Innovation & Job News

GSTV, the downtown Birmingham-based company that brought us TVs on gas pumps, is expanding into the mobile space with its new spinoff, Dmedia.

Dmedia will serve as a sister company of GSTV (formerly Gas Station TV), providing a built-in marketing partner to reach consumers and drive app interaction. The spin-off got started last fall with a handful of GSTV employees eager to take on the mobile space, leveraging their media experiences, technology and previous client relations.

"GSTV is the support system," says Carly Gordon, director of business operations for Dmedia. "It's the spark that helped us get started in the mobile space."

Dmedia currently has a staff of five people and expects to grow this year. It currently has four job openings: for director of business development, communications professionals, and web developers. It is currently working on making three custom apps for businesses. The apps under construction include,:BigNoiz (a local music and concert discovery app), Chitney (a customizable offer delivery platform) and gogo (a location-aware point of interaction app).

"Right now the long-term plan is to do these three apps really well and take that to the next level," Gordon says. "We want to grow with them."

Source: Carly Gordon, director of business operations for Dmedia
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Gongos continues its 22-year tradition of steady growth, expanding its operations with a new division this year, despite taking a serious blow.

The Auburn Hills-based market research firm is launching O2 Integrated, a division of the company that it's billing as "a consultative unit dedicated to fusing enterprise data and primary research to reshape customer-centric decision making for Global 1000 companies." Put simply, O2 Integrated is Gongos' plunge into data analytics marketing. The difference, Gongos president & CEO Camille Nicita points out, is O2 Integrated helps its clients see through the plethora of white noise in the growing world of information.

"We see it as decision intelligence versus big data," Nicita says.

Gongos, formerly Gongos Research, itself has grown over the last, expanding its revenues by 4 percent and hiring eight new people. That number isn't as high as Gongos' normal growth gains but it's also the number that followed after its founder, CEO and driving force, John Gongos, died suddenly of metastatic melanoma at age 51 last summer.

But the company is rallying. It now has a staff of 108 people and is getting ready to welcome seven new interns this summer. Nicita expects O2 Integrated to continue to drive the company's continued growth this year and beyond.

"We feel O2 Integrated is a huge opportunity for talent expansion," Nicita says.

Source: Camille Nicita, president & CEO of Gongos
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

When Nathan Oakes launched his energy and mechanical services firm Range Gen two years ago, he looked at only one space to base it out of, the Macomb-OU INCubator.

The Sterling Heights-based incubator helps companies and organizations with large automotive fleets become more fuel efficient and operate in a more optimal manner. The Macomb-OU INCubator's deep contacts and resources in Metro Detroit's defense and homeland security sectors provided the prime platform for Range Gen's launch. The company is now preparing for a significant scale-up this year.

"It is really in a class of its own," says Oakes, president & CEO of Range Gen. "There isn't one organization that is doing the type of work that is being done at the Macomb-OU INCubator."

Range Gen now employs 14 people and is getting ready to welcome a handful of interns (its first batch) this spring from Oakland University. It has hired 10 people in the last year and expects that number to grow exponentially in 2013.

"We are turning the corner, so to speak," Oakes says. "With Diesel at $4.15 a gallon, our services are in high demand. ... We are growing pretty quickly. We believe in the next 100 days we will have 200 bodies (120 permanent jobs, 80 temporary positions). We are close to signing a couple of big clients."

Source: Nathan Oakes, president & CEO of Range Gen
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Lady Jane's has grown up from its humble beginnings in St. Clair Shores seven years ago and now has its sights set on becoming a national brand for hair cuts.

"Our growth has been pretty brisk," says Tim McCollum, president & COO of Lady Jane's. "Last year we opened 13 new stores."

The Troy-based business bills itself as the place for haircuts for men and now has 43 company-owned locations in seven states. Its four most recent openings are in Michigan (two stores), Ohio and North Carolina. It is planning 10 new stores this year and hopes to be in every state within the next decade.

McCollum plans to slow down the company's overall growth this year so it can better focus on its core product and creating efficiencies in the business. The firm currently has 20 employees at its corporate headquarters after hiring seven in the last year. Each retail location has a staff of 20-30 people.

"If it's just growth, growth, growth and you don't focus on the product, you can become obsolete pretty quick," McCollum says.

Source: Tim McCollum, president & COO of Lady Jane's
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Four friends worked in the marketing world of Metro Detroit's automotive sector for years and years and then decided they wanted something more. So they started Driven Ferndale eight years ago and haven't looked back.

"We saw the need to break off and build a better mouse trap," says Kevin Woods, one of the co-founders and COO of Driven Ferndale.

The Ferndale-based business prides itself on being a boutique marketing agency with the capability of doing the big things that the major players do. Its secret sauce is its nimbleness and creativity, which has allowed it to grow its bottom line by 20 percent this year. The company has also hired four people over the last 12 months, expanding its staff to 20 employees and three interns.

"We have been taking on bigger agencies more effectively," Woods says, comparing his small business to a local credit union taking on a national bank.

Driven Ferndale has done that well in 2012, signing a few national accounts, including Super Stroke, a putter grip for golfers. Woods expects his company to continue to sign more clients with a national reach this year, which should help his firm double its business.

