Introducing the Venture School
EBW changes the TV game in Port Huron
Off to the races: Grand Prix returns
Venture Michigan EXPLORING MICHIGAN’S INNOVATORS, ENTREPRENEURS AND THE INVESTORS WHO FUND THEM
SPRING 2018
Moving Goods Made Simple Jake Koppinger brings a high-tech perspective to the transportation industry with FreightRoll
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 2 : : ISSUE 2
SPRING 2018
scene Ann Arbor Spark honors regional businesses
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6
STARTUPS
FreightRoll shifts paradigms in the transportation industry
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EDUCATION
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Venture School serving an untended need
PROFILE EBW is disrupting the local TV game in Port Huron
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WEEKEND
22
SCENE
The Chevrolet Grand Prix returns to Detroit's Belle Isle
Ann Arbor Spark honors regional businesses venturemichiganmag.com facebook.com/venturemichigan twitter.com/venturemichigan instagram.com/venturemichigan
VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
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CREATING COMMUNITY CHEMISTRY ONE SMILE AT A TIME. Chemical Bank aims to create a personal bond with each community we serve and every small business, family or customer that walks in our door. Learn more at ChemicalBank.com. We’re proud to support the Detroit community!
Venture Michigan SPRING 2018 : : Volume 2, Issue 4
EDITORIAL Editor Edward Nakfoor Copy Editor Anne Mulvenna Contributing Writers Paul Natinsky Joyce Wiswell Advisory Board Susan Gordon Paul Riser Chuck Rymal
TROY michigan Promoting Innovation Leading by Example Encouraging Collaboration
CREATIVE Creative Director Alex Lumelsky Production SKY Creative Contributing Photographers Leisa Thompson Max Wedge
PUBLISHING Published by Venture Michigan LLC
ADVERTISING Managing Director, Sales and Marketing R. David Eick Account Managers Jim Angel Nan Keilman Barbara Somero For Advertising: 248-231-8067 or david@venturemichiganmag.com Venture Michigan is a quarterly magazine. Our mission is to uncover the most important stories about the people, companies, technologies and ideas that are transforming Michigan. The publication is distributed to SmartZone communities throughout the state. To subscribe, please email: subscriptions@venturemichiganmag.com. Š 2018 Venture Michigan LLC All content herein is the property of Venture Michigan LLC and cannot be copied, reproduced, distributed or republished without express written permission. Postmaster: Send address changes to Venture Michigan Magazine, 28 North Saginaw, Suite 816, Pontiac, MI 48342
Creating an Environment for Investment To schedule an appointment with our Economic Development Team, call 248.524.3314
www.troymi.gov
VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
5
STARTUPS
MISSION: TRANSPARENCY Jake Koppinger brings a high-tech perspective to an old industry with FreightRoll BY JOYCE WISWELL
W
hile working summers booking trucks at his father’s steel distribution business in Pontiac, Jake Koppinger was struck by how inefficient and fragmented the process was. He kept those thoughts in the back of his mind when he went off to the University of Michigan to study industrial and operations engineering, entered the investment field and eventually moved to San Francisco. More than a decade later, Koppinger and his brother, Matt, have joined forces to confront the process head on. FreightRoll is a next-generation freight marketplace and collaboration engine focused on the FTL (full truckload) market. It provides shippers with the ability to quote, book, arrange and track shipments from beginning to end, while at the same time helping truckers fill their empty miles, better communicate and get paid more quickly. Founded in 2015, the firm now operates in 48 states with a truck network of more than 22,000. “It’s all very simple and our fee is 10 percent or less for each load rather than the 20-25 percent markups that traditional freight brokers charge,” said Koppinger, 34. “We think that the lack of transparency in pricing and misaligned incentives are big issues for the industry.” The company individually screens carriers to ensure they have qualifications such as insurance and FMCSA rating. Once approved, the truckers, who use the service for free, join the FreightRoll network and use the platform to book new 6
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shipments and managing existing ones. The freight shipping industry has long been ripe for disruption, Koppinger said, but truck drivers’ traditional avoidance of new technology stood in the way.
