New Enterprise Forum

The Founder's Dilemma and Summer Melt. Those who were at our New Enterprise Forum meeting last night at Ann Arbor SPARK learned and explored from different perspectives both of those topics. Our panel discussion examined what Harvard Business Review has called The Founder's Dilemma and the choice that entrepreneurs have to make between being "rich" and being "king." It was a provocative dialogue and prompted a lot of new thinking ... and rethinking! Sincere thanks to our moderator Barbara A. Boldt, Principal at Boldt Global, LLC, and our panelists David C. Bloom, Executive Director of Pointe Angels; Peter Deppe, Co-Founder and former CTO of KUHMUTE ?; Danny Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO of SkySpecs; and Sherwin Prior, Co-Founder and CEO of KUHMUTE ?. We also had an outstanding showcase presentation from Blake Mischley, Co-Founder and CEO of MeetYourClass, which was the Innovation Track Winner at the 2024 Michigan Business Challenge presented by Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Blake and his team are destined for great things. Watch for them! NEF is going to take a meeting break in December, but please mark your calendar for our first monthly meeting of the new year on Thursday, January 16, 2025, right back at Ann Arbor SPARK. We will have a showcase investor presentation and a pitch pit competition. Have a great holiday season!

Are you registered to attend the New Enterprise Forum showcase presentation and expert panel discussion tonight at Ann Arbor SPARK beginning at 5 PM? If not, please go here: https://lnkd.in/gpUPZVWv

$50K Grand Prize. Application is your ten-page presentation deck. Due November 25. If you are eligible, make sure to investigate the Michigan Life Science Entrepreneurs Association Business Plan Competition 2024 brought to you by our New Enterprise Forum friends at ID Ventures and MiLSEA. https://lnkd.in/gDrYb-nJ

Summer Melt. $11B in tuition is lost every year at colleges and universities across the country because of Summer Melt and the problem is only going to get worse. Come to our New Enterprise Forum meeting this Thursday, November 21, at Ann Arbor SPARK, beginning at 5 PM and you can learn what Summer Melt is and what MeetYourClass is doing to help solve it. Founded in 2022 by four University of Michigan students, Blake Mischley, Jonah Liss, Kaleb Schmottlach and Jon Millar, MeetYourClass is helping universities fill seats by revolutionizing how they build community and allocate resources. Graduating from the 2023 Techstars Detroit accelerator program, MYC was the Innovation Track Winner at the 2024 Michigan Business Challenge presented by Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Blake Mischley, the company's CEO and Co-Founder, will share the story of MYC, its tremendous traction to date and its plans for the future. The evening will also feature an expert panel discussion addressing the provocative topic of "Should I stay or should I go now? The Founder's Dilemma." Moderated by Barbara A. Boldt, Principal at Boldt Global, LLC, the panelists will be David C. Bloom, Executive Director of Pointe Angels; Peter Deppe, Co-Founder and former CTO of KUHMUTE ?; Danny Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO of SkySpecs; and Sherwin Prior, Co-Founder and CEO of KUHMUTE ?. It will be an evening full of education, insights and networking. Please join us. For further information on the event, please go to the NEF website at: https://lnkd.in/gWRK3K2c Please register for the event on Eventbrite at: https://lnkd.in/gpUPZVWv

The Founder's Dilemma: To be rich or to be king. Few have been both. Harvard Business Review had an article that examined this quandary some years ago. New Enterprise Forum is going to host an expert panel discussion on Thursday, November 21, at Ann Arbor SPARK that will explore the topic in today's startup world. As startups scale, every leadership transition impacts the company's culture and how decisions are made. During this dynamic panel discussion, we will hear firsthand from two founders who have navigated the trade-off of the Founder's Dilemma. We will also get the perspective of an investor who will assess founder fit and alignment and a non-founder CEO who has successfully led a leadership transition to drive growth, while honoring the founder's original vision. Entitled "Should I stay, or should I go now? The Founder's Dilemma," the panel will be moderated by Barbara A. Boldt, Principal at Boldt Global, LLC, with the panelists being David C. Bloom, Executive Director of Pointe Angels; Peter Deppe, Co-Founder and former CTO of KUHMUTE ?; Danny Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO of SkySpecs; and Sherwin Prior, Co-Founder and CEO of KUHMUTE ?. The evening's agenda will also have a showcase presentation from Blake Mischley, Co-Founder and CEO of MeetYourClass, on the company's history and impressive traction and growth. MeetYourClass was the Innovation Track Winner at the 2024 Michigan Business Challenge presented by Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business. The event will kick off at 5:00 p.m. with food, drink and networking, with the programming starting at 5:45 p.m.. For further information on the event, please go to our NEF website at: https://lnkd.in/gWRK3K2c Please register for the event on Eventbrite at: https://lnkd.in/gpUPZVWv

You have heard about #a2Tech360 from Ann Arbor SPARK. You have probably attended one of the a2Tech360 offerings in the past. How would you like to now be the Program Manager for a2Tech360 and be part of the team that plans and owns the overall event? The opportunity is below!

