Donald Hogan has been boot strapping his start-up, KnowledgeWatch, since he started it in 2006. Now it's gaining some traction thanks in part to the talent he is finding through
Ann Arbor SPARK's Shifting Gears program.
KnowledgeWatch's staff of five employees and an intern is developing software that aggregates, analyzes and sorts online content in a way that is similar to Google searches. Among the downtown Ann Arbor firm's target market are assemblers of trade publications or hobby sites (which number in the tens of thousands). It has found many of its employees and advisors through Shifting Gears, a program offered through
Ann Arbor SPARK that helps professionals and executives transition from working at big corporations and into start-ups.
"We've found some diamonds in the rough through Shifting Gears," says Hogan, CEO of
KnowledgeWatch.
The company is also in the process of implementing more of its products with existing customers and developing new sales leads. It hopes to perfect its product offerings in Michigan over the next year and go national after that.
"We're ready to seek funding and we have a customer base that continues to grow," Hogan says.
Source: Donald Hogan, CEO of KnowledgeWatchWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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