Innovation & Job News

Allied Printing is shifting its growing business in Ferndale from its longtime owners to a small group of longtime employees, including the transfer from father to daughter.

Paul Zimmer and Robert Straub are transitioning the 60-year-old business' ownership to Dave Bader, Margaret Fitzgerald, Elly Chichester, Tony Pelc, Jill Straub and Greg Balan over the rest of this decade. For Jill Straub, daughter of Robert Straub, taking over ownership fulfills a longtime goal of hers since joining the company after she graduated from Michigan State University in 2002.

"This is pretty much all I have known and what I wanted to do," says Jill Straub, sales executive for Allied Printing.

Allied Printing has grown from 12 employees and one building in 1971 to 95 employees and the occasional intern in four buildings that cover 100,000 square feet of warehouse, production and corporate office space. It has hired a handful of people over the last year, mainly in its digital department.

Allied Printing is a full-service printing company that specializes in digital printing, packaging, direct mail, program management, fulfillment, and web-based marketing services. The company has experience 11-percent revenue growth in 2012, thanks to investments it has made in technology for its printing and e-commerce services.

"We'd like to see the next few years follow that growth pattern," Jill Straub says. "We'd like to improve our technology to increase the demand so that people will want to come to us."

Source: Jill Straub, sales executive for Allied Printing
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

VioPoint is expanding its business, services, staff and bottom line in Auburn Hills these days.

The 6-year-old IT security company has hired four people over the last year, bringing its staff to nine employees. It has reached the point of doubling its office space to 4,400 square feet to accommodate the growth.

"We're lucky enough that the suite next to ours is empty," says Rob Cote, vice president of sales for VioPoint.

VioPoint specializes in providing IT security products and consulting services to medium- and large-sized businesses. Originally it provided IT security assessments and guidance implementing security measures. Now it has tailored its services to accommodate the type and size of client to be a more all-encompassing solution with a large amount of strategy behind protecting its information.

"We realized clients needed other types of expertise to move their security forward," Cote says.

Source: Rob Cote, vice president of sales for VioPoint
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Interested in start-ups? How about becoming a serial entrepreneur? Does mentoring from some of Metro Detroit's top business people sound good? Does a $60,000 annual stipend pique your interest?

If so then you will want to check out the Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship Program, an initiative serviced through Automation Alley to place up-and-coming business people (think recent college grads) with local start-ups and established entrepreneurs and investors. It is currently taking applications for the 2013-14 class, which will consist of four people, through April 1.

"The mission is to place these Adams Fellows in an intensive entrepreneurial environment with a lot of mentoring," says Terry Cross, managing director of Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship Program.

Adams Fellows will have daily job responsibilities and will be encouraged to participate in local entrepreneurial, business development and leadership events. Participants will be given opportunities to network with one another and with other young emerging leaders in the region.

For information, click here.

Source: Terry Cross, managing director of Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship Program
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Metro Detroit is known as the home to some of the titans of the pizza industry. Does the region have one more pizzeria powerbroker ready to step up? The people building Happy's Pizza think so.

The Farmington Hills-based company just opened its 100th franchise in Detroit this month. It is adding 20-30 franchises annually and has pizzerias across the country in states like California, Nevada, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The bulk of the company's franchises are in Michigan, which has 60.

"In 2008, we started to grow at a trajectory of 30 stores a year," says Christina Rice, vice president of franchise development for Happy's Pizza. "I have seven stores under construction right now. We have 20-30 set to come online this year."

Happy's Pizza got its start in 1996 when Happy Asker opened his first location in northeast Detroit. The then 18-year-old, who is still the CEO, spent the first part of his adult life building the business to 30 franchises across Michigan while still maintaining a growing presence in the city of Detroit. The firm now has a dozen franchises in all corners of the Motor City and made the decision to open the 100th location in the city that launched it.

Each Happy's Pizza employs 15-30 people, depending on the size of the delivery fleet. The company also has a staff of 50 employees in Farmington Hills, after hiring half a dozen more in 2012. In all, the company has created in the area of 700 new jobs over the last year.

Source: Christina Rice, vice president of franchise development for Happy's Pizza
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Ren Carlton has a goal for Dynamic Advisory Solutions. He wants the Troy-based firm to become the No. 1 provider of CFO services in the U.S.

"Our goal is to go national, instead of relying on work predominantly in Metro Detroit," says Carlton, president & CEO of Dynamic Advisory Solutions.

The 13-year-old company has been signing up more mass distribution partners for its services. It currently has two out-of-state affiliates in Florida and North Carolina. That sort of expansion has allowed the company to hire 10 people over the last year, growing its staff to 25 employees and the occasional intern.

Dynamic Advisory Solutions has watched its revenue grow by 40 percent over the last year as it lays the ground work to go national. It is now aiming for triple-digit growth in 2013 as it aims to sign up more distribution partners.

