Features

Feature Story Sassa Akervall in her office

The 21st century body is being built in Washtenaw County

With advances in the medical device industry, Ann Arbor is proving to be more than just a place for entrepreneurial innovation and growth, it's producing startups that are helping to shape the future of the human body. 

NY Times reviews musical inspired by Ann Arbor's Davy Rothbart

Local boy - turned found letters, notes and memos guru - turned filmmaker Davy Rothbart can now add theater artist to his ever expanding resume of projects. Excerpt: “Found,” which opened on Tuesday night at the Atlantic Theater Company, derives its title and much of its text from the magazine of the same name, which publishes collections of such writings. (“You have to make up your mind Mr. Dickens, ’twas either the best of times or the worst of times; it could scarcely be both.”) Davy Rothbart, the founder of Found, the magazine, is basically the principal character, and the musical, with a book by Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree, and music and lyrics by Eli Bolin, tells the (semi-fictionalized) story of the “Eureka!” moment of the magazine’s birth and, eventually, its near-death by success. Read the rest of the mostly positive review here.

Zingerman's co-founder weighs in on minimum wage

Paul Saginaw, co-founder and partner at Zingerman's blogs about his company's commitment to a thriveable wage for its employees. Excerpt: "I hear many in the restaurant industry say raising menu prices will result in customer loss and diminished profits, but I reject that and question the scale of those profit margins, wondering if the margins are maintained by shorting their employees. Customers have voted with their pocketbooks for locally sourced, organic, and free-range products. Now is a prime time to educate “voters” for ethical employment practices as well. Many myths about the industry workforce and the minimum wage create a false reality and highly unproductive debate. The truth is that livable wages and profits are not mutually exclusive, and Zingerman’s are not the only businesses to know this and operate accordingly. RAISE, an alternative restaurant association, is aligning businesses across the nation to adopt “high road” labor practices. Zingerman’s Community of Businesses joined. I sense that there is public readiness to join this growing business leadership and leverage its consumer dollars to “vote” for raising standards for workers." Read the rest here.

U-M researcher considers mass extinction

And because no hump day would be complete without some depressing news… U-M researcher and ecologist Anita Narwani warns and worries about the recent die-off of species around the globe. You might ask: "But why is this important?" Well, more than the issue at hand (our planet's potential demise) is shows the kind of important, far-reaching work that is being done at U-M. Excerpt: "It is too soon to declare that Earth is undergoing a sixth mass extinction, Narwani says. She defines a mass extinction as the loss of 75 percent of species over 2 million years or less. We haven’t lost that many — at least not yet. But if current rates of species losses continue, such a mass extinction could occur in just 300 years. “This is a very short time relative to the time frame for the previous mass events,” she points out. Such an event would leave a telltale absence of many species in the fossil record. From that point on, fossils of the vanished species would no longer appear in the pages of Earth’s rock-based diary." Read the rest here.

Aficionados love Ann Arbor La Dolce Vita Cigar Bar

Who would have guessed: a cigar magazine praises a local cigar bar? Though if you're going to pick an Ann Arbor location to light up, La Dolce Vita is a pretty darn good choice. Excerpt: "Michigan law prohibits dining while you smoke, so you can't order from The Chop House menu at La Dolce Vita. Instead, have your meal at the restaurant, then move downstairs to the cigar-friendly La Dolce Vita. The basement walls of La Dolce Vita are dark with wood panels and natural stone exposed in certain areas, adding that "cellar feel." The lighting is dim and elegant. There are gas-lit lamps along the walls and an exposed ceiling that adds to the contemporary feel. Comfortable seating is located throughout the wine and cigar bar, including everything from traditional wood tables to plush couches. Here you can indulge in a fine list of liquors and wines and a fine selection of cigars. For the spirits, there are more than 10 types of Woodford Reserve Bourbon alone—selections that stand out among a generous drink list. A wide range of cigars are available to guests, and the smokes have suggested wine pairings presented on tablets. The tablets serve as a convenient and visual alternative to traditional menus. Popular cigar options include Arturo Fuente Hemingways, Ashton Classic and VSG, Cohiba, Davidoff, San Cristobal, Montecristo and Rocky Patel. Flavored cigars are also available." Read the rest here.

