Brighton Ideas.com harnesses entrepreneurial ambitions

metromode, 11/12/2009

There are half a dozen people who continue to ply their entrepreneurial hopes and dreams in a perpetual start-up called BrightonIdeas.com.

Bill Stumphauzer is the de facto sun of a little entrepreneurial universe where people try to make their visions come to life in their spare time while they work their 9-5 jobs. The South Lyon resident works as a director of infotainment at Sirius XM. Another member is a product engineer for Ford, and another is a retired legal counsel for a company.

"While we all have these 9-5 jobs we all have in the back of our minds the idea that we would like to run our own business," Stumphauzer says. "We all hold onto that idealistic dream of being our own boss."

The company started a decade ago with the idea of creating a virtual wardrobe website. That idea crashed and burned but they were back at it with a flying toy called the Stingray. That made it to the New York Toy Show before failing.

"That one looked the most like it was going to take off," Stumphauzer says.

Other ideas have come and gone over time, but the group is unfazed. It's still working on the next big idea that will make the business viable.

Source: Bill Stumphauzer, founder of BrightonIdeas.com
Writer: Jon Zemke

Entrepreneurship , Oakland County