"I'd like to have more affiliate partners and more distribution partners," Carlton says. "We're looking to have 15 inside and outside of Michigan."

Source: Ren Carlton, president & CEO of Dynamic Advisory Solutions
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Motor City Technology shifted its focus recently, paying special attention to customer service and satisfaction. Today the Southfield-based IT company is learning that business can fall into place if you take care of those two things first.

Over the last six months the 12-year-old company has focused on beating the industry standard of responding and correcting IT problems within two hours. "We try to respond to our clients in under an hour," says Joshua Van Berkum, CEO of Motor City Technology. "Technology is the easy part. It's the people that are the hard part."

Motor City Technology provides IT services to small businesses. It crossed the $1 million in revenue mark in 2011 and generated another 25 percent jump in revenue last year.

"That felt great," Van Berkum says.

That growth has allowed Motor City Technology to hire four people in the last year, expanding its staff to seven employees. It currently has two job openings.

Source: Joshua Van Berkum, CEO of Motor City Technology
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

What was once JCS Computer Resources is now becoming Accounting Business Solutions by JCS. What remains the same is that the company is growing its presence in Southfield.

The 18-year-old business specializes in integrating software solutions into parts of a business, such as accounting. The company also has locations in Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Sacramento.

"Our work in the Metro Detroit area has doubled, primarily because of the economy," says Jennifer O'Brien, president of Accounting Business Solutions by JCS. "Businesses are trying to automate more processes and that's what we do."

The company's revenue is up 120 percent over the last three years. In that time it has added in excess of 50 new clients. That has allowed the company to hire two more people to its Southfield office, expanding it to seven employees.

"I think in the next 12 months we will grow another 50 percent," O'Brien says.

Source: Jennifer O'Brien, president of Accounting Business Solutions by JCS
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Vladimir Gendelman grew up in the U.S.S.R. dreaming of owning his own business. It seemed like a far-away dream for the youngster growing up in a communist country, until he immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1990s.

Gendelman worked as a website developer for a few years before he got laid off in 2002. That's when he decided to seize on his childhood dream, launching a start-up called Company Folders. The company helps make presentation folder selection easier to understand and use.

"With presentation folders there are a lot of options," Gendelman says. "People either offer you just one way or you get overwhelmed with information. I set a goal of taking that overwhelming information and turning it into something understandable."

The company now has a staff of six employees and the occasional summer intern. It hired one person (a writer) over the last year and now has three openings for jobs in social media, marketing and user experience.

That staff growth is coming on increases in revenue, which is up 50 percent since 2008. "Many of our new customers came from referrals," Gendelman says. "We also get a tremendous amount of customers who come back."

Source: Vladimir Gendelman, founder & CEO of Company Folders
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Kors Engineering is swimming against the conventional wisdom tide, working to make manufacturing a bigger part of the tech company.

The Waterford-based business specializes in systems integration and automation for manufacturers and other industrial facilities. It has spent the last year growing the manufacturing integration side of the business and setting the stage for the big revenue jump in 2013.

"We wouldn't be surprised if our number of customers doubled this year," says Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering.

Kors Engineering now services customers in a wide range of manufacturing sectors, including metalforming, hide-processing, food packaging, chrome plating, forging and driveline systems production facilities. Today, a total of 43 plants leverage Kors' PleXML tool to integrate programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other plant floor systems in order to automate processes and capture and share production data. More than 1,300 work centers are integrated through Kors’ PleXML tool, with 30 percent located outside of the United States.

Kors Engineering currently employs a dozen people and is looking to expand that staff soon. "We are definitely looking at hiring 1-2 people this year," Kaczmarek says.

Source: Tony Kaczmarek, president of Kors Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Lotus Bank will open its second branch in Farmington Hills later this month, a move that will help the Novi-based bank expand its staff by seven people in 2013.

"We needed more retail locations and space from a personnel standpoint," says Neal Searle, president & CEO of Lotus Bank.

The 6-year-old bank has hired three people in the last 30 days and now employs 18. Another four employees will be added to the payroll when the Farmington Hills branch opens within two weeks.

Lotus Bank is a full-service bank with $82 million in assets and $71 million in deposits. It grew by 17 percent in 2012 and expects to continue expanding its reach in Metro Detroit this year. The bank, which is 80-percent owned by Indian-Americans, has a five-year strategic plan of opening one new branch annually and its sights are set on suburbs like Troy, which has a large Indian-American population, in the near term.

"This is an opportunity to take it to the next level," Searle says.

Source: Neal Searle, president & CEO of Lotus Bank
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Red Level Networks has watched its business grow in Novi by double digits and its staff has gone up significantly because of it.

The 8-year-old IT company now employs 26 people after hiring six in the last year, including promoting one intern to a full-time employee. The company currently has three open positions in sales, help desk, and engineering.