“Truckers are averse to adopting technology,” he noted. “They did things on pen and paper, then by phone, and then by email, and that’s how they liked it.” That changed as smartphones be-
“It’s all very simple and our fee is 10 percent or less for each load, rather than the 20-25 percent markups that traditional freight brokers charge.“ — JAKE KOPPINGER came as prevalent with truckers as the rest of society. “I thought, instead of disrupting the $50 billion freight brokering industry -- which is a subset of the $700 billion trucking industry -- why not help shippers and truckers manage all of their freight?” said Koppinger, a native of Grosse Pointe Woods. “Why not create a very scalable software business that allows shippers and carriers to directly connect?” The company, which began generating revenue in mid-2017, is currently a work in progress. “We still have stuff we are in development on, to be honest with you,” Koppinger said. He’s bullish on how FreightRoll may alleviate the chronic shortage of truck drivers by helping new ones – who traditionally earn half or less than those with experience -- make more money. “You can now prove via third-party data that you show up and deliver on time and use it as a marketing tool. Maybe you can reduce your insurance premiums and allow companies to pay their truck drivers more. It’s an interesting way of helping – not to solve, but to make one of the biggest problems in the truck industry a little less bad.” While Koppinger remains in San Francisco, FreightRoll is based in an Ann Arbor SPARK location where Matt, 30, and five employees work. “Michigan is where most of our professional logistics contacts are and I view it as sort of important to contribute economically where I can. And we are primarily focused on building density in Midwest and Southeast, where others have not been as focused,” Koppinger said. “We have no immediate plans to relocate; we will definitely outgrow this space but I’m not sure what
is next. We are still a very early-stage company.” He’s also in the early stages of the 22X Fund, the first digital security token for tech investors. The idea was hatched last summer when Koppinger participated in Batch 22 of the 500 Startups program, the prestigious early stage venture fund and seed accelerator. (The exclusive 500 Startups program has only a 2 percent acceptance rate.) “One night we were talking about the idea of a digital security token and someone said, ‘why don’t we each put some percentage of our company equity into an ICO [initial coin offering]?’” Koppinger related. The idea took off among the group and the 22X Fund includes 30 of the 36 companies in that Batch 22 program. Koppinger is a founding member and sits on the steering committee for the mutual fund-like instrument, which functions somewhat like a cryptocurrency by using blockchain technology to “democratize access to capital.” “We were called crazy by I don’t know how many people and went through four or five sets of lawyers who wouldn’t take on the project,” Koppinger said. “We learned a ton and came up with our current partner, Securitize Capital. I’m a full-fledged believer that not everything is going on the blockchain but there will be definite applications in a lot of areas of time.” Meanwhile, he’s charting the growth of something even more meaningful – 9-month-old daughter Kate. Koppinger and his wife Christine, an innovation manager at Nestle, welcomed the baby during the same week that Koppinger began participating in 500 Startups and the idea for 22X was also born.
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VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
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EDUCATION
MINDING THE GAP The Venture School on Detroit's east side takes an innovative approach to nurturing young entrepreneurs
D
rew Schantz is headed back to school next fall. This time, though, he’ll be at the head of the class as founder and executive director of Venture School. When the school opens in September 2019, Schantz will have fulfilled a dream of creating the type of high school he wished he could’ve at8
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tended when he was groing up: one giving students the space and support to develop their entrepreneurial spirit. While still in the planning stages, Schantz and his team of directors have narrowed their search for a facility to the Van Dyke and Seven Mile area on Detroit’s east side where, he says, “there is a tre-
mendous need for a quality high school.” In its simplest terms, Schantz says the mission of Venture School is to “bridge the gap between what’s happening downtown and midtown to the neighborhoods.” And by extension, a future generation of entrepreneurs. After all, as Schanz points out, Detroit has a rich
We are the
Birmingham Area Cable Board We are your voice in cable issues
history of innovation and today there is “such a vibrant entrepreneurial presence” throughout the city. The ABCs Sixty students will enter next year as the freshmen class, followed by a new group of 60 freshmen in 2020. Eventually the school will provide space for a maximum of 240 students in grades 9 – 12. The teens comprising Venture School’s student population, Schantz says, will come from area middle schools that don’t have a traditional feeder high school. However, he’s quick to point out that Venture School isn’t poaching students from Detroit Public Schools. Schantz says there will be no admission requirement and no tuition. When supply exceeds demand the school will institute a lottery system for admissions. Curriculum at Venture School will be based on personalized learning platform Summit Learning, which originated at Summit School on the west coast. Specifically, it is a tool that springboards the expertise of educators to curate content that is tailored to students’ abilities and interests. Schantz explains the emphasis is on cognitive skills and project-based learn-
We represent the City of Birmingham and the Villages of Beverly Hills, Franklin and Bingham Farms ing. “Students complete projects while the teachers have active roles in delivering content,” he says. Here is what students can expect on any given day. • Project Learning Blocks which take the form of humanities followed by a STEM learning block, the core academic content. This involves students and teachers working together on projects. • Personalized learning time is when students work on content-focused areas such as a project about Shakespeare, writing about the work’s tone and voice, or underlying themes, or develop skills in mathematics. • Finally, students are immersed in VentureLabs, an experiential education platform that is specific to the school. While each day has a structure, so, too, do each of the academic years. The theme of the freshman year is discovery.
