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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

#81

Post by yesimahuman »

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…

Well, both San Antonio (Cloud) and Austin have TechStars programs. San Antonio's exist largely because of Rackspace, and Austin because the city is mature for a startup city. So, Houston either needs that large sponsor or organic growth, of which the former doesn't seem far fetched in the somewhat near term.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#82

Post by kgomez »

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.

+1 for SA! Thanks for your comments :)

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#83

Post by youssifa »

If you're a startup founder accepted into Detroit Tech Stars (or even a YC) who lives in a foreign country, there should be a policy in place to give you an accelerated visa to work / live in the US provided you base your startup out of Detroit. Could be a good policy experiment on urban renewal.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#84

Post by ryanmarsh »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #64
ryanmarsh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're agreeing with me. The tech startups that are successful here do so in spite of the ecosystem. We're missing whatever that seed is that gets a healthy community going that would feed on itself and create more successes and make us appeal to TechStars.

No, I think you're placing way too much emphasis on the "ecosystem." Again looking at Silicon Valley, there are exponentially more failures than successes even though it has the ecosystem that is the envy of the world.

I can't help but wonder how much you actually know about the history of Silicon Valley, Fairchild, and military funding.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#85

Post by calbear81 »

alexalex wrote: post #80

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…

Although I'm glad Whole Foods is in Midtown, it's not catered towards the "base of the pyramid". Every time I've been in there, the customers are primarily the hip newcomers who have moved to Midtown or folks from Oakland county coming in to catch an exhibit at the DIA or symphony. I would love to see development happen in the areas that need it more and not just in the rapidly gentrifying downtown core.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#86

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #84
7Figures2Commas wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think you're placing way too much emphasis on the "ecosystem." Again looking at Silicon Valley, there are exponentially more failures than successes even though it has the ecosystem that is the envy of the world.

I can't help but wonder how much you actually know about the history of Silicon Valley, Fairchild, and military funding.

I know people who lived here when Silicon Valley still had orchards and whose parents were employed by some of the early companies. Silicon Valley's history, however, has little relevance to the discussion at hand.

You seem absolutely convinced that entrepreneurs can't build successful companies without a certain kind of "ecosystem" in their city. It's simply not true, but please don't take my word for it.

If and when you leave Houston and come to an area with a great ecosystem, like the Bay Area, you'll soon discover that despite the ecosystem, there are tons of entrepreneurs and wantrapreneurs who aren't any better off. The only difference might be that instead of the excuses you've provided ("there's no ecosystem", "the investors don't invest in tech") you'll hear a different set of excuses ("I can't find a co-founder", "YC rejected me for the fifth time", "the VCs won't invest in my company").

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#87

Post by karpodiem »

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 live on Virginia Park St., just a couple blocks north of the Fisher building, between Second and Woodward (New Center). I grew up in Troy, MI - went to school at UofM. Hometown guy, I've seen a good portion of the metropolitan area.

You are spot-on; until it's safe to raise a family in Detroit (which, based on the lead and heavy metals residing in the soil from the torn down structures, this may never happen) I can't see myself raising a family in the city. I'll be moving to the suburbs, if I'm still living Detroit.

D3 and Loveland are doing a great job documenting the upcoming housing apocalypse - and I don't care how geneous the city gets with payment terms to the debtors, if there is no present or future income to service the debt, it's game over.

For as much building as going on in Midtown/Downtown along with the new entertainment megaplex that Illitch is constructing, there is a two factorial amount that's decaying in concrete/wood/basic raw building materials, because there is zero disposable resident income to upkeep the property.

The city will have to decompose fully to thrive. I've sometimes played with with the idea in my head to split Detroit into three or four separate cities (to help certain portions thrive), but this of course would be politically untenable.

ps - See the 'Detroit by Air' article from a few days ago.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#88

Post by karpodiem »

valarauca1 wrote: post #52
phkahler wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I've been told that the suburbs immediately outside Detroit city limits are rich as Croesus. Yup. Oakland County was once the 4th richest county in the US. Michigan leads the nation in families with second homes. Everyone around here has a second home (cottage, cabin, etc) on a lake from 1-3 hour drive away. OK, not everyone. Part of it is that there are so many lakes that they're relatively cheap. I even knew a g…

Northern Michigan (extreme north) is dirt cheap. Yes your looking at a 8+ hour drive to get there, but excellent winter sports, and out doors stuff.

What? What are you start/end points?

Northern suburbs (Royal Oak) to Traverse City is 4.5 hours.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#89

Post by drawkbox »

Happy for Detroit, I think there is a responsibility of tech leaders to get this throughout our nation not concentrate it, no single point of failure, plus more input from different areas means better products + systems which are more robust.

However, when is someone going to setup in Phoenix (Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe)? Huge market, short flight to CA, always overlooked. Gangplank (web/app/product), Game Co-lab (games) co-working locations + ASU are doing a good job for startups but it would be awesome for more investment here, fairly untapped and a blue ocean in the desert where we have to stay indoors working most of the time anyways.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#90

Post by phkahler »

jcastro wrote: post #30
valarauca1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

OU is still hosting the annual AUVS intelligent ground vehicle competition - autonomous vehicles. My team took 2nd place back in 1994. Yeah Google, we've been doing that stuff for 21 years. They're also building another engineering building.
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