Put forth by Cascade Engineering, the Keller Futures Center, located at Grand Rapids Community College, is a unique innovation training center, offering project-based opportunities for people and organizations to learn new skills while solving community issues. The Futures Center demonstrates a West Michigan corporation’s commitment to building the region’s entrepreneurial activity through
innovation training, leveraging the region’s unique skills in human-centered design. West Michigan startups are benefiting from their relationships with the corporations that call our region home. After all, they were once startups, too.
GRid70 enables startups to learn from some of West Michigan’s most successful corporations
STAGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP The life of an enterprise is dynamic and unpredictable, but its growth can be characterized by specific business development stages. The conceptualization/idea generation stage is crucial to the mission, purpose and goals of the organization. The early-stage will attract private and angel investors especially for businesses identified with high growth potential. During the early-stage, customers will be identified and
EARLY STAGE The term ‘early-stage’ is broadly defined as pre-revenue business development. Often, it means a company possesses a working prototype or defined service model, and has a detailed sales and marketing plan.
the product or service will undergo field-testing and development. Venture funding is generally sought to expand the company after feasibility is established. After the business owner(s) have reached a point where it can be profitable to sell or advisable to withdraw, an exit strategy will emerge. As the mission of a company is unique like the development of its existence, so are the stories of the following companies.
VENTURE Venture backed companies are categorized as businesses that have received an investment from a venture capitalist. Investments are made in startup companies with considerable risk and high growth potential.
EXIT A business exit refers to the sale of equity and transfer of corporate ownership to another entity. Exits allow stakeholders to recoup the capital initially invested in the company and hopefully turn a profit.
SPRING 2012
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