New Enterprise Forum is excited to announce that registration is now open for our monthly NEF forum meeting happening on Thursday, November 21, at Ann Arbor SPARK. The event will kick off at 5:00 p.m. with food, drink and networking, with the programming starting at 5:45 p.m.. We will begin with a short presentation from our featured stakeholder sponsor this month, KeyValue Software Systems. We will then have a showcase presentation from Blake Mischley, Co-Founder and CEO of MeetYourClass, which was the Innovation Track Winner at the 2024 Michigan Business Challenge presented by Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business. MeetYourClass was also named one of the most disruptive undergraduate business school startups by Poets&Quants. Blake will share a history of the company and its growth. After that, we will move on to an expert panel discussion entitled "Should I stay or should I go now? The Founder's Dilemma." Moderated by Barbara A. Boldt, Principal at Boldt Global, LLC, the panelists will be David C. Bloom, Executive Director of Pointe Angels; Peter Deppe, Co-Founder and former CTO of KUHMUTE ?; Danny Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO of SkySpecs; and Sherwin Prior, Co-Founder and CEO of KUHMUTE ?. This panel will explore how startup founders often need to master the balancing act between retaining control of the company versus raising the capital to allow the company to grow. They will discuss and unpack the high-stakes choices that can help shape the growth trajectory of new ventures. For further information on the event, please go to our NEF website at: https://lnkd.in/gWRK3K2c Please register for the event on Eventbrite at: https://lnkd.in/gpUPZVWv

Congratulations! Thanks! Success! And community! Those five words capture well what our New Enterprise Forum monthly forum event last night at Ann Arbor SPARK was all about. Congratulations to four entrepreneurs for bravely taking the stage and sharing with all of us in the audience their startup stories in our NEF Pitch Pit competition. They were Noah Barr with Streetmeet; Anthony Bird with Culturebie; Jeff Dwoskin with Stampede Social; and Dan Katanski with NanoFree Technologies. Special kudos to Jeff for winning the competition; his prize will be a NEF Startup Investment Readiness Assessment (SIRA). Thank you to our three wonderful judges for providing insightful feedback, counsel and encouraging words to each of the pitch pit participants. The judges were: Jacquelene Barnes, Capital Growth Program Manager at TechTown Detroit; Ben Chutz, Growth Partner at IMPACT Initiatives; and Christopher Hart, Co-Founder and CEO at gBeat. Congratulations also go to Josef Hjelmaker, Founder and CEO of Electric Outdoors, on his success in the year after his NEF showcase presentation in closing a $1.3M seed round for the company. Thank you for allowing NEF to have been a small part of what you have accomplished. In the end, it is all about community and NEF is indeed proud to be part of this community. Onward and upward.

Are you registered to attend the New Enterprise Forum pitch pit competition and alumni update tonight at Ann Arbor SPARK beginning at 5 PM? If not, please go here: https://lnkd.in/giUU7xzP

Our New Enterprise Forum monthly forum meeting happens tomorrow, Thursday, October 17, at Ann Arbor SPARK, beginning at 5 PM. There will be a pitch pit competition with Noah Barr, Co-Founder and CEO of Streetmeet, Anthony Bird, Co-Founder of Culturebie, and Jeff Dwoskin, Co-Founder of Stampede Social as the presenting entrepreneurs with the judges being Jacquelene Barnes, Capital Growth Program Manager at TechTown Detroit, Ben Chutz, Growth Partner at IMPACT Initiatives, and Christopher Hart, Co-Founder and CEO at gBeat.com. We will also have a special NEF alumni update from Josef Hjelmaker, Founder and CEO of Electric Outdoors, who had made his showcase investor presentation at our NEF forum a year ago. For more information, please visit the event page at our NEF website: https://lnkd.in/gXRNgZwQ Please register at: https://lnkd.in/giUU7xzP