

One Hand Clapping -- Entrepreneurship in Ann Arbor, Michigan - terrisv
http://steveblank.com/2011/04/07/one-hand-clapping-–-entrepreneurship-in-ann-arbor-michigan/

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forgotAgain
I understand the point that the writer makes but I don't understand the
negativity of the point of view.

Yes, from what he writes, there are holes in the entrepreneurial environment
in Ann Arbor. Members of that community must realize that or they wouldn't be
bringing in people from outside.

What I don't get is how after accepting payment to be an asset in helping fill
those holes he turns around and hits them with such a condescending post.

If you're being paid to be part of the solution then be part of the solution.
If for no other reason then throwing your clients under the bus has a way of
limiting future engagements.

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sblank
"Accepting payment..." "If you're being paid to be part of the solution then
be part of the solution." Funny. That's why most consultants tell the clients
what they want to hear.

If I took money for this I'd have lie as well.

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a2tech
As someone that is very active in the tech community here in Ann Arbor, I can
verify his claims. Ann Arbor (and south east Michigan as a whole) is not
lacking in extremely talented programmers, engineers, researchers, and other
potential startup candidates. Many of these people are incredibly passionate
and knowledgable about their fields.

However-there is almost a complete lack of startup funding. If someone
graduates from UofM and wants to launch a biomedical startup there is some
money to be had, but if you want to launch the next hot computer startup
you're out in the cold. There's next to no VC money and very little support
for a just starting company. Ann Arbor SPARK is there to offer some support,
but more certainly could be done.

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adamfeldman
I would love to answer anyone's questions about what's happening around the
University of Michigan and Ann Arbor, from a student's perspective!

I lead a project in MPowered, the student entrepreneurship org here at UM, I
study CS in the College of Engineering, am a regular A2NewTech attendee, and
am generally pretty familiar with the ecosystem here.

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ahi
The auto industry provides a further handicap to startups in Southeast
Michigan. Former auto company staff are everywhere, so their fucked up culture
seeps into every company and organization.

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a2tech
I can't really agree with you here. While there are many ex-
Ford/GM/Chrsyler/Visteon/etc guys out and about, many of them are running
their own quite successful businesses outside of the Big-3. I'm not saying
they're all out of the auto business, but they're running their own small
companies and generating serious revenue.

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dogprez
Regional graphs of venture capital for q4 2010, looks like there are worse
places to be than Michigan, but silicon valley it is not.

<https://www.pwcmoneytree.com/MTPublic/ns/nav.jsp?page=region>

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adamfeldman
More comments: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2419884>

