START YOUR CORPORATE ENGINES
PILLAR ORGANIZATIONS SPINOUTS West Michigan is home to a rich array of businesses that began as family-run ventures and went on to become national and international successes. The list includes Amway, Meijer, Steelcase, Haworth, Wolverine World Wide, Bissell, and Herman Miller. All of these companies have grown and thrived on innovation. Now, a few of them are working directly with startups to help them move forward in the entrepreneurial community. They’re doing it through GRid70, a collaborative workspace developed by Meijer, Wolverine, Amway and Steelcase. The space is home to the innovation departments of each founding member. It is an experiment in the interaction between creative people in distinct organizations, as cross-corporation teams routinely form to tackle tough challenges. In making the space available to members of the area’s startup community, GRid70 gives them access to corporate resources in a controlled setting.
West Michigan’s corporate leaders provide support for the next generation of startups. 20|
SPRING 2012
GRID 70
Meijer
GRid70 also offers The Lean Startup Circle, a monthly workshop that educates entrepreneurs on lean startup methodology, and Wakeup and Startup, where area entrepreneurs come together to discuss and solve tough challenges, collaboratively. Rick DeVos, grandson of Amway cofounder Rich DeVos, leads Pomegranate Studios, a business incubator responsible not only for the ArtPrize competition, but also for developing resources to help the startup community. Pomegranate Studios takes a holistic approach to creating a vibrant startup ecosystem, targeting specific programming to each stage of early entrepreneurship. 5x5 Night addresses the earliest ideas, awarding $5,000 in seed funding to the idea best described in a five-minute elevator pitch. Once an idea develops, the Momentum team helps it gain steam. Momentum is a three-month-long seed accelerator designed to give those ideas, that have demonstrated potential, the financial and intellectual resources needed to test the validity of the business model and market
POMEGRANATE
Wolverine World Wide
645 CROSWELL
assumptions, and, potentially, build a prototype. Once a startup has been formed, it needs somewhere to set down roots. Enter Steelcase, which contributed two coworking spaces that provide office space and networking opportunities for startups. The 654 Croswell coworking space houses companies in East Grand Rapids, while The Factory offers space downtown. Few startups are the kind of high-tech companies one might find on the cover of Inc. magazine. Many entrepreneurs create businesses as a way to support their families. For these entrepreneurs, specifically those who are either women or minorities, Eastern Floral has created the International Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence. This incubator is dedicated to providing toptier physical and networking resources to West Michigan startups. Seven young businesses currently call the ICEE, home, working in collaboration with Eastern Floral in the GOEI Center. West Michigan’s commitment to entrepreneurship also extends to training.
THE FACTORY
KELLER FUTURES CENTER
Amway
Steelcase
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE
Eastern Floral
MODIV
Cascade Engineering