A recent University of Michigan graduate is creating a new video game, and it stars a "Happy Dude." What exactly the Happy Dude in Black-White Game is is still up for debate. It’s a small white character going through a Super Mario Brothers-like game made up of black, white, and grey scenes. This much is known, the main character is small and happy. "He is sort of a block with legs," says Paul Nagel, creator of Black-White Game. "He is of his own species. He's not a marshmallow or a tooth. He is just a happy little dude." Nagel, who also goes by the alias James Covenant, graduated from the University of Michigan earlier this year with a bachelors degree in industrial engineering. He is currently working at the university as a video editor while working to create Black-White game. "We have a lot of the mechanics down, general story outline," Nagel says. "If we had the funding now we would ship it a year from now." Nagel describes the game on its Facebook page as, "Black-White is a puzzle platform video game for PC/Mac/Linux. You must invert Happy Dude's color from black to white to solve challenging puzzles." So the Happy Dude can change colors which will allow the protagonist to make his way through different levels. Check out a demo of the game here. "When you're playing it it's very intuitive," Nagel says. "It makes a lot of sense." Nagel plans to launch the Black-White Game for laptop next year. He is working to launch a crowd-funding campaign for the video game later this fall. Source: Paul Nagel, creator of Black-White Game Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Josh Ross is starting his career by combining the two main subjects he studied in college, business and music. Ross graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelors degrees in both business administration and music earlier this year. So he launched the J-RO School of Music, a new business that teaches young people about music by using both classical and contemporary examples. "Everyone teaches classical," says Josh Ross, founder of J-RO School of Music. "That's great but if someone wants to learn about pop or hip-hop there aren’t many places that do it." The idea is to swim with the current when it comes to teaching young people about music by teaching them fundamentals for songs they are already excited about. Ross does camps and workshops that put equal emphasis on contemporary music, like pop, rock, musical theater, and hip-hop, and classical music. "What's great about it is the kids are familiar with the songs and then they want to learn how to play them," Ross says. The J-RO School of Music has facilitated 50 students so far this year. The students have ranged in ages from 7 to 70-years-old. Ross, who is releasing his own acoustic rock album this fall, would like to up those numbers beyond 100 and open his own storefront for the company over the next year. He hopes to use the base of that business to do more community outreach so underprivileged kids can have equal access to music education. "I want to make it sustainable so I can provide some programs for children who don’t have those opportunities," Ross says. Source: Josh Ross, founder of J-RO School of Music Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

With high scores in academic environment, good scores in quality of life and, well, less than good scores in professional opportunities, Ann Arbor still manged to take second place, sandwiched between Boulder, CO and Madison, WI. Excerpt: "The “college experience” is about more than simply attending a top-notch university. The city or town where the school is located also is important. The people students meet, the places they go, and the jobs they may hold are essential supplements to formal education." Check out the rankings here.

What we at Concentrate love almost as much as a story about a local musician developing technology to help his fellow artists is that this U.K. publication considers Ann Arbor part of Detroit. Yay regionalization! That's the spirit! Excerpt: "The dad-of-two, who now splits his time between visiting his children in Preston and Ann Arbour in Detroit, has performed in front of 25,000 people at Ewood Park after winning the Rock FM Rock Idol competition back in 2002. However, part of the ?reason for him developing the app was to allow musicians to have their music discovered without relying on radio play." Read the rest here.