U-M researchers chart profound changes in the American family

Children born out of wedlock, later marriages, more mixed-race children, older mothers - the profile of the 'American family' is going through some dramatic changes. But chill. It's all good. Things change. We don't marry off our 12 year old daughters for a couple of goats anymore either. Excerpt: "The new American family is not nearly as white as it used to be. In fact, white babies may already be in the minority. In addition, mixed-race couples have become far more common, and more gay couples have started families. Unmarried households headed by same-sex couples increased 80 percent in the 2010 Census from a decade earlier to almost 650,000, and an estimated 25 percent of those households are raising children." Read the rest here.

Dexter gets new Sushi Time restaurant

Until recently, when anyone from Dexter wanted to dine in a fresh sushi restaurant, they had to drive to Ann Arbor. Now, they only have to zip over to Dexter Plaza on Dexter-Ann Arbor Rd. to Sushi Time, which was opened about four weeks ago by long-time sushi chef Min Kang.  "So many of my friends said Dexter is a nice place where many people like sushi," Kang says. "Then, I found a good place here."  Sushi Time offers both dine-in seating for about 30 customers, as well as carryout. Kang says the restaurant's specialties are their signature rolls, which include the Dexter roll, Chelsea roll and the Lemon Wedge roll.  "We have some plans to make more special rolls, and more appetizers," says Kang, "We have a lot of things to do, and it's getting busy."  Kang has worked as a sushi chef in the area for 14 years, and recently decided it was time to start his own restaurant. Sushi Time is a family business, employing himself and his wife, as well as about three additional employees.  Source: Min Kang, Sushi Time Writer: Natalie Burg

Collier Financial opens Ann Arbor office

In January, Collier Financial will celebrate 25 years in business in Fort Wayne, but here in Ann Arbor, they'll be fresh off the heels of another celebration: establishing a new office. Though Caleb Collier has been living in Ann Arbor and serving clients of his family's business here for several years, the new, 1,200 square foot office on E. Eisenhower will give the growing financial services company a permanent presence in the area.  "The office space is beautiful. The back offices have floor-to-ceiling windows," Collier says. "I was going back and forth between downtown and Eisenhower, but I ended up here, because for those clients in Chelsea, Dexter or even in Novi, this would be easier access for them." The new Collier Financial office opened on Sept. 22. Collier has already hired one new support staff member and plans to hire another financial adviser and two more support staff employees.  "My goal is to become a recognizable name in the financial services industry here," says Collier. "What we do is unique to some of the national brokerage houses. We have a different approach, and for some folks, it's really what they're looking for." The Ann Arbor office comes at a time of growth in general for Collier Financial. The family business has recently purchased and extensively renovated a building in Fort Wayne and will soon be moving their headquarters into the much larger location.  Source: Caleb Collier, Collier Financial Writer: Natalie Burg

Manchester mom to inspire others into healthy living with The Distance gym

After having three kids in four years, Sarah Andrews wanted nothing more than to be able to keep up with them. In order to do so, she knew she had to start focusing on her physical fitness. What she learned during her quest to get into better shape, is that getting healthy isn't about reaching a goal weight, but about lifestyle change. That is what she hopes to teach her clients next year when opening her own gym, The Distance, in Manchester.  "If you have a goal to live a better life, weight loss is going to happen," says Andrews. "If weight loss is your focus, it's so easy to get derailed. My purpose is to give [clients] ta focus on being healthy and training for life, not training for a size or number on the scale." Andrews will open The Distance in an approximately 1,500 square foot space on Main Street in Manchester. It is a part of the building her husband's business Andrews Family Chiropractic, will soon occupy as well. She will teach bootcamp-style classes and will eventually expand into a variety of fitness courses.  "They'll get a full body workout, all in one hour with different stations that will be customizable for each person," Andrews says. "You can be standing next to an elite athlete on side of you and a grandma on the other side, and all of you will get the best workout for yourselves." Andrews hopes to open The Distance as soon after the first of the year as possible to help clients tackle their New Years' fitness goals from the get-go. She plans to grow her business over the next two years, with plans to bring on three to five additional instructors to offer additional fitness classes. Source: Sarah Andrews, The Distance Writer: Natalie Burg

