Investors support Lakeshore tech firms

ZEELAND, Mich. (WOOD) - A new initiative funded with private-sector dollars plans to give up to five high-tech start-ups a place to set up shop in West Michigan, and more importantly, money to grow and advice from experienced entrepreneurs.

Leaders of the initiative, dubbed " Momentum", say they are looking for "young entrepreneurs who have exceptional technology and Web application ideas."

The end goal is to grow jobs and keep creative-minded workers in the region.

"There's a ton of talent around here. I don't think it's being cultivated as well as it potentially could," said Spout.com Chief Operating Officer Bill Holsinger-Robinson, who will be among the mentors working with the start-ups.

The private funders working on the program with Zeeland-based economic development group Lakeshore Advantage include the DeVos family's Windquest Group. Rick DeVos, grandson of Amway co-founder Rich DeVos, runs Spout.com.

The start-ups will work for 12 weeks this summer out of the old Colonial Clock Building in Zeeland.

"We really want to give the people that are a part of the program a real kind of boot camp experience, have their ideas and their technology critiqued and really get them to a spot where they've got a solid product at the end of the summer," Holsinger-Robinson said.

Start-up leaders will network during the summer with investors who could fund the companies beyond the program's length.

And when it's done?

"We put them in front of the investors and see what happens," Holsinger-Robinson said.

The total budget for the program is $100,000, roughly $20,000 per company.

"You don't have to necessarily look at huge amounts of capital to invest at once and get something to market," Holsinger-Robinson explained.

Web entrepreneur Brad MacLean says that kind of small investment was critical to his firm.

"Oh, it was huge," said MacLean, who runs CreativeByline.com.

"We're like Match.com but for book authors and book publishers," he explained.

MacLean's firm was the first to get seed money from Lakeshore Advantage. The group's director of entrepreneurial development, Amanda Chocko, said Momentum will give an opportunity to "younger entrepreneurs, who wouldn't normally get the backing to come into our incubator."

The program is modeled after California's "Y Combinator," the venture group that has helped build sites like Slideshare.net.

Life sciences incubators are up and running in West Michigan, including one in Kalamazoo and another in Grand Rapids. Birgit Klohs of The Right Place, Inc. told 24 Hour News 8 leaders of the Grand Rapids incubator, housed along the Medical Mile, are looking for additional space to grow.

Momentum hopes to translate that success from biotech to Webtech.

"I think there's a great opportunity here to really build an industry," Holsinger-Robinson said.

The Web entrepreneur said that while the economy could hurt the ability of the start-ups to get financing once the program is complete, he sees the downturn as an opportunity as well.

"I think companies are at the spot right now where they're starting to get rid of really great talent, and that talent can't just sit there wasting. It needs something to feed it."

Applications are due March 1 at Momentum's Web site.