We have an important mission: • Advocate for our four communities and residents • Escalate and resolve complaints with cable providers • Support development and expansion of public, education and government programming • Responsibly manage designated municipal assets and funds birminghamareacableboard.org
(248) 336-9445
PROFILE
TELEVISION
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REIMAGINED BY PAUL NATINSKY
A visionary approach to an old medium brings locally-focused news and programming to the Blue Water Region
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PROFILE
EBW TV BRINGS COMMUNITY SERVICE TO THE FOREFRONT FOR PORT HURON The Port Huron area was slated to construct a local TV station years ago, but the network affiliate, Channel 46, never took flight. Into the breech stepped EBW TV, a livestreaming and on-demand television station. This is not your grandfather’s television station. It’s not a local affiliate of a major broadcast network. Instead, EBW TV, as the station is known, is borne of the community and reflects the best it has to offer. 12
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We want people to work, live and play in St. Clair and Sanilac counties.’ That’s kind of our mission and our message.” – LARRY BOULIER Founders Larry Boulier and Don Fletcher started the project four years ago, offering on-demand good news stories about the community. They now provide live-stream broadcasts of local football games, baseball games and other events, a daily “spotlight” feature and are developing a You Tube channel for the station that will constantly flow recorded and live events—just like a television station, but without the massive capital investment. Larry is the technology guy, says Fletcher. Boulier’s day job is his audiovisual business, Impact Communications, which provides services to health care giant Beaumont Health, local school districts and other clients. Don is the community liaison. The retired CEO of Port Huron Hospital (now McClaren Port Huron Hospital), Fletcher now does community volunteer work, economic development counseling and works as an executive coach. Boulier worked with Fletcher at the Port Huron Hospital and later became one of Fletcher’s executive coaching clients. The pair teamed up on EBW TV four years ago upon Boulier’s return from a Las Vegas conference on the potential of live-streaming. “He came back from the show and he said, ‘Hey, Don, the latest thing that is going to happen is streaming. It’s a new technology. I want to do that in the greater Port Huron area,’” says Fletcher. For both men, EBW TV is a labor of love. A way of giving back to the community in which they established their careers. “With all of my community contacts, we went to the city, the county, the community foundation…We got all of the community involved in this concept of putting an in an Internet TV station,” says Fletcher. The station has enjoyed tremendous support from the community, says
Fletcher. It now creates several news segments per day. In addition to its news magazine “Spotlight” feature, it brings in outside contributions such as McClaren Port Huron’s “Today’s Health” and features live-streaming events that include local high school football and baseball games. EBW TV is not a traditional news organization. Its focus is on “positive messaging,” says Boulier. “It’s not in our vision to do what we would call hard news,” says Boulier. “We’re more like Entertainment Tonight.” Boulier says investigative reporting and hard news are well covered in the community, particularly by the local newspaper, which has been on the beat for 75 years. “That is a unique niche that we have,” says Fletcher. “National (television) news takes two or three minutes (for positive stories). You go to ABC, CBS, and at about three minutes to seven they have a feel good story. People are hungry for good news. So our niche is ‘the good news station.’ We want to
tell people all of the good things that are happening, and that’s who we are.” Complimenting that “good news” approach is EBW TV’s direct involvement in the community. The Port Huron area Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) found EBW TV through its advisory committee, says Lesley Murphy, a digital media instructor at St. Clair Tech, a division of RESA. Fletcher says RESAs exist in counties around the state to help students find hands-on vocational experiences. Seven of RESA’s 40 students worked at EBW-TV this year and RESA sent students last year as well. Murphy says she would like to continue the program. She says the number of students who participate will depend on how many have areas of study that match up with EBW TV’s needs. Some of her students are graphic designers, photographers and study other areas that are not a natural fit with a television station. RESA’s involvement with EBW TV mirrors the real-world experience students will have when they enter the workforce, says Murphy, who worked for VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