Seelio adds 14 people to downtown Ann Arbor office

Startups launched and grown in Ann Arbor can sometimes end up in new homes after they are acquired. That’s not the case with Seelio. The 3-year-old startup is doubling down on Tree Town with a small spike in hiring. The downtown Ann Arbor-based higher education software startup has hired 14 people over the last year, expanding its staff to 22 employees and an intern. It is currently looking to hire four more people in software development, educational services, and a director of a university partnership development. Check out the openings here. "We have been hiring at a rapid pace," says Emily Keller-Logan, director of marketing & communications for Seelio. "We have brought on a lot of talented people." Seelio's platform enables college students to showcase their portfolio of work. The software documents how their college projects came to fruition and presents them for employers in job interviews. Check out a video about the platform here. "We're providing student lifecycle portfolios to institutions so that students can begin preparing for their careers from orientation to graduation," Keller-Logan says. Seelio raised a $1.5 million seed capital round in 2013. It was acquired by Kansas City-based PlattForm last summer. Source: Emily Keller-Logan, director of marketing & communications for Seelio Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Underground Printing leverages revenue spike for 52 hires

Underground Printing spent most of the last year building up the business infrastructure it had laid the groundwork for in previous years, and is starting to reap some significant rewards. The Ann Arbor-based clothing printer is projecting that it will hit $16 million in revenues this year. That's up from $13.8 million last year, a jump of nearly 15 percent. As a result Underground Printing has hired 52 people in a wide variety of positions. It now has a staff of 190 people with 133 based in Ann Arbor. "It (the new hires) are across the board," says Rishi Narayan, co-owner of Underground Printing. "The new employees are all over the company." The 13-year-old company makes custom printed apparel, like t-shirts and embroidered clothing. It has 19 stores across North America, including four in Ann Arbor. It production facility is also in Ann Arbor. Underground Printing opened a handful of new stores a few years ago. Since then it has focused on building up sales for those locations, along with its production capabilities. The firm has added two automatic presses and other parts of screen prep equipment. "Our improvements have been focused on the backend," Narayan says. Source: Rishi Narayan, co-owner of Underground Printing Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Renovo Power Technology expands product lineup, staff

Renovo Power Technology has a growing staff to go with its expanding product portfolio in alternative energy. The downtown Ann Arbor-based company has doubled it staff with three hires in sales, marketing and government affairs. That employment growth is thanks to more sales from a wider variety of products. Renovo Power Technology makes advanced inverters that help transition energy from solar panels to the electric grid. The transformerless inverter technology gets rid of the copper coils of traditional transformers and replaces them with electronics that are both more efficient and cheaper to manufacture. Normal five kilowatt inverters weigh 150 pounds. Renovo Power Technology's inverters are less than 60 pounds. It recently launched a micro inverter that allows an inverter/solar panel ratio to be as low as 1/1. Often an inverter will service an array of solar panels that can number a dozen or more. "It offers more flexibility when it comes to installations where shading might come into effect," says Shane LaHouse, managing partner of Renovo Power Technology. "It also allows for smaller installations." Renovo Power Technology currently has its technology being used in two large installments in Michigan with a third being lined up in Traverse City. It also looking to use its technology in a 166-panel array on 416 W Huron in Ann Arbor next year. The company is also looking to land more orders from governments, such as municipalities, in 2015. "Our primary focus is on the Midwest," LaHouse says. Source: Shane LaHouse, managing partner of Renovo Power Technology Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

OcuSciences enlists Adams Fellow to grow startup

OcuSciences hired two people over the last year, expanding the bio-tech startup’s staff to five. One of those hires was a new CTO (coming Accuri Cytometers) and another is from the Adams Entrepreneur Fellowship program. The Automation Alley-managed program pairs recent college graduates with locally based startups. The idea is to get more talented young people involved in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Erich Heise joins OcuSciences as its business manager, specializing in business development. "It's a chance for Erich to get his feet wet in a company," says Kurt Riegger, COO of OcuSciences. "OcuSciences is doing a lot of business development and Erich has a chance to do a lot of it." OcuSciences spun out of the University of Michigan six years ago developing a new way to diagnose diseases like diabetes with eye scans. Its ocular diagnostic technology for metabolomic diseases that allows doctors to diagnose patients earlier and with higher accuracy. It's the type of new technology in an emerging area that attracted Heise back to Ann Arbor after he graduated from Case Western University. "Ann Arbor is really an area of opportunity when it comes to entrepreneurship," Heise says. "Most people run to the coasts but I think this area is really blossoming." OcuSciences’ technology is being used in two clinical centers, and the startup is working to bring two more online in the coming months. "The need is high," Riegger says. "The challenge is can we get ahead of the need?" Source: Kurt Riegger, COO of OcuSciences Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Customer Discovery Ninja platform helps gauge customer demand

