Work done for Michigan utility company DTE Energy’s B2B custom publication EnergySmarts, Spring 2021 issue. (Two PDFs, one for each of three articles written)
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DTE EnergySmarts Spring 2021
Tag: Custom Publications
Article written for the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association’s magazine, 2021 second issue. (PDF)
Anyone who’s ever been tempted by a project to go all the way on it, expense be damned, will appreciate what Dori Edwards is doing.
She’s going “all in” on her vision of creating a net-zero grow facility. Her plan is to build a super-clean pharmaceutical-grade grow facility that demonstrates sustainability in every one of its 25,000 square feet, from the heating and cooling system to the materials that make up the building itself.
Article for DTE Energy’s EnergySmarts publication, winter 2021
Article written for the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association’s magazine, 2021 first issue. (PDF)
It could be fairly said that without technology, the cannabis industry may never have gotten off the ground.
Inevitably tight regulations make running a cannabis business touchier than selling office supplies or even whiskey. Cannabis businesses must track every gram of the product from “seed to sale.” This includes even when cannabinoid oil is divvied into many products for many customers. Businesses and regulators must be able to identify where the products of a given plant are at any time.
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DTE EnergySmarts Fall 2020
Work done for Michigan utility company DTE Energy’s B2B custom publication EnergySmarts, Fall 2020 issue. (Four PDFs, one for each of three articles written)
Work done for Michigan utility company DTE Energy’s B2B custom publication EnergySmarts, Summer 2020 issue. (Three PDFs, one for each of three articles written)
Categories
DTE EnergySmarts Spring 2020
Work done for Michigan utility company DTE Energy’s B2B custom publication EnergySmarts, Spring 2020 issue. (Three PDFs, one for each of three articles written)
It stands to reason: The better educated a region is, the better its economy performs and the better its businesses do. Demands for knowledge-economy workers are plentiful – and rising.
Education touches many fronts – teacher unions, Republicans, Democrats and employers are all involved in education policy, for example – and business leaders should jettison any ideological bents they might be tempted to indulge. The long-term nature of education reform necessitates relationship building, just as it is with most business-related endeavors.
It’s fitting that a competition meant to raise Michigan’s profile was inspired by one of the most Michigan of all symbols: University of Michigan‘s big block M logo.
The big M came on a screen during an investor presentation a long way from home, in California. Sitting in the audience was Dave Egner, executive director of the New Economy Initiative and president of the Hudson-Webber Foundation.
1,400 applications. 15 countries. $4 million in prizes. 47 winning companies. 14 winning student teams. 74 participating angel and venture capital investors.
Amid all the numbers illustrating the impact the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition has had in its first four years, it’s easy to forget the actual products supported through the event.
The existence of a competition like Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is proof of sorts that Michigan’s venture capital community has come of age.
Any thriving regional venture scene is going to have a respected competition in its mix of offerings and assets, industry folks say. Besides drawing publicity, the competitions also play a crucial role in the venture funding spectrum by offering very early-stage companies a chance to get capital.
The year 2008 might have been when the United States woke up to its real estate problem, but for Detroiters it was the year when everyone else started to feel what it was like to be them. Comments from homeowners in formerly bullish markets like California, Nevada and Florida began sounding an awful lot like the talk around Detroit. Boarded-up homes suddenly dotting the landscape? Welcome to the club.
Budding entrepreneurs are all the rage these days. It’s hard to go a week without hearing about new pop-up shops, food trucks and artisan vendors, all highlighting the satisfaction that comes from “doing what you love.”
But these new businesses aren’t the only ones built on fun and passion. Here are four that have been around for some time, demonstrating that cool businesses have staying power too.
A lot be can be learned about a company by walking in the door. Few things signal a company’s culture more than it how it fits out its workspace — the trappings and colors geared toward creating a certain atmosphere.
The Oakland County restaurant scene is a comprehensive one, representing every major category of eatery.
The life of a startup business owner is anything but dull.
The tense moments last well beyond the initial difficulties of getting the company launched and into the first months or years of taking on customers. A startup business owner may be interviewing job candidates or handling tax issues one moment, and rushing off to take care of customers the next because someone called in sick.
For the past two years, Kristen Cronin, owner of a new Club Pilates franchise in Novi, has been learning this firsthand.
It was a lonelier time for a knowledge economy company back in 1996 when Scott Foster began his business of helping other businesses improve their employees’ health.
Foster’s Royal Oak-based company Wellco develops health and wellness programs for companies and has proprietary software systems to support these programs. This is a hot area nowadays when prevention and health care cost-cutting have taken on urgency, but it was an almost unheard-of business to be in 20 years ago.
As Oakland County’s knowledge economy has grown, things have gotten less lonely, and better yet, easier when it comes time to hire. Foster said it used to be hard to find local talent with both the skills and industry expertise Wellco needs.
The impact of a successful startup can be felt long after it’s gone, adding jobs for years to come, as can be seen in the cases of Sarns Inc. and DLP Inc.
One of those entrepreneurs is Dick Sarns, described by one investor as a patriarch of the medical devices industry. He started Sarns Inc. in 1960 to make a heart-lung machine used in cardiac bypass surgery.
Sarns grew the company and, to grow it further, sold it to 3M Co. in 1981, staying on as general manager for several years. In 1999, 3M sold the business to Tokyo-based Terumo Corp.
On Michigan’s list of big industries, it might be easy to sell medical devices short.
But the assets show a different story: As many as 50 new companies, a short but sound list of exits, several major companies, a strong base of research universities and hospitals, low costs, a long manufacturing history and a pool of experienced managers and investors.
