DTX Launch Detroit accepting applications for student tech accelerator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 7, 2017
Contact:  Kristin Palm

DTX Launch Detroit accepting applications for student tech accelerator 

DTX Launch Detroit, a 10-week technology startup accelerator for Michigan college students and recent graduates, is accepting applications for summer 2017. The application period opened today and runs through April 22. Two information sessions will be held, on February 21 and March 21, from 6-8pm at TechTown, 440 Burroughs, Detroit.

DTX Launch covers all the fundamentals of launching a technology-based startup, including:

  • Designing, testing, and evaluating your value proposition
  • Finding the right product/market fit
  • Developing your business model canvas
  • Conducting customer discovery
  • Team building
  • Pitch coaching
The program follows the Lean Startup approach, a step-by-step business development method popularized by famed serial entrepreneurs Steve Blank and Bob Dorf. The curriculum is augmented with guest speakers, business coaches and mentors, and networking events with experienced entrepreneurs and tech start-up founders.

DTX Launch is open to undergraduate, graduate-level and recent graduates (within two years), from any Michigan college or university. Michigan residents attending college out of state are also eligible. Participants will receive a stipend of $2,500 per individual (up to $7,500 per team). The program culminates with a Showcase, featuring a pitch competition to potential strategic partners, advisers and investors, with awards for the top-ranked teams.

“DTX Launch Detroit is an intensive, real-world acceleration program,” says Betsy Reid Creedon, TechTown’s director of entrepreneurial services. “Whether our students leave the program ready to launch their business or take their knowledge on to their next venture, they learn, grow and build lasting relationships within Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem that help them advance in their education and their careers.”

Nearly 120 students from more than 20 colleges and universities have participated to date in DTX Launch, which is entering its fifth year. Select graduates have gone on to enter the TechTown Business Incubation Center, which provides up to 39 months of customized business support services.

Graduates of DTX Launch include:

  • Pro:Up, an app linking high school students to career and mentorship opportunities and winner of numerous funding competitions
  • CityInsight, which is working with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department on an app that tracks water usage
  • MySwimPro, a virtual swim coach recently named by Apple as the Apple Watch App of the Year
  • CarePRN, an app linking caregivers to qualified respite care;
  • EnBiologics, a team of Wayne State biomedical engineering students who are developing a veterinary hydrogel.

DTX Launch Detroit is a program of the Detroit Technology Exchange (DTX), a programmatic partnership between TechTown Detroit, the Detroit Creative Corridor Center, Grand Circus, the Henry Ford Innovation Institute, Invest Detroit, and NextEnergy, designed to recruit and groom talent for tech entrepreneurship opportunities and convert innovative technologies into Detroit-based startups. It is supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Michigan Strategic Fund, the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan and Bank of America.

To RSVP for the either info session, visit techtowndetroit.org/dtxinfo

To apply to DTX Launch Detroit, visit techtowndetroit.org/dtxapp

For more information, visit techtowndetroit.org/launchdetroit

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 TechTown is Detroit’s most established business accelerator and incubator, offering a full suite of entrepreneurial services for both tech and neighborhood enterprises. We help startup and established businesses develop, launch and grow, while strengthening and diversifying the local economy.