Customer Discovery Ninja isn't Steven Sherman's first startup, but his first startup served as the inspiration for Customer Discovery Ninja. The Ann Arborite spent a large part of last year trying to build up YouKnowWatt, a technology platform that brings real-time information to home energy audits with an eye for making more houses energy-efficient. That startup didn't pan out, but Sherman and his co-founder did stumble upon a market need when trying to determine their customer base. They were doing customer research with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform when they realized the technology wasn’t doing everything they wanted. So they decided to make their own to facilitate more comprehensive interviews with potential customer. "You're not pitching a solution," Sherman says. "You're trying to understand the core of their problem." Customer Discovery Ninja is currently in private Beta with a handful of paying customers. The platform works to gauge customer demand for a new product. For now the new service is limiting its focus as it building up its platform. "It's for general U.S. consumers," Sherman says. "You won't find an B2B on there." Sherman and his partner would like to hire 100 paying customers (think businesses and entrepreneurs) paying $5 per interview by the end of this year. Source: Steven Sherman, co-founder of Customer Discovery Ninja Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Feature Story Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample at the Argus Farm Stop

Argus Farm Stop: One-stop shopping for local food

Being a locavore can be a challenge of logistics. All farmer's markets are not created equal and none operate year-round. Enter Argus Farm Stop, a downtown market offering one-stop shopping for locally produced goods.

Feature Story Dave Askins and Mary Morgan at Ann Arbor City Hall

Chronicle founder reflects on Ann Arbor news media's past, present and future

Last month Dave Askins and Mary Morgan ended their six year run of The Ann Arbor Chronicle, a local online news source that focused on long form government reporting. As Concentrate publishes its 300th issue, we've asked Askins to reflect on the local media-scape; where it's been, where it's at now, and where it might be heading.

Ann Arbor invaded by cuteness

The whimsical art of David Zinn has become such a main-stay here in Ann Arbor it's sometimes easy to forget how unique and special his chalk drawings are. Road bloggers certainly didn't take his work for granted as they passed through Ann Arbor. Excerpt: "What makes Zinn’s work really original is that he’s entirely self-taught. However, I reckon his degree in Creative Writing and English Language has helped him construct the fantastical worlds that he creates on the streets and sidewalks around Ann Arbor." Check out the photos here. Also, read this story in the Business Insider.

Ann Arbor-based Stratos develops one card to bind them all

We've covered Stratos big investment scores in a recent issue of Concentrate but it looks like TechCrunch just caught wind of the A2 company developing an all-in-one, inter-connected credit card. Excerpt: "The startup raised $5.8 million from Midwest and West Coast investors. San Francisco-based Toba Capital led the round with Western Technology Investment, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and Michigan-based Resonant Venture Partners also participating. Stratos is one of the latest companies to come out of Ann Arbor. Olson was born in Michigan, and its CTO co-founded Detroit Labs. Stratos operates out of the same building that houses the hot security startup, Duo Security." Read the rest here.

Ann Arbor architecture firm reimagines the city of the future

Welcome to the age of the megalopolis, where networks rather than borders define our community and commerse. Or so imagines a local architecture firm at a new exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture. Excerpt: "“Infra Eco Logi Urbanism” is the result of a research project devised by Geoffrey Thün, Kathy Velikov and Colin Ripley of RVTR, an architecture firm with offices in Toronto and Ann Arbor, Mich. Their approach illustrates one aspect of a sea change among architects: In the past few years, urban planners and design professionals have become much more intent on confronting such consequences of unchecked growth as air pollution, traffic congestion, contaminated waterways, blighted landscapes and invasive sprawl. They believe that inspirational planning can help make things better." Read the rest here.

Ann Arbor among top 3 best small cities for college students

The rankings were actually determined by the American Institute for Economic Research. Are you getting list fatigue? We're getting a bit tuckered out keeping track of which top 10 list we've made thos month. Excerpt: "Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, came in second, with high levels of academic research and development per student and percentage of workers in "innovative" fields. In third place, Ann Arbor, Michigan reported both a high percentage of college-educated residents as well as a high student concentration." Read the rest here.

Hasini and Harshini Anand are members of Corner Health Center's Youth Leadership Council and mental health advocates.

 


   Voices of Youth
Concentrate's Voices of Youth series features content created by Washtenaw County youth in partnership with Concentrate mentors, as well as feature stories by adult writers that examine issues of importance to local youth. Click here for a full list of the latest content from this series.