Source: Kevin Woods, COO of Driven Ferndale
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Adela Piper and Lindsey Walenda knew they were going to be choosy when they launched their public relations firm Siren PR. Those sorts of high standards are a cornerstone of their business plan.

The friend had worked for years in communications for OLHSA, one of Oakland County's largest non-profits. They struck out on their own last year and now OLSHA is one of their top clients. The core missions of their small business/non-profit clients motivate Piper and Walenda.

"We get exceptionally invested in our clients," Piper says. "We take care to make sure we work with clients that do very good work. What we choose to get behind is something we have been very careful when choosing."

The two person-company works virtually from the co-founders' homes in Royal Oak. Piper and Walenda are looking to grow their client base, carefully of course, this year and find the right live-work balance.

"We want to have clients that get us motivated to work everyday but still give us time to live our lives," Piper says.

Source: Adela Piper, co-founder of Siren PR
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

GSTV is fleshing out both its presence in major advertising markets across North America and its staff in downtown Birmingham.

The nearly 7-year-old company has added 12 positions to its workforce, expanding its staff to 60 employees and a couple of summer interns. It has more than a dozen open jobs now for positions in sales, marketing, business development, human resources and software development.

"We have gotten very busy in terms of hiring," says David Leider, CEO of GSTV. "We needed to hire a recruiter to handle it. We have 15 positions open now."

GSTV, formerly Gas Station TV, is the company that puts the TVs on top of gas station pumps. The screens flash news, weather forecasts and commercials during a couple of minutes when motorists are paused in their commute and looking for something to focus on.

The concept has taken off. GSTV is now in 1,900 gas stations across the nation, collecting 39 million monthly viewers. That's up from 1,300 stations. GSTV is in 36 states and every major media market in North America, doubling its presence in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. It expects to continue fleshing out its presence in 2013.

"We continue to grow quickly," Leider says. "By April we will have 2,000 stations and 40 million monthly viewers all over the country."

Source: David Leider, CEO of GSTV
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

RedViking has a mission to bring high-end engineering work back to the U.S., and it's accomplishing that by creating more jobs in Plymouth.

The wholly owned subsidiary of Superior Controls has been working to build out turn-key capital equipment that performs testing on powertrain systems. It designs and builds highly engineered testing systems primarily for the automotive, aerospace and defense industries.

"This work has been outsourced to other countries, primarily Europe," says Greg Cameron, vice president of sales for RedViking.

That has worked in the company's first five years. It now employs 110 people, including 80 in Plymouth. It has hired 10 people over the last year and has another 10 open positions right now. The company's main operations are in Plymouth but it also has a Research Triangle Engineering Center in North Carolina, along with a bevy of other remote offices across the U.S. It recently opened a new office in Texas last month.

"We probably could have hired more if we could find them," Cameron says. "Engineering talent is surprisingly hard to find lately."

Source: Greg Cameron, vice president of sales for RedViking
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Coil Group, a combination marketing and mobile app firm, is sinking roots in downtown Rochester.

The 10-month-old company was working from coffee shops and home offices of its founders, Jim Brown and Jon Pielak, in Rochester until it scored a small office in the city's central business district. Brown and Pielak have been looking at office space in downtown Royal Oak and Detroit but choose Rochester because of the dynamic downtown and easy access to free parking.

"The downtown is vibrant," says Brown, president of Coil Group. "There are lots of great restaurants and coffee shops. We thought the small urban setting would be great for people who would want to work for us."

The Coil Group specializes in providing both mobile apps and traditional marketing services to mid-size businesses. The company's bread and butter is having expertise in both niches. A small mobile app start-up might not have marketing expertise, or a marketing firm might be lacking in mobile app knowledge.

That business plan has allowed the Coil Group to grow to 10 people and it is looking at adding interns this summer. It has experienced most of its early growth from word-of-mouth referrals from some of its first projects.

"We have built a network of relationships across the state of Michigan," Brown says. "That has opened a lot of doors. A lot of people have embraced us."

Source: Jim Brown, president of Coil Group
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Buz.fm has landed a $100,000 investment from the Automation Alley Pre-Seed Fund, the first investment in a Series A round the company hopes will total between $1 million and $5 million.

The Orion Township-based tech start-up specializes in developing social media, digital marketing and advertising technologies. The 1-year-old firm provides Internet-based services and products in the advertising and promotion sectors. Its cloud-based applications deliver thousands of digital marketing and advertising campaigns to customers in a variety of industries including restaurants, resorts, hotels, auto dealerships and the entertainment industry, among others.

Buz.fm employs 14 people and is interviewing interns for this summer. It currently has five positions open for software developers (two) and marketing technologists (three).

"We have grown a lot," says Stephen Sadler, CEO & president of Buz.fm. "It happened faster than we thought. I have never seen something grow this quickly."

Buz.fm spun out of Scate Technologies, a software development company, two years ago in September. Sadler hopes to continue the company's current growth streak and lock down its Series A funding round within the next 6-8 weeks.

"The sky is the limit, really," Sadler says.

