
Why I love the Detroit startup scene - rmason
https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/20/why-i-love-the-detroit-startup-scene/
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valarauca1
This is a great PR piece.

Most _Detroit Startups_ are actually just subsidiaries of Dan Gilbert's
Quicken Loans. I've interviewed at least 2 of these _startups_ where the
compensation conversation ends up turning into. "Oh there is no CAP table. No
shares to vest. We're wholly owned by Quicken Loans."

You are literally just being give an open office, Free coffee, stupid tight
deadlines, and next to no budget. To shove a product out the door. You still
have a series B, C etc. (kind of). It's you meeting determined deadlines and
metrics determined by Quicken Loans to keep the _startup_ afloat.

This isn't founders _joining_ an incubator. This is Quicken Loans spinning off
a shell company and 2-3 managers leaving Quicken to hire 6-7 fresh faced
college kids with 3-5million in runway to do a _project_.

\---

Not to say there aren't _real_ startups in Detroit. There are. Just _most_
listed in this in the OP are literally Dan Gilbert's pet projects.

~~~
CrazyCatDog
Thank you for your candor.

I spent the last week in Ann Arbor (Boulder native + 17 years in CA, 2 in
Seattle, +2 in the "silicon slopes." It's quiet here.

The youngs don't seem to know yet that they can create (ridiculous) value on
their own.

If I'm missing something, e.g. if there is a strong angel group in A2 or
Detroit, please drop me a note, I'm moving here and I'd love to join. (Yes
I've seen the umich entrepreneurship efforts; winning school purses does not
count)

I'm bringing with me some anti-Incubator technology from out west. As in, I
offer no money, I take no equity, and after 15 weeks of weekly 7am CEO
meetings, you'll be convinced of 5 things:

(1) No old (or "successful" entrepreneur) can solve your problems for you

(2) Your peers are an amazing resource

(3) You are the greatest impediment to your progress

(4) You already know everything you need to know to start creating value, and
you don't need a check to get started (unless you're curing cancer or doing
similarly real science)

(5) Andy Groves and Larry Ellison (v1) knew a thing or two about management

I'll be launching an A2 cohort (unaffiliated with umich), an East Lansing
cohort (possibly in conjunction with MSU), and potentially a Detroit cohort
this Fall. If this sounds at all interesting, please drop me a note, I'd love
to chat and I'd be happy to share metrics from earlier cohorts...Time to test
out the model on Michigan--or vice-versa!

~~~
meddlepal
Larry Ellison v1... How many versions of Larry Ellison are there heh?

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encoderer
"There’s a hidden diamond in the Midwest that contains an economy larger than
California. Chicago to Detroit, down through Cleveland to Pittsburgh, bending
through Columbus to Cincinnati, and coming full circle through Indianapolis
back to Chicago."

Anybody have any info on this? Seems suspect to me. If you add large metro
areas in that area, it looks to be around 25 million people. I'm sure there is
a lot of manufacturing but this has to be BS right? I grew up in the middle of
that diamond, and now live in the Bay Area, and I just cannot make sense of
this.

~~~
valarauca1
They're effectively comparing the entire Rust Belt... A nontrivial land
mass... 5 whole states to 1.

~~~
Armisael16
California's a pretty damn big state. The total area of those five states is
only ~70% more than California, and that's counting all the central and
northern bits of Michigan that definitely aren't part of this, and eastern PA.

~~~
dredmorbius
California is a big, but generally unpopulated state.

Approaching 40 million, that population is divided, generally, as: half in the
Los Angeles - San Diego region, half the remainder in the San Francisco - San
Jose region, half the remainder (5 million) between Sacramento and Stockton,
and the remaining 5 million throughout the rest of the state, _mostly_ still
within the southern Central Valley (particularly Bakersfield).

See: counties by population, showing 23 counties of fewer than 100k
population. Over half the state's population is in 5-6 counties: Los Angeles,
San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Santa Clara.

[https://www.california-
demographics.com/counties_by_populati...](https://www.california-
demographics.com/counties_by_population)

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segmondy
I'm in Detroit area, Oakland county and do like to link up with fellow folks
from the area. I'm an IT guy and have worn many hats, Unix admin, DBA,
security engineer, developer and I'm currently an engineering manager. I'm​
happy to help and make things happen. Reachable via segmond at gmail.

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shimon
"Google got its seed funding as research out of the University of Michigan."
\-- what does this refer to?

~~~
maxerickson
I imagine it is just confusion (Page went to school at Michigan but Google
happened while he was doing his PhD at Stanford).

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jordache
This article is such filler material. The quality of life in metro Detroit is
horrible compared to the Bay Area, SLC, or Denver/Boulder.

Sure the type of work singularly may attract some people from out of state.
What else does it Detroit have going for it?

~~~
sampl
> The quality of life in metro Detroit is horrible compared to the Bay Area

I don't know about that... I pay less than 1200 for my own apartment in a
literal mansion in downtown Ann Arbor--11ft ceilings, marble fireplace, etc.
My friends are UM grad students and staff, I walk five minutes to work at my
job at a YC company's HQ, shop at a local food coop across the street, fly
anywhere out of DTW, and spend my free time boating on the river that's a 10m
walk from my front door.

Can you do that in SF?

~~~
renownedmedia
Ann Arbor is not Detroit.

~~~
__derek__
It is effectively (if not technically) Metro Detroit, though, which is the
phrase that GP used.

~~~
vinay427
Only in a limited definition of effective metro areas. There is a swath of
extremely low population agricultural land that you must travel through to get
from Ann Arbor to towns like Canton which are clearly in the Detroit metro. By
some definitions, this would place Ann Arbor in its own metro. Another
interesting factor would be the commuting ties between the areas.

~~~
__derek__
> By some definitions, this would place Ann Arbor in its own metro.

This is why I added my parenthetical. I lived in Ann Arbor for several years,
so I'm familiar with the area.

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inputcoffee
I applaud this spirit, but can every city turn itself around by becoming a
version of SV?

Possible responses:

1\. Yes

2\. No, but that is not what this is

3\. No, but this once can

4\. No, this will fail or succeed for different reasons

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FreedomToCreate
Surprised that there is no mention of the 6 million people who also just live
within 4 hours north of Detroit (corridor leading up to Toronto) and the
opportunities available there (and greatly leveraged by the auto industry).

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jamesxxoo
haha

