

Detroit Startup List - growdetroit
http://www.growdetroit.com/detroit-startup-list/
Grown in the D is an up-to-date Detroit Startup List, curated by Grow Detroit. We were inspired to create this list after seeing the efforts of NYTM (and their list of New York startups).
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joem32
Since everyone is an expert on Detroit, I guess we might just as well put a
fence up around the place, turn off the lights, and stick a fork in it.

In reality, Detroit (proper) has lots of work to be done, there is no denying
it. There are lots of rough neighborhoods, and places that need hard work. And
yes, there are areas that you just dont travel at night, but thats a reality
common with MANY big cities like Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.
Funny thing is, each of the aforementioned has either a strong startup
community, or one that is rapidly up and coming. Facts are, there are many
substantial efforts and investments currently in play that are making dramatic
improvements in the overall quality of the city. Of all places, I'd think that
the population that makes up HN would understand resurgence, potential, and
free-market capitalism, but that's obviously not the case, as each is alive
and well in the city of Detroit and the greater Detroit Region.

Sure, you can argue that the political climate remains sullied. But it's
better, and those who've done wrong have such a target on their head, they
dare not push the limits.

Here is the biggest take away that others have hit on... Detroit is a region,
and Detroit is a big part of Michigan. It's our center of commerce and it was
once the most innovation rich region in the world.

To make a geographic comparison... When we think of Massachusetts, most just
assume a person or company is from Boston. When someone says they are from the
"Valley" they could be from San Jose, San Francisco, Palo Alto, or Mountain
View... etc. Each represent geographic areas much larger than the actual town
or city they are from. And the same goes for "Detroit, as you can be from Ann
Arbor, Rochester, Downtown Detroit, Birmingham, Royal Oak, or wherever. For a
very long time, each community within Michigan has become siloed with a
provincial mentality, its a waste, and we've got no place for it any more.
Silo us all you want from the outside looking in, but we'll do and make
reference as we please from the inside out.

I believe that the entire Detroit region is ripe with potential, and I'll
continue to take advantage of that potential to the fullest extent that I can.
And I'll say to those of you who doubt Detroit, go ahead and keep at it. Leave
the great and growing resources to those of us who care to make a difference.

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BallinBige
Well said - I think all of these startups have clients, customers, investors,
mentors "in Detroit" as well.

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tuebor
Over 100 companies have presented at the Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup (mostly
from Ann Arbor, but we try to have some representation from the greater
Detroit metro area): <http://a2newtech.org>

There've been several exits (AtD bought by Automattic, Mobiata bought by
Expedia, GiftZip bought by SVM, etc.), many venture deals (Livio Radio, Duo
Security, Benzinga, Life Magnetics, Shepard Intelligent Systems, Deep Field
Networks, Scoutforce, Own, Zferral, Are You A Human, etc.), and maybe a
smaller deadpool than you'd expect for the amount of activity here.

Join the meetup, and check out the 2-3 events held by any of 60+ geek groups
in Ann Arbor every day: <http://a2geeks.org> <http://www.a2techevents.com>

Also, all are welcome to join us Oct 28 for the Halloween edition of our
weekly <http://TechBrewery.org> Beer:30 startup social hour (wear a costume)!
We'll have food, drinks, and music sponsored by LanguageMate, who recently
arrived here. :-)

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rmason
These are baby steps for Detroit but they're important ones. I know it doesn't
fit the template you see in the press with the pictures of wrecked buildings,
but what you don't see covered in the press is the tremendous amount of talent
in the city and surrounding area. It's hard to understand from the outside but
these people want to be there.

I know a few of the startups on that list and they're run by people that just
as easily could succeed anywhere. I do hope that Alex Southern's work acts as
a counterpoint to peoples view of the other Detroit.

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jonbischke
Cool that someone is doing this. I was in Detroit a month ago and during my
time there I met with many of the founders of these companies. I was impressed
with the energy and the strong belief in turning Detroit around. I summarized
my time there in this article which was published in TechCrunch:

[http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/23/motor-city-mojo-the-
startup...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/23/motor-city-mojo-the-startup-
renaissance-in-detroit/)

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steiza
For the hackers on this thread in South East Michigan, there's a Ann Arbor
CoffeeHouseCoders meetup tomorrow: <http://www.meetup.com/coffeehousecoders/>

It's a great way to meet the other area hackers and hear what other people are
working on.

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rick888
This list is misleading.

over half are from the Ann Arbor area and a few are in California (and other
states) with a few remote offices in Ann Arbor.

They really should be pushing for Ann Arbor to be a tech center, not Detroit.

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nbashaw
I don't think it's misleading at all. Here's a direct quote from the page:

"While we focus on the Metro Detroit area, we do include entries from
throughout the entire state of Michigan. For us it’s about the cause, not
about drawing lines in the sand."

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growdetroit
Glad at least one person reads the page in it's entirety ;) But I'm also glad
the thread could fuel some healthy debate.

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WA
Some links in the list are broken, because they use relative paths instead of
absolute paths, for instance: [http://www.growdetroit.com/detroit-startup-
list/www.macupdat...](http://www.growdetroit.com/detroit-startup-
list/www.macupdate.com)

~~~
growdetroit
Fixed, thanks.

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scottmcleod
Were looking for a founder for a college related application. Have investors,
pre-beta list growing, designs done, and developers lined up. Contact
me@scott-mcleod.com

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SkyMarshal
Sounds like you've already done most of the founding. You sure you need
another one?

