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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

#71

Post by Igglyboo »

emcrazyone wrote: post #70
Igglyboo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detroit has a ton of affluent residents within 30 minutes of the city that regularly venture down there for various sporting events, gambling, and other events like NAIAS. Getting them to actually move to the city is the problem. I live 30 minutes from detroit and come from an upper-middle class household.

and why would you? Detroit has problems picking up the trash, snow removal, and keeping the lights on. Who would pay taxes for no services coupled with the crime stats. See my post further up. I grew up 30 minutes in what many around here call the down river area (Riverview) and when I bought my first house, I went north. I'll happily pay more taxes for blue ribbon schools, trash pick up, snow removal, and be able to…

I wouldn't. But if those problems were alleviated I would in a heartbeat, I would love to live in a big city but do not want to move far from where I am now.

Also, the downtown area of Detroit is extremely nice and if the rest of it was even half as nice I would consider moving there.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#72

Post by heurist »

bluedino wrote: post #34
jusben1369 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the question is what makes for a good techhub/incubator. It seems to me embracing of a counter culture lifestyle is the key early differentiator. Certainly the Bay Area once had that. Austin. Seattle. Even Durham NC where I'm based now and is having a (relative) boom rose out of abandoned tobacco warehouses that could afford to support all types of people. I haven't been there in 8 years but I hear Detroit ha…

One thing that San Francisco has that somewhere like Detroit doesn't, is the affluent residents with the ability to sustain a service like Uber or startups such as food delivery. Those kind of services are viable to create a startup focused on in SF but not in Detroit.

Startups also don't have to be consumer-oriented, there are plenty of businesses in the midwest that need better tools and solutions than they have.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#73

Post by jasallen »

rezistik wrote: post #24
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.

If you worked at a start up in Detroit, you were defacto a part of the Gilbert Mafia. I don't say that disparagingly, Dan Gilbert crew have done great things for the city, but its a one shop town.

A2 lacks a Dan Gilbert to make all the things happen, but it has a much more vibrant, Bay-like share-and-share alike, encouraging, open start-up culture.

Plug for A2-NewTech, a start-up meetup I'm a huge fan of (I'm not affiliated, just a fan)

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#74

Post by avelis »

saryant wrote: post #33
ryanmarsh wrote: post #29

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…

I have to agree. I love Houston but I left it for San Antonio because the tech scene in SA was much more lively with Geekdom and Techstars. Though I'm now in Boulder I've been keeping in eye on SA and there's a lot of cool stuff going on there, plus the VC activity has really picked up—multiple $1+ million rounds have been announced or will be announced in the next few weeks.

I am a part of the young tech startups in SA and I would also suggest for anyone to come back or give it a look see. I transplanted from SF and find the playing field wide open for new opportunities.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#75

Post by Cyranix »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #29

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…

I'm a Rice University alumnus (Hanszen '07), and your sentiment definitely resonates with me. When I took my first programming job, I had two offers come in at the same time: one to stay in Houston and write Java code for pipeline scheduling, the other to head to Austin and work for a small crummy independent company. Houston has so much going for it, and if I had felt like a vibrant tech startup scene were present, I might have stayed. Instead, I left behind my entire friend group and taking a job that paid half of what the energy industry was offering, purely for the sake of better future opportunities.

I know there are some entrepreneurial efforts being made at my alma mater, but overall it feels like a huge missed opportunity. The business school is strongly walled off from the undergrad population, the excellent CS department tends toward the academic side (with rare exceptions like COMP 410/415 [1]), and personally I never saw much of an attempt on the part of the local tech scene to get students integrated. There is the Rice Alliance [2] but it isn't quite the same as an organic grassroots-y scene.

[1] http://www.bandgap.cs.rice.edu/classes/comp410/ [2] http://alliance.rice.edu/

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#76

Post by humanrebar »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #41
jusben1369 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the question is what makes for a good techhub/incubator. It seems to me embracing of a counter culture lifestyle is the key early differentiator. Certainly the Bay Area once had that. Austin. Seattle. Even Durham NC where I'm based now and is having a (relative) boom rose out of abandoned tobacco warehouses that could afford to support all types of people. I haven't been there in 8 years but I hear Detroit ha…

Oddly Houston has always been a wildcatter's town. People come here specifically to make money. I promise they're not here for the climate. People here are more entreprenurial than other places I've lived. People here have their own style of counter culture that more resembles a lack of f *s to give. Texans feel like they can do whatever they want. You'd think that would be great for business, and it is, the state an…

How do you explain the pushback against Uber then?

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#77

Post by CoachRufus87 »

humanrebar wrote: post #76
ryanmarsh wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly Houston has always been a wildcatter's town. People come here specifically to make money. I promise they're not here for the climate. People here are more entreprenurial than other places I've lived. People here have their own style of counter culture that more resembles a lack of f *s to give. Texans feel like they can do whatever they want. You'd think that would be great for business, and it is, the state an…

How do you explain the pushback against Uber then?

Fyi, San Francisco just sued Uber.

The interests of a business community don't necessarily reflect that of a local government.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#79

Post by mbesto »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #29

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…

I'm surprised there isn't more healthcare based startups (with underlying tech) in Houston. My understanding is that Houston is mostly Oil&Gas + Healthcare.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#80

Post by alexalex »

If true and successful, this would be huge for Detroit.

I once looked into the suitability of Detroit for a start-up. It seemed that professional services were generally not as interested in working with young companies as in the bay area. The availability of deferred legal, accounting, or other services was non-existent. Being in the bay area, my company has benefited greatly from having deferred legal work. I also worried about finding good advisers.

With Techstars there, it would definitely solve these problems for their awardees.

While there aren't a wealth of affluent, urban customers in the city, there would be great opportunities for consumer or educational startups that address problems for the base of the pyramid. Whole Foods opened a store in Detroit, and talked more about it in their last quarterly conference call than any other topic. Ostensibly, figuring out how to be successful in markets like Detroit is a huge opportunity for growth for them. Finally, the city of Detroit has neighborhoods that are young and affluent. Inventory is very limited, and rents in the highest profile areas are as high as most big cities -- think Lake Merritt in Oakland.

I really hope TechStars is successful there. Detroit is a place dear in my heart and not as scary as many think. I lived in SF's SOMA 10-ish years ago, and can say that I had way crazier stories and more dangerous moments than my mom, who has been working in Detroit Public Schools since her retirement.

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