Kylee Guenther used to be so afraid of public speaking that she once hid behind her business development manager when a TV reporter approached her. As CEO of an advanced materials startup, however, she knew she needed to be a visible–and
Retail Bootcamp Graduate and Kickstart Award winner Ingrid Macon, owns the only pre-K through 12 educational retail center in the city of Detroit. After traveling to surrounding cities for years to purchase supplies for her classroom, this teacher turned CEO decided to attend Retail Boot Camp and open a store to fill the need. Click the link below to watch a video of Ingrid discuss her motivation behind Detroit Teachers’ Store and experience in Retail Boot Camp.
Design directly impacts the bottom line of the business, which directly connects to its ability to serve the community long-term. A business is rooted in its brand design, and each of the other design mediums speaks to each other – from the digital voice on social media, to the colors on the wall to the size of the table and the tabs on the website – to all directly to serve the customer. Which is why TechTown (has been or was) proud to collaborate with Design Core Detroit and its network of design professionals on creating the Design Guide for Neighborhood Business to help brick-and-mortar businesses, from pop-up to permanent, think about design for their business in an intentional way.
In 2017, a group of doctoral students from Wayne State University’s College of Engineering came together to create a nanosensor designed to detect contaminants in water. The company, Micro Buoy, was born during Erie Hack — a tech-driven international water innovation competition and accelerator program created by the Cleveland Water Alliance, in conjunction with numerous partners, including TechTown Detroit.
Marlo Rencher, the first Managing Director of TechTown, is returning with an important task ahead of her: to establish dedicated resources and more intentional strategies to increase engagement of women and minority tech entrepreneurs at TechTown, and throughout the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Detroit. With over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and marketing, Rencher has served as vice president for innovation, entrepreneurship and diversity at Cleary University and created their Founders Farm student incubator.
Fusion Flare Kitchen & Cocktails is the first full-service restaurant to open in the Joy community in almost 20 years. Located at located at 16801 Plymouth Rd., the restaurant features a fusion menu of cuisine from many cultures, including American and soul food. The lunch and dinner menu will offer a variety of meals including chicken Fusion Flare Chicken & Waffles, Catfish, and vegan and vegetarian options.
DTX Launch Detroit is offering college students and recent graduates the opportunity to get paid to work on their tech startup–and potentially win a grand prize of $15,000 for their business, courtesy of General Motors. The 10-week accelerator is accepting applications for summer 2019. Applications are open through April 5. The final information session will be held, on March 20, from 5:30-8pm at TechTown Detroit and will be live streamed on Facebook.
Rivers Realty, a family-owned full-service real estate brokerage company, has been a part of Detroit’s small business community for over 40 years. Founder Ron Rivers started his company after seeing a need in the black community for property managers and experts in the real estate industry. Ron’s daughter, Lauren Rivers, joined the business in 2014 as their managing broker. Today, Rivers Realty serves clients throughout Metro Detroit and has become a model for family business in the city.
Paul Riser Jr., the Managing Director of Technology-Based Entrepreneurship at TechTown Detroit, has been named the director of Detroit Urban Solutions. Detroit Urban Solutions is a consortium, founded by Wayne State, TechTown, NextEnergy and numerous other organizations, that will focus primarily on mobility, digital health, civic technologies and smart city technologies. Last May the consortium announced its first major in
“The greatest benefit from attending RBC has to be the ecosystem and all the resources that are available to us to help us open our business,” said Gary Mui, co-owner of Alma Kitchen. Opening soon in Jefferson Chalmers, Alma Kitchen is a fusion restaurant that will feature food blended from the owners’ Mexican and Chinese cultures. Co-owners Gary Mui and Alicia Sanchez named the restaurant Alma because it means “soul” in Spanish. They believe that food is a universal language, and theirs comes straight from the soul, which is why their space will welcome all generations and backgrounds.
Are you looking to launch a tech startup or move your retail business from a pop-up to a permanent space? TechTown’s long-standing Retail Boot Camp and DTX Launch Detroit programs have helped numerous businesses launch and succeed. Among the graduates are tech startups such as Peerstachio and MySwimPro, and retail businesses such as Urbanum and Live Cycle Delight. Apply now to one of the programs below to kickstart your business.
University of Michigan startup Peerstachio is changing the way college students find resources. Peerstachio is an online community connecting undergraduate students or high schoolers preparing to transition to college with upperclassmen for assistance with classwork or to talk about university life. During her first year as an international student in the Ross School of Business…
Kylee Guenther is the CEO of Spectalite, a woman-owned company that manufactures lightweight, sustainable bamboo fiber composite materials suitable for making products such as automotive interiors, houseware, consumer products and more. Working with Gerry Roston, an entrepreneur-in-residence in TechTown’s Labs program, she has gained critical support in preparing for the growth of her company. A…
Brix Wine & Charcuterie Boutique is a sophisticated wine bar located in Detroit’s East Jefferson neighborhood. After working in New York in the marketing industry, owner Mikiah Westbrooks returned to her hometown of Detroit to embark on her journey as an entrepreneur. With the help of various Detroit support programs including TechTown’s SWOT City program,…
Gary Wozniak founded RecoveryPark Farms (RPF) in 2013 to grow specialty produce on vacant Detroit land. Gary was raised in a farming community, and during his early 20s he struggled with drug abuse and ultimately served time in prison. In 1987 he became clean and sober and graduated from Self-Help Addiction Rehabilitation (SHAR) Inc., a…