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Fox Sports Detroit for eight years. This year, RESA sent nine or 10 candidates for interviews at EBW TV. Seven were chosen for competitive internship spots, where they work 2.5 hour days. While EBW TV is occupying many of the traditional roles of a television station, it is difficult to measure viewership the same way, as television stations depend on the complex algorithms of Nielsen or Arbitron ratings. Still, says Boulier, EBW TV has seen individual visitor totals to its site reach 50,000 in a community of 152,000. He added that the visitor totals include people out of state in “Florida or out west,” who have ties to the community. Even a labor of love has a bottom line. Fletcher says it took the station three years to break even, but Fletcher and Boulier kept reinvesting in moving the station forward from on-demand to live-streaming and soon to continuous broadcast on You Tube. “We’re at breakeven now and, frankly, the first couple of years it took all of our efforts to just produce quality content,” says Fletcher. “After we got the content quality, we focused on the revenue side. We know that this is a limited market so we have to break into co-op advertising.” (editor’s note: co-op advertising features shared cost between a manufacturer and a retailer. For example, Ford Motor Co. shares advertising costs with Ford dealers in local markets). From the beginning, EBW TV was not intended to enrich its founders. Its goal was to fulfill its mission to serve the community. “We have really won the hearts and minds of leaders in the community because we do positive messaging. We have a saying, ‘We want people to work, live and play in St. Clair and Sanilac counties.’ That’s kind of our mission and our message,” says Boulier. So far, it looks like Everything Blue Water TV is hitting its mark.
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WEEKEND
OFF TO THE
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RACES‌ T
he Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear returns to beautiful Belle Isle, June 1-3. For the Verizon IndyCar Series, the race weekend
in the Motor City will represent a remarkable process that will come full circle for the new 2018 race car that began in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in 2017. INDYCAR unveiled the first renderings of the new car at NAIAS and the reaction throughout the racing world overwhelmingly positive.
VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
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WEEKEND
When it came time to reveal the final designed car to the world, it was officially unveiled at NAIAS in 2018 with a star studded panel that included defending series champion Josef Newgarden, team owner Roger Penske, racing legend Mario Andretti and INDYCAR CEO Mark Miles. The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear returns to beautiful Belle Isle, June 1-3. For the Verizon IndyCar Series, the race weekend in the Motor City will represent a remarkable process that will come full circle for the new 2018 race car that began in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in 2017. INDYCAR unveiled the first renderings of the new car at NAIAS and the reaction throughout the racing world overwhelmingly positive. When it came time to reveal the final designed car to the world, it was officially unveiled at NAIAS in 2018 with a star studded panel that included defending series champion Josef Newgarden, team owner Roger Penske, rac18
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ing legend Mario Andretti and INDYCAR CEO Mark Miles. INDYCAR took an interesting approach when designing and developing the new race car. The series “reverse engineered” the car, making sure it had an appealing and sleek look before working out the details and technology of improving safety and performance on the track – two critical elements for the new design. The result is a throwback look to the classic Indy cars of the 80s and 90s, without the bulky body pieces that had been included on the previous car, that create a sleek design to put the control of the car back in the hands of the enormously talented drivers in the series. Belle Isle’s tough street circuit will provide one of the toughest tests for the new car in the Verizon IndyCar Series season as the teams and drivers will race the only doubleheader weekend on the schedule – the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit – with two full championship-points paying races over two days, at 3:30 pm on Saturday and on Sunday.
