Blink and you won't miss them: indie bookstores are here to stay in Ann Arbor. Excerpt: "Don't look now, but a small literary renaissance is sweeping Ann Arbor. In the midst of a nationwide bookstore die-off, by summer's end this famously academic city will have two new independent bookstores, each started by an idealistic young married couple.... Indeed, statistics from the American Booksellers Association, which represents independent bookstores, defy the gloomy prognosis. In 2009, the ABA had 1,401 member businesses. Today it has 1,632. The number has grown every year for the past four, but significantly, jumped the most between 2011 and 2012 — the year that Borders vanished." More here.

Source: DeWight Plotner, Wheels in Motion  Writer: Natalie Burg

Leon Speakers is known for its high-end, custom-built, home-entertainment technology. So why is the Ann Arbor-based company spinning out a tech start-up focused on creating software platforms that helps businesses communicate and run with more ease and efficiency? Kontextual is the result of a company innovating new ways to overcome operations problems and discovering a whole new business in the process. The 1-year-old start-up's software helps streamline the way companies internally communicate, find information and measure results. "We have something that seems interesting to people, but we need to see how it creates value and for whom," says Kurt Skifstad, CEO of Kontextual. That's start-up speak for, 'We think we have a winner but we're still figuring out how to make it profitable.' Kontextual's team of four employees and one intern aren't the only group who believes they have something special. RPM Ventures, an Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm, has invested $200,000 in the start-up. That's one of the early investments in a seed capital round that has reached $650,000 and is aiming to raise about $1 million before the end of the year. Kontextual describes its technology as a platform that "helps companies build transparent, metric-driven cultures. Our cloud- and mobile-based platform helps companies share important information locked in planning spreadsheets, walled off in expensive enterprise platforms, and lost in the black hole of the corporate inbox. The result is strategic alignment of resources, increased efficiency, and significant cost savings for the business, and greater job satisfaction for employees." "It's about decreasing the friction to get the information you need in a company," Skifstad says. Kontextual is in the late stages of its Beta development. It expects to begin shipping the first commercial versions of its software platform in September. It is also looking to hire two more software developers and expects to have a staff of eight people by the end of the year. Source: Kurt Skifstad, CEO of Kontextual Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Margaret Schankler was a serial entrepreneur with a successful business. Then in 2011 she closed her e-commerce company in Ann Arbor and decided to start something new, an ice cream truck venture. Hello! Ice Cream specializes in delivering sweet, cold treats from a vintage ice cream truck. The 1-year-old business is enough to employ Schankler and that's just what the Ann Arborite wants. "One of my goals is to do something that makes people happy," Schankler says. "No one is sad to see your ice cream truck." She adds that Hello! Ice Cream will be the last business of her career. She spent a year creating a vintage-looking ice cream truck and finding the best recipes to make her own ice cream and other overlooked but important aspects of the business. She is building it one piece at a time, just like every other company she has started. "I look at a business as a business, it's just a different market," Schankler says. Hello! Ice Cream has seen an explosion of interest in its first year, according to Schankler. She thought she would be doing mostly farmers' markets and other similar events, but has been overwhelmed by the demand for her to cater private events across Metro Detroit. "It's something I thought would be a lot of fun, and it is," Schankler says. Source: Margaret Schankler, proprietor of Hello! Ice Cream Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Seed capital is essential to any start-up, especially to new ones being developed by college students. What might be even more important for that segment of new entrepreneurs is establishing ties with the people who control the seed capital purse strings. The organizers behind this year's Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition are looking at making that sort of access a prize in this year's competition. For instance, the winner of Accelerate Michigan's student competition could take home a few thousand dollars in seed capital and a date for lunch with a prominent local investor. "It could be something for a company that is totally life changing," says Lauren Bigelow, executive director for the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. The business plan competition is held each fall in southeast Michigan. This year's event will be held in mid-November in downtown Detroit. Ann Arbor-based start-ups led by University of Michigan students have traditionally done quite well in the competition; Kymeira Advanced Materials took home first place last year. The company, now known as Covaron Advanced Materials, was developed by a University of Michigan chemistry student. It also launched the company on a seed capital raise that hit $300,000 earlier this year. Accelerate Michigan would like to see that success replicated again this year with more student-led start-ups. "The focus this year for the students is getting them more involved with the angel community," Bigelow says. The deadline to enter the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition student competition is Sept 26. For information, click here. Source: Lauren Bigelow, executive director for the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

We've heard the anecdotes about tech companies moving to Michigan to take advantage of reasonable living costs and a considerably more tech-oriented culture than in the past. Could water-intensive industries be far behind? Excerpt: "Climate change and population growth are making the Great Lakes region’s role as a global food producer more important as water shortages become more severe in other parts of the world.... The Great Lakes are positioned to become “ground zero” as water vanishes elsewhere. The region has long been viewed as one of the world’s most abundant collections of fresh water and would be in a crucial position to adapt to a global water crisis.... “We are going to see and are already seeing water-intensive industries move back to the Midwest,” said Jim Byrum, Michigan Agri-Business Association president. One such industry is dairy farming. Some California dairy farmers, frustrated by California’s tighter water restrictions, have relocated to northwest Ohio and parts of Michigan." More here.

A Stanford grad and California native moved his medical device company to Ann Arbor to utilize the talent of former Pfizer staffers and U-M's technology.  Excerpt: "Everist Genomics has developed a device called the AngioDefender that in a deceptively simple way tests the resiliency and therefore the health of a subject's blood vessels. Now marketed in India and soon to be sold in Europe and other parts of the world, the AngioDefender might one day be as synonymous with Michigan as Vernor's and Domino's." More here.

Source: Kelly Johnson, Traveling Gourmet Writer: Natalie Burg