FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 15, 2018
Contact: Kristin Palm
Phone: (313) 483-1326
Email: kpalm@wayne.edu

DTX Launch Detroit accepting applications for summer tech accelerator
Students can win $10,000 grand prize for their business idea

DTX Launch Detroit, a 10-week technology startup accelerator for Michigan college students and recent graduates, is accepting applications for summer 2018. Applications are open through April 6. Two information sessions will be held, on February 20 and March 22, 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. New this year, one team will receive a $10,000 grand prize courtesy of General Motors.

“DTX Launch Detroit is an ideal program for students who want to test their tech business idea while fostering relationships within the Detroit entrepreneur community,” says Betsy Reid Creedon, TechTown’s director of entrepreneurial services. “Our students gain real-world experience that helps them launch their business or take their knowledge on to their next venture.”

Nearly 160 students from 24 colleges and universities have participated to date in DTX Launch, which is entering its sixth year. Select graduates have gone on to enter the TechTown Business Incubation Center, which provides customized business support services.

Graduates of DTX Launch include:

• MySwimPro, a virtual swim coach recently named by Apple as the Apple Watch App of the Year
• Pro:Up, an app linking high school students to career and mentorship opportunities and winner of numerous funding competitions
• CityInsight, a company that provides real-time technology to help municipal governments streamline their operations and improve communication with their customers. The company recently developed the Detroit Water and Sewage Department’s online/mobile Customer Care Portal.
• CarePRN, a website and mobile smartphone app that enables families to find local, licensed, and background-checked home care providers on demand in Southeast Michigan.
• 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, Bank of America, LEAR Corporation and General Motors.

To RSVP for either info session, visit techtowndetroit.org/dtxinfo
For more information, visit https://techtowndetroit.org/dtx/

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TechTown is Detroit’s entrepreneurship hub, with a full suite of programs for both tech and neighborhood small businesses. TechTown works with businesses at all stages, helping startup, emerging and established companies develop, launch and grow.