While the new cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series will generate even more excitement and interest, there is a lot more to look forward to at this year’s Grand Prix. The exotic sports cars of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will also race in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on Saturday afternoon. Manufacturers that include Cadillac, Acura, Nissan, Ferrari, Lamborghini turn their fierce competition on track among two race classes and apply that to the technology used to develop the cars you see on the road every day. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will practice and qualify on Friday, June 1 and they will race on Saturday, June 2 at 12:30 pm. The “Pony Wars” return to Detroit as the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli brings the TA2 class to Belle Isle with two races – one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Fans can watch Camaros and Mustangs battle it out on streets during the 3-Dimensional Services Muscle Car Challenge on Saturday and the
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WEEKEND
3-Dimensional Services Motor City Dash on Sunday. Extreme sports fans will enjoy watching the high-flying trucks of the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks series. These identically prepared high-horsepower trucks are designed to get airborne, flying nearly 25 feet off the ground and hundreds of feet down the track off of man-made jumps positioned throughout the race circuit. Don’t miss these wild machines race on both Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Prix. One of the most popular traditions in Detroit Grand Prix history continues in 2018 with the return of Comerica Bank Free Prix Day on Friday, June 1. Fans can come to Belle Isle and experience everything the event has to offer free of charge, keeping alive a unique concept that began with the first Grand Prix event held in the city in 1982. Everyone is welcome to visit Belle Isle, watch the on-track action from the grandstands, 20
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enjoy all of the activities in the Meijer Fan Zone and access to the paddock – the “locker room of racing” – all for free, thanks to Comerica Bank. All four series competing at the Grand Prix will be in action on Friday with practice and qualifying sessions throughout the day. There will once again be activities for fans of all ages away from the track all weekend long in the Meijer Fan Zone at the Grand Prix. The Fan Zone will feature interactive attractions, the Detroit Sports District with displays from all four Detroit professional sports teams, food and drink options in the Bud Light Beer Garden and Food Court, tailgating games like Cornhole, Fowling, Giant Jenga in the Party Pit and much more. Fans will have access to all of the activities within the Meijer Fan Zone at no extra charge. Also located in the Meijer Fan Zone is the 96-3 WDVD / NASH FM 93-1
Entertainment Stage featuring live music all weekend long. The Entertainment Stage will feature local and national acts on both Saturday and Sunday, including pop duo A Great Big World on Saturday night after the completion of the first Verizon IndyCar Series race of the weekend. Country music star David Nail will perform a Sunday matinee show before the final race of the weekend – the second Chevrolet Dual in Detroit with the new cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series. All Grand Prix attendees are welcome to enjoy the concerts throughout the weekend for free and the complete entertainment lineup will be posted at DetroitGP.com closer to the event.
To purchase tickets and to find more information on the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, visit DetroitGP.com or call our ticket hotline at 866-464-PRIX (7749).
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SCENE
LEISA THOMPSON
Leading regional businesses honored at Ann Arbor Spark's Annual Meeting
A
t its annual meeting, Ann Arbor SPARK honored leading regional businesses, including SkySpecs — recipient of the 2018 Entrepreneurial Services Company of the Year award. Other honorees included FordLabs, Lear, and NAVYA for Project of the Year award. The 2018 Ann Arbor SPARK annual meeting hosted 350 area business visionaries and leaders. Mandy Grewal received the 2018 Volunteer of the Year honor. 22
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Imagery that nourishes the brain and touches the soul… The Eliel Saarinen-designed Cranbrook Art Museum is at the heart of the Cranbrook Educational Community, an internationally– renowned center of learning, culture and beauty. It lives in Oakland County but it’s shared with the world. Discover more of our local treasures in OaklandCountyProsper.com. Sign up to learn the Oakland County story.
OaklandCountyProsper.com VENTURE MICHIGAN : : SPRING 2018
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JUNE 1– 3, 2018
CELEBRATE DETROIT’S
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DGP18 Ad_Venture MI 8.675x10.75.indd 1
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