"We have added a significant number of new clients and new business," says David King, president of Red Level Networks. "It has really stretched our ability to service that with existing staff levels."

To accomodate that growth, Red Level Networks has expanded its office space in Novi, adding another 3,000 square feet to bring its total square footage to just less than 8,000. The new space give the company room to double its staff to up to 55 new employees, which the firm hopes to do within the next 2-3 years.

"We expect 20-25 percent growth ion 2013," King says. "We are preparing for that with our latest office expansion."

Source: David King, president of Red Level Networks
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Farmington Hills-based Beringea and Credit Suisse will co-manage the newly launched Michigan Growth Capital Partners II, a venture capital fund focused on investing in promising new economy firms based in Michigan.

The $180 million fund will be deployed over the next 4-5 years, investing in companies in the following sectors: advanced materials and manufacturing, health care and life sciences, media and communications, specialized consumer goods, homeland security, IT and clean technology.

"We have always been a bit ahead on clean tech," says Charlie Rothstein, founder & senior managing director of Farmington Hills-based Beringea.

The Michigan Growth Capital Partners II fund, which was capitalized by the Michigan Strategic Fund, follows the original Michigan Growth Capital Partners fund launched in 2008. That fund made 28 investments, including some sizeable investments in a number of locally based companies, such as Livio Radio and ReCellullar. Its biggest exit has been from Accuri Cytometers, an Ann Arbor-based start-up that was recently acquired for nearly $300 million.

Source: Charlie Rothstein, founder & senior managing director of Farmington Hills-based Beringea
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

ReapSo launched its customer loyalty app last week. The start-up is initially focusing on Apple users in the downtown Royal Oak market.

The Farmington Hills-based company and its team of three people have created a mobile app that helps local businesses increase sales using things like traditional customer loyalty rewards programs, newer technology like QR codes and gamification techniques to keep customers engaged. The app also takes care to protect customer's privacy and makes it easy for merchants to use by making sign-ups free and easy.

"We get paid from our merchants when a user comes in and pays for a product," says Steve Valentine, co-founder of ReapSo. "There is no risk. There is no long-term contract for them to sign."

ReapSo has signed up 30 merchants in Royal Oak, mostly restaurants and bars in downtown. The start-up's market research shows that about 60 percent of people who frequent downtown Royal Oak use Apple products. The focus on eateries aims to leverage the frequency of spending money on food and drink in the city's center.

"I might not buy a shirt everyday, but I am eating everyday," Valentine says.

Source: Steve Valentine, co-founder of ReapSo
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

Information Systems Resources bills itself as an asset management company, but the firm is looking at electronic recycling as a big avenue for its growth.

The Dearborn-based company, founded in 1989, is beefing up its recycling division, which specializes in remanufacturing of electronics like desktop computers. The 50-person firm currently has six employees, about half of whom are recent hires.

So when a school district looks to upgrade its computer system and wants to make sure it's disposing of the old technology in an environmentally friendly way and that its hard drives are erased, it will call a firm like Information Systems Resources to pick up the computers, dismantle them and recycle the precious materials inside. It also makes sure to shred the old hard drives to keep sensitive information secret.

"It's one of the few things out there that is beneficial to everyone involved," says Jeff Drolshagen, sales manager for the recycling division of Information Systems Resources.

Drolshagen was recently promoted to sales manager to help bring more material to the fledgling division. The company hopes an influx of old electronics will not only keep harmful materials out of landfills and sensitive information out of the hands of criminals, but also a few more jobs in Dearborn.

"The more electronics we can do, the more people we can hire," Drolshagen says.

Source: Jeff Drolshagen, sales manager for the recycling division of Information Systems Resources
Writer: Jon Zemke

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

There is another lending option for growing small businesses in Michigan with the launch of the Grow Michigan fund.

Grow Michigan is a $60 million fund that was capitalized by the Michigan Strategic Fund and a number of Michigan's banks, including Fifth Third Bank, PNC, Huntington, The Private Bank, Crestmark Bank, Seaway Community Bank, The Bank of Holland, The Bank of Northern Michigan, and Mercantile Bank.

"When we're done we will have about $50 million in private investment," says Russell Youngdahl, Jr., CEO of Grow Michigan, which is based in Plymouth.

Grow Michigan will provide strategic management advice and risk capital in the form of subordinated/mezzanine debt to established, Michigan-based small businesses. Grow Michigan mezzanine loans, made in conjunction with senior loans, will be in the $0.5-$3.0 million range in the form of 3-5 year subordinated debt, and carry a single digit coupon. The idea is to accelerate the growth of small businesses in the Great Lakes State by making more affordable lending options available to them.

"We want to touch as many small businesses as possible," Youngdahl Jr. says. "We want to touch as many people in the banking industry as possible.

Source: Russell Youngdahl, Jr., CEO of Grow Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

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