding: ', Math.round(totalFunding / fundings.length));

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#28

Post by IndianAstronaut »

valarauca1 wrote: post #21
dominotw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Detroit is the perfect place to build the robotics industry Why?

Mechanical and Technical engineering base of the city already exists. The automotive industry has already created a host of general consulting engineering companies specializing in everything from hydraulics to electronics to fluid flow is insane. One area of the city is literally known as "automation alley" due to the huge number of PLC controlled robots it produced in the 80's and 90's. The ideas of line automation…

The problem now though is that robotics and automation is more than just engineering the machine, the challenges are in managing and building the AI. This area of study and research is not so active in Michigan.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#29

Post by ryanmarsh »

As a Houstonion this gives me pause. Houston is a massive economic center by nearly every measure. It is also home to the most diverse county and university in the US. There are large successful technology companies here. Yet, Detroit and Dallas (arch enemy of Houston) are getting TechStars before us.

Part of the reason we don't attract accelerators like TechStars is the lack of a healthy startup ecosystem. I am NOT saying that the well intentioned community organizers aren't working hard. It's just that most of the VC here goes to Oil & Gas projects. If your tech isn't energy related it won't hit the radar. The technology startup successes I've seen in my 30 or so years here were built inspite of a (nonexistent) local startup ecosystem. Lastly, 9 out of 10 great people I've worked with here have left to go places with more tech opportunity. The talent is voting with its feet. Frankly, I'm done too. I'm on the first airplane out of here once I get my feet under me. I'm sad that it has to be this way. Maybe if I make it rich I'll come back and invest.

edit: spelling

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#30

Post by jcastro »

valarauca1 wrote: post #21
dominotw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Detroit is the perfect place to build the robotics industry Why?

Mechanical and Technical engineering base of the city already exists. The automotive industry has already created a host of general consulting engineering companies specializing in everything from hydraulics to electronics to fluid flow is insane. One area of the city is literally known as "automation alley" due to the huge number of PLC controlled robots it produced in the 80's and 90's. The ideas of line automation…

Hey I judge at First every year! You're right that the amount of engineering prowess (and willingness to go into engineering) is really high, but for some reason the area is never mentioned among the heavyweights for some reason.

Oakland U also has (or had) a decent engineering program, no idea how it's coming along these days though.

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