Managing a major research institution is in no easy task. Too much of the time, it's maddeningly inefficient. A University of Michigan spin-out believes it has a way to simplify and streamline at least one aspect of an institution's responsibilities. Mountain Pass Solutions has created a web-based platform that manages the hiring, credentialing and on-boarding of university faculty. It also helps manage faculty workflow so the user can optimize things like document creation and the size of their support staff. The U-M Venture Accelerator-based startup got its start when Deb Komorowski, a director of faculty affairs administration & finance for U-M Medical School, saw the inefficiency of bringing on new staff and faculty. She created the platform and got it noticed by the University of Michigan Office of Technology Transfer. "It was pretty obvious that what Deb built was satisfying a big need on the market," says Dave Morin, interim CEO of Mountain Pass Solutions. The 1-year-old startup now employs five people and is further developing its platform with early customers, such as Central Michigan University. The bootstrapped startup plans to start scaling up its client base later this year. "We will be looking at some rapid U.S. expansion this year," Morin says. Source: Chris King, Deb Komorowski and Dave Morin, co-founder of Mountain Pass Solutions Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Huron River Ventures is nearly done raising its second investment vehicle, a multi-million dollar fund the Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm plans to use to further invest in its portfolio of tech startups. The 5-year-old firm raised a $11 million fund at its onset, which it used to make early stage investments into 15 startups like FarmLogs and cribspot. Many of them are based in Ann Arbor, including a few that it shares shares office space with in Kerrytown. The second fund, the Huron River Venture Opportunity Fund, will focus on making follow-on investments into the best of the best of the firm’s portfolio of startups. It has already made a follow-on investment into FarmLogs. "It's all for follow-on investment in our portfolio," says Ryan Waddington, partner with Huron River Ventures. "But only for companies that reach a certain size or hit certain milestones." Huron River Ventures has executed a first close worth $3.5 million and expects to do a final close worth a combined $5 million by July. "This is all private capital in the Opportunity Fund," Waddington says. "It's all individuals and family offices." Huron River Ventures expects to make one more follow-on investment later this year and a handful more after that. The firm has also hired a new venture partner over the last year, expanding its staff to three people. Source: Ryan Waddington, partner with Huron River Ventures Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Given all the accolades and advantages U-M as as the fourth-ranked public university in the United States, you'd think it'd do a better job of educating low income students. Excerpt: "U-M has one number it’s probably not proud of: the smallest share of low-income students among Michigan’s public universities, and one of the lowest rates among public universities in the country." Read the rest here.

The Payeur family has worked at the family business, Diamond Glass & Feiners, for years. Now it’s starting a second family venture, Glass House Brewing. The Payeurs will dedicate half of its window and door installation space at 2350 W Liberty Road to the new microbrewery, and are currently on track to open in June as construction wraps up. "It's been a longtime coming, but it's close now," says Brent Payeur, master brewer & co-founder of Glass House Brewing. Payeur was introduced to craft brewing by his fiancee about a decade ago, and he fell hard for the hobby. That lead him to recruit his brother and father to open their own brewery on Ann Arbor’s west side. "I just fell in love with it," Payeur says. "We go on brewery tours all the time. I started home brewing six years ago and love the art of it." Glass House Brewery will feature a 1,600 square foot tap room with no food service, at least at the beginning. It will feature 20 taps that are primarily ales, such as IPAs, porters, stouts, artisan ales, and fruit beers. There will be constant rotation of new beers to help keep the offering fresh. It will also offer free beer to members of its growlers club. The brewery will open with a staff of four people. "I am hoping to add staff to keep up with the demand," Payeur says. Source: Brent Payeur, master brewer & co-founder of Glass House Brewing Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Paragon Display Group started out with some humble beginnings in 1982, offering photo finishing for Ann Arbor customers.  The company has since grown into a full-service environmental graphics and printing studio, employing a staff of 34 people and a summer intern. However, getting to this point required a number of pivots to adapt to the market. Paragon Display Group made the move from consumer to commercial work about the same time photos went from primarily hard copies to digital. "We had to evolve into another type of business," says Gerry Snyder, director of sales for Paragon Design + Display. "The commercial work became much more important to us." And it grew quickly. Paragon hired four people in the last year, and is looking to hire another sales professional. Over the last year it has spiked its revenue by 29 percent and is on track to hit a similar number in 2015. They accomplished this by completing several large projects, including a number for the University of Michigan Athletic Department, Central Michigan University, and Kettering University. However, downtown Detroit-based Fathead is proving to be its most important customer. "That is growing astronomically as well," says Bill Van Cleve, president & CEO of Paragon Design + Display. "They are giving us a lot of work." Fathead's work includes everything from its traditional decal wall stickers of athletes to large decals of things like Star Wars characters. It is also doing a lot of corporate display work for Fathead. Paragon Design + Display would like to expand this sort of work to more small businesses in Michigan in the next year or two. "We want to help brand their environment," says Holly Schoenfield, director of marketing for Paragon Design + Display. The firm is also looking to return to its consumer-facing roots to help diversify and grow its revenue streams. Paragon Design Display would like to attract more work from everyday people who would like to print out their important photos and other pieces of artwork for their individual living and work spaces. "Now we're trying to open it up to consumers," Van Cleve says. "We want them to know they can get fine art printing here." Source: Bill Van Cleve, president & CEO of Paragon Design + Display; Gerry Snyder, director of sales for Paragon Design + Display; and Holly Schoenfield, director of marketing for Paragon Design + Display Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Backyard Brains has been chugging along for years, making a nice little business out of neuroscience testing kits with cockroaches. After five years it has hit $500,000 in revenue, but has its sights set on a much bigger number. "We want that to increase to $1 million," says Tim Marzullo, co-founder & chief science officer of Backyard Brains. The Ann Arbor-based company is getting ready to embark on a national marketing campaign to close that gap. Marzullo likes to say that when he or members of his sales team show off the company's insect neuroscience kits for grade-school education products, like the RoboRoach, they become instantly popular with teachers and students to the point orders are placed on the spot. "It shocks us when we go to a neuroscience conference and people haven't heard of us," Marzullo says. Which is a bit surprising because Backyard Brains is an international firm with a growing office in Chile. It has made five hires over the last year and now employs a team of about a dozen people. Marzullo hopes that team will be able to really make a name for itself this year. "We want to expand beyond word of mouth," Marzullo says. "We're selling every day but not the numbers we need to be selling." Source: Tim Marzullo, co-founder & chief science officer of Backyard Brains Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Investment in Michigan startups hit a 15 year high in the first quarter of 2015.  Excerpt: "Twelve companies across the state collectively received $75.3 million in venture capital investments from January to March, according to the MoneyTree report from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers using data from Thomson Reuters. That compares to 14 deals for $37.1 million in the same period in 2014 and was the best first quarter since the 17 deals for $142.9 million to start 2000. Two of the recent deals included companies in West Michigan. Apjohn Ventures invested $3.5 million in Kalamazoo-based Armune BioScience Inc., which is commercializing a new-generation blood test for men suspected of having prostate cancer. Meanwhile, Grand Rapids-based software firm Buoy76 LLC received $950,000 from Start Garden LLC, Huron River Ventures in Ann Arbor, Detroit Development Ventures and an undisclosed investor, according to the report. Buoy76 is developing Sportsman Tracker, a mobile application that forecasts the best time and location for hunters and anglers as well as their probability of success." Read the rest here.