Having gallons of pure, authentic Greek extra virgin olive oil around the house never seemed out of place for Grigorios Stamatopoulos, whose family has been farming olives and making oil for centuries in Greece. After bringing over an extra large supply and sharing it with some friends, however, he realized just how rare such high quality olive oil was to others.  "They said that there was something different about my olive oil," Stamatopoulos says. "They thought I should start selling it." A few years later, he began to do just that. His family in Greece began supplying him with the oil, and after bottling it, he began to sell it at a farmers market in Pittsfield Twp. After finding success there, he had market managers from all over the area approaching him to be a part of their market as well.  While he will continue to offer his Stamatopoulos and Sons olive oil at area markets, that demand inspired him to look for a more permanent place to sell his products. In a couple of weeks, Colonnade Mall on E. Eisenhower will become that place as the first Stamatopoulos and Sons store opens in a 1,700 square foot space.  "My goal in the beginning was just to raise awareness that in order to get the good stuff you have to know where it comes from," says Stamatopoulos. But people wanted to know where they could get this olive oil all the time." What makes his olive oil different, he says, is it's purity. Accoriding to Stamatopoulos, so much of what is sold as extra virgin olive oil in stores are in fact olive oil blends, some of which aren't actually extra virgin. His oil, coming from his family's farm in Greece, is superior in a way people can taste.  Stamatopoulos will offer a variety of olive oils in his store, at which he plans to employ a staff of five. He hopes to continue to grow his wholesale operations as he becomes established in retail as well.  Source: Grigorios Stamatopoulos, Stamatopoulos and Sons Writer: Natalie Burg

When it opens this Friday, Carrigan Cafe will be Saline's newest coffee spot, but it will come with lots of coffee know-how. Karen Carrigan, who will open the cafe with her husband Jason Carrigan brings her experience as a barista at the former Drowsy Parrot Coffee Shop and Brewed Awakenings Cafe, as well as a degree in hospitality.  "I've always wanted to do my own business, I just didn't know what," says Carrigan. "Over the years, aging and experiences I've worked in so many different restaurants and kitchens, and coffee is just where I was the happiest. I think it's the interaction with the people." Though Carrigan Cafe isn't yet open in the space formerly occupied by My Favorite Cafe, Carrigan has already had the opportunity to interact with some of the people who could become her future customers. "I was out the past two Saturdays passing out coffee, meeting new faces and seeing some of the faces from my previous work," she says. "It's nice to say 'hey' to them again."  Though some of her vendors and offerings will be the same as My Favorite Cafe, Carrigan will serve Coffee Express beans from Plymouth and will use other local vendors such as Ed's Bread, Benny's Bakery. Carrigan Cafe will open with a staff of five. The cafe website will go live soon.  Source: Karen Carrigan, Carrigan Cafe Writer: Natalie Burg

HealPay originally made its name by creating software that helped debtors pay their bills. Today the Ann Arbor-based startup is taking aim at a bigger market. "We have submerged ourselves into billing," says Erick Bzovi, co-founder of HealPay. HealPay is now offering its clients a more comprehensive option where it handles all of their billing and payments. Those services can now be done online or over the phone. It is also offering this with its original settlement app. "We're deploying an IVR so that debtors can check their balance at any time," Bzovi says. "That's huge." HealPay currently employs a staff of four employees and two interns. It recently turned one of those employees (a software developer) into a full-time position. It could do that because it has grown its client list to a number of medium-sized law firms and other businesses across the U.S., and that clientele is growing. "We want to be in a place where we double our client size," Bzovi says. "We'd like to have 60 or 70 clients and in more states. We're in seven different states now. We would like to be in 20 states." Source: Erick Bzovi, co-founder of HealPay Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ever look at a young man, notice what they're wearing and think, 'Ooohhhh... Not a good look'? A new startup founded by a University of Michigan graduate is looking to prevent that from ever happening. The Upswing Report is an online lifestyle publication that reps itself as "a young gentleman's guide to fashion, business, and lifestyle." It's a place where young men can go to figure out what works best for them when it comes to improving their game, whether it being climbing ladders socially or in the workplace. "It helps young guys go to the next level," says Austin Waldo, founder of The Upswing Report. Waldo graduated from the U-M in May with a dual bachelors degree in business administration and screen arts & cultures. He enjoyed sharing his thoughts on fashion and business and decided to turn it into The Upswing Report in February. The publication now has two editors and four writers. He has built his bi-weekly newsletter list to 2,000 people, but has bigger aspirations for it. "I want to use it as a platform to launch a clothing line," Waldo says. "It has taught me a lot about Internet marketing." Source: Austin Waldo, founder of The Upswing Report Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.