Why Michigan?

It's been a week!

Last Monday, TechCrunch laid me off along with several amazing writers (Darrell Etherington, Morgan Sung, Catherine Shu and Harri Elizabeth Weber). As I wrote then, I'll always be thankful for my time at TechCrunch, but I'm thrilled to turn my attention to the Michigan startup ecosystem.?

In the last week I’ve received a hundred calls and taken dozens of meetings. When they heard I was in a bad place, the Michigan startup scene sprung into action. I’ve asked around. That doesn’t happen everywhere.

The outreach has been heartwarming and reaffirmed my commitment to the people in this state.?

Over the last seven days, I toured facilities, met with VC firms, and reconnected with dozens of great people around Michigan.

My short-term goal is to determine where to best utilize my network and years of event and editorial experience at TechCrunch. I helped produce and execute some of the largest and most impactful tech events, including TechCrunch Disrupt and Startup Battlefield, where I developed close relationships with VCs, startup founders, and business leaders. Now, I want to help my friends and neighbors access the resources inside and out of Michigan.

Thinking back, I'm most proud of TechCrunch's City Spotlight events. These events and editorial packages were born out of the great migration from San Francisco during the early days of the pandemic. I saw an opportunity to highlight maturing startup ecosystems. Starting with Miami in March 2021, I programmed, produced, and marketed a four-hour virtual event and published a package of editorial content, including profiles and interviews.?

The following month, in April 2021, TechCrunch focused on Detroit, publishing profiles on Dan Gilbert, Fontinalis, StockX, Astrohaus, and Bloomscape. I hosted a 3-hour event and interviewed Jonathon Triest from Ludlow Ventures and Patti Glaza from ID.Ventures, and Ryan Landau on who's hiring in the Midwest. Lastly, like all my City Spotlight events, the event hosted a startup pitch-off competition with Rivet Work, Plain Sight, FixMyCar, and Diet ID. Diet ID won the event and was acquired in 2023. Now, in 2024, Rivet Work is one of the hottest startups in Michigan and FixMyCar rebranded to Goodhood and raised $7.04M in seed funding.

Throughout the rest of 2021 and through 2023, I produced and hosted events in Austin, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Columbus, Boston, and Atlanta. We had plans to feature four more cities in 2024: Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and Phoenix.?

I aimed to highlight and celebrate dynamic ecosystems and bring national attention to emerging startups struggling to break out. I loved these events and will forever thank Matthew Panzarino and Henry Pickavet for their encouragement and support.

These events were born from an earlier experience with TechCrunch Meetups, an in-person event series I produced with fellow TechCrunch employees John Biggs (now a media entrepreneur) and Jordan Crook (now Partner at Betaworks). In 2011 we started hosting small, informal meetups in cities and quickly discovered they served a critical role in bringing founders, developers, and investors together in one room. The smallest was in Savannah, GA, where about 115 people attended. The largest was Atlanta, GA, where we filled SweetWater Brewery with 1,400 people, including senators, radio stations, and countless founders.?

The 2012 Detroit meetup was special for me. We rented Hockeytown, and 1,100 people showed up. Detroit was widely different at that time. Dan Gilbert had just moved Quicken Loans from the suburbs to the city. Detroit Venture Partners was two years old, and Shinola had yet to start building watches in town. But everyone felt the energy and excitement that night. I got messages for years after that event from people who thanked me for bringing energy and excitement to downtown Detroit.

Startups require a critical mass of like-minded people and constant reinvestment from the community. This is what Silicon Valley and New York do so well. It's hard to avoid the startup world in these markets. And when a company in those markets finds an exit, the money is often redistributed to other startups as employees cash out and turn into angel investors.?

Sadly, exits remain elusive in Michigan, and no company has surpassed Dug Song's massive Duo Security exit in 2018. But Michigan is thankful to Dug. He's one of Michigan's best advocates and angel investors. He's an excellent example to founders everywhere, especially in the Midwest.

In 2022, Michigan followed the national trend and saw a dramatic drop-off, with only 13 companies finding an exit after 22 exited in 2021.?

Tome Software was one of the companies that was acquired in early 2023. It was founded by a longtime friend of mine, Jake Sigal. Tome Software addresses vehicle and pedestrian safety through advanced software — but the company started with a standing desk that would automatically rise or lower depending on how it felt the user would benefit. This TechCrunch article used to feature my interview with Jake at CES 2015, but the video's missing, and TechCrunch took away my keys to the site, so I can't find the original. Instead, watch this panel I did with Tome, Powerless, and iRule at CES 2018 on building a company in Detroit. Tome Software is Jake's second major exit. He previously founded and sold Livio Radio to Ford Motor Company, which used the startup's platform to build apps into Ford's infotainment system.?

Despite a bad year for exits, Michigan's numbers show promising trends. The Michigan Venture Capital Association publishes a yearly report, and I've been a reader since the first edition. The report is comprehensive and helpful. Look at these numbers from their latest report:

• Software is a standout sector within Michigan, investing $413 million across 51 deals. Michigan accounts for a significant portion of the Great Lakes region's deal activity in software.
• Mobility is likely a smaller sector than most assume: $217 million invested in 6 deals.
• Looking at the Great Lakes states' venture capital statistics for 2022, Michigan accounts for $1,160 million in capital investment and holds $5.9 billion in AUM. The AUM figure is particularly interesting, as it is the second-highest in the region, trailing only behind Illinois.

There's bad news, though. VC deals increased by only 10% over the last decade. According to the data from 2013, there were 162 VC deals recorded in Michigan. By 2022, this number had risen marginally to 164 deals. Even from 2020 to 2022, deals increased but remained nearly level.?

Ask anyone in Silicon Valley (besides the many UMich grads), and they'll tell you Michigan is a fly-over state. I heard that constantly while working at TechCrunch, and I can now prove them wrong. Michigan is a destination. It's a place to build a company, make an impact, and raise a family. I love this place and I know it has so much to offer. And have you seen Lake Michigan beaches? You have to see Lake Michigan beaches. Bring your dogs! Mine love it.

I want to help grow the next generation of startups in Michigan’s hearty soil. I’ll need your help. Reach out and let’s start building.?