Source: Stephen Sadler, CEO & president of Buz.fm
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Southfield-based eFund Insurance has grown quickly in its first two years.

The company has doubled its staff to 22 people and the occasional intern. That growth prompted eFund Insurance to move to a new office with 4,000 square feet of space to accomodate its new hires.

"Our goal is to hire 150 positions," says David Hannah, managing partner of eFund Insurance. "We currently have 24 open sales positions."

The firm has achieved that growth by solidifying its position in the marketplace. The company offers a one-stop shop for insurance needs, selling health and life insurance, among other products. It is now in 15 states and has watched its revenue go from $1.16 million in 2011 to $1.68 million last year, a 50-percent jump.

Hannah expects eFund Insurance to hit $3 million in sales this year and expand to a staff of more than 40 people.

Source: David Hannah, managing partner of eFund Insurance
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

High Bit Security's bread and butter is IT security, but the Rochester-based firm is making its product offerings heat up by focusing more of its attention on sales and marketing.

The 3-year-old firm specializes in IT Security Testing (Penetration Testing), Social Engineering, and obtaining and maintaining PCI-DSS or PA-DSS compliance. It has recently focused on its sales and marketing efforts, adding a full-time staffer to handle that part of the company.

"A good part of the last year was spent getting that part of the business online and working," says Adam Goslin, COO of High Bit Security.

The idea is to bolster the sales and create some internal efficiencies. That has led to a freshly relaunched website and a constant drum beat of press releases going out each month. That work has set the stage for the company to hit some significant growth goals this year.

"This coming year looks to be quite positive for High Bit Security," Goslin says. "That's because of the investment we have put into our sales presence."

Source: Adam Goslin, COO of High Bit Security
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Future Help Designs is gearing up to take a big step into the education realm, partnering with a large mobile training company, Mobile Comply, to roll out a mobile development education course in mid-March.

"Their expertise is in training mobility, and ours is in mobile technology," says Glen Konopaskie, president of Future Help Designs. "We're partnering with them equally. They will help us rebuild our developer training course."

Future Help Designs was an early adopter to the mobile world, launching its business creating apps four years ago. It has expanded into software development education in recent years, a move that has provided significant returns for the firm. It's planning on launching a new educational platform on a national scale later this year.

"That will launch an aggressive push into education for our agency," Konopaskie says.

Future Help Designs moved to downtown Pontiac a little more than a year ago, taking an active part in the city's rebirth. Its staff has been in flux over that time as demand for mobile developers has skyrocketed and more and more programmers are launching their own start-ups. Future Help Designs has hired four people (mostly replacement positions) since moving to downtown Pontiac and is bringing on a new intern this spring.

"That intern will hopefully turn into No. 5," Konopaskie says. "He has some high potential."

Source: Glen Konopaskie, president of Future Help Designs
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Marvel Technologies is leveraging some large projects to continue its substantial growth.

The Novi-based IT firm has hired 35 people over the last year, expanding its staff to nearly 90 people and the occasional intern. It currently has 10 job openings right now, for everything from a sales associate to director of IT. The company, founded in 2006, expects its staff to pass the 200 mark within the next year.

"I want to double that this year," says Bala Rajaraman, president & CEO of Marvel Technologies. "If we keep hiring at this pace it shouldn't be hard."

Marvel Technologies has created two new SAP products. CompEz is a compensation-planning solution for use with SAP applications that provides add-on capabilities to the SAP ERP Human Capital Management application. FormsEz 1.0 provides SAP-certified integration with the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. It helps customers become more sustainable by reducing the need and use of paper and enables enterprises to develop, manage and process electronic forms dynamically with speed and accuracy.

Those products have helped the company hit 70-percent revenue growth in 2012. The staff and its technology has also been supporting some major local projects, including General Motors' implementation of IBM technology.

"The last couple of years we have had big, big growth," Rajaraman says.

Source: Bala Rajaraman, president & CEO of Marvel Technologies
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Lakeshore Express Aviation is opening up a service route from Oakland County International Airport in Waterford starting in June.

The Chicago-based airline will offer direct flights between Chicago's Midway Airport and Oakland County Airport. The first set of flights will consist of four roundtrips per week. The 2-year-old airline is looking forward to expanding those services quickly after opening this summer.

"We want to offer regularly scheduled flights every day of the week," says Greg Stallkamp, CEO of Lakeshore Express Aviation.

Lakeshore Express Aviation will offer upscale flights on its newly refurbished aircraft. The flights will offer first-class legroom for all passengers, free snacks and cocktails, as well as a bags-fly-free policy, in accordance with weight restrictions.

The airline will also enable passengers to travel from private terminals on the grounds of major airports, avoiding the chaos, confusion, and congestion related to commercial air travel. The private terminals are intended to enable check-in and security screening in less than one minute while also providing free parking steps from the terminal door.

When asked why Oakland County Airport, Stallkamp answered, "location. Absolutely No. 1. It's a lot easier than Metro."

Lakeshore Express currently employs 12 people and has a team of four setting up the new operation in the Oakland County Airport. He expects that number to grow to as many as 10 when flights begin this summer.

Source: Greg Stallkamp, CEO of Lakeshore Express Aviation
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.