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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

#91

Post by jerf »

valarauca1 wrote: post #51
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been told that the suburbs immediately outside Detroit city limits are rich as Croesus.

Bloomfield is nowhere near the city limits. Its a suburb. Detroit is all about the suburban sprawl. Its total area is massive. I think we're at about 200 miles east/west 250 miles north/south. Its gotten to the point that some suburbs are big enough to develop their own suburbs. Notable Troy, South-field, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Sterlining Heights. These started out as satellite cities to Detroit, but since Detroit sub…

The thought has crossed my mind more than once that while Detroit may well pull out and survive that it will be a very long time before it leads the area again, because in the meantime a lot of the surrounding area has learned how to survive and even thrive again without Detroit qua Detroit. On a long enough timescale its geographical positioning theoretically gives it an edge (Ann Arbor will simply never have a port, for instance, Southfield can't have an international border without a lot crazier things than the collapse of Detroit happening), but that might be a while before it dominates.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#92

Post by jerf »

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.

"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."

On the other hand, one thing Detroit has that San Francisco doesn't have (or at least not to the same extent) is ready access to a lot of industry, especially automotive (even now), and the recovering Midwestern manufacturing base, in Michigan, easy access to Toledo, and feasible driving to several other industrial cities. If Detroit doesn't produce the next WhatsApp I'd guess it would be because the attraction of more business/industrial opportunities would be too great to ignore.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#93

Post by ryanmarsh »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #86
ryanmarsh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 whe…

You are projecting. I am under no such illusion. I've lived and worked in the Bay Area at startups and in Houston, Austin, and Chicago at startups. I'm not saying the ecosystem is the constraint on entrepreneurial success. I'm saying there's something that would attract TechStars and Houston is missing it. My guess is community. I assert that ecosystem helps more than you appreciate.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#94

Post by marksc »

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.

The fastest growing tech startup in the Midwest in 2013 and 2014 was and is in A2 (Duo Security). We have multiple Google Ventures, True Ventures, Resonant Venture, etc. startups. We have the Tech Brewery, A2 New Tech, SPARK, Tech Arb, etc.

Barracuda Networks was started here. Google's Michigan office is here. One of the top 5 public universities in the world is all around us.

I can't imagine why anyone on HN would drive from Ann Arbor to Detroit for work when there are much better and higher paying prospects right here in A2.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#95

Post by rezistik »

jasallen wrote: post #73
rezistik wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 aff…

I'll have to check out A2-NewTech. It's awesome to know I've been wrong about my (new) home town.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#96

Post by rezistik »

bruceb wrote: post #69

There is already at least one accelerator in Detroit. http://bizdom.com/ It is partially funded by the Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans. He also owns the Cleveland Cavilers and partial funds same thing in Cleveland. Detroit is cheap compared to SF but actually downtown is filling up, rents are not as cheap as you might think.

He's also invested in Detroit Venture Partners

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#98

Post by jusben1369 »

jerf wrote: post #92
bluedino wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"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." On the other hand, one thing Detroit has that San Francisco doesn't have (or at least not to the same extent) is ready access to a lot of industry, especially automotive (even now), and the recovering Midwestern manufacturing base, in Mich…

I think these are both great points. San Francisco seems well suited to launching consumer/mobile focused startups. The risk is we assume those are the only types of startups that need launching due to gravitational pull of all things Bay Area. But there are exciting new opportunities in drones/electric transport/manufacturing that a place like Detroit with much cheaper real estate and a different type of local skill set could excel at.

Re: Techstars to open up shop in Detroit

#99

Post by rezistik »

marksc wrote: post #94
rezistik wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The fastest growing tech startup in the Midwest in 2013 and 2014 was and is in A2 (Duo Security). We have multiple Google Ventures, True Ventures, Resonant Venture, etc. startups. We have the Tech Brewery, A2 New Tech, SPARK, Tech Arb, etc. Barracuda Networks was started here. Google's Michigan office is here. One of the top 5 public universities in the world is all around us. I can't imagine why anyone on HN would d…

I was living in the Detroit suburbs at the time, to be honest the team I was working with was amazing enough that I'd gladly do the drive to work with them again.
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