Recently by Colin Loomis

Lenders would ask, "How is it your going to make money with Pfizer closing down across the street?". They didn't get that the store was just a face for their online store. As a matter of fact, Tree Town Toys wasn't wincing from the Michigan economy at all, it was growing on wealth from around the country.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Financing | Tree Town Toys

Last time I wrote about Tree Town Toys, I mentioned how great their website functioned and how complete their toy selection was.  After speaking with Hans Masing (co-owner with his wife Tricia), I discovered that there is a lot more behind their store then just toys.

Spurred on the success of Brain Station, their online store, the Masings created a home base for their operations in Ann Arbor.  This is an area I feel that most entrepreneurs and business owners would feel missing if they operated solely as an online store.  With Tree Town Toys, Tricia and Hans had a home. 

As many return readers may note, Michigan Innovators has been spending a good portion of the summer on financing innovation.  With the departure of Pfizer from Ann Arbor, it's easy to envision large bags of money running out of Michigan's borders.  So when Hans came to investors trying to open his store across the street from the now nearly empty facility, they were skeptical.  What they failed to see was the huge potential of the online portion of the store.

So how did Hans get the investors to turn around?  While convincing numbers of their online sales always helps, managing growth is an important step as well.  If you know an industry well, there is always a void that needs filling.  Few other specialty toy stores had an online component to their stores.  This left an untapped market in the palms of the Masing's hands.

It also pays to have a unique perspective.  As an IT professor, Hans is far more business minded then the typical toy store owner.  Information technology is one of the fastest changing fields out there, so keeping up with the business world is simple for the couple.

Finally, in order to compete with the big guys, it helps to buy and sell like the big guys.  A new addition to their toy store family, Dragonfly Depot, brings the online store potential to other small mom and pop toy stores.  By managing inventories for multiple stores in one facility, all parties can benefit by splitting costs that would be too substational for each store to undertake on their own.  Stay tuned for more info on Dragonfly Depot.

While a great business plan and a smart approach towards investors always helps a business get off the ground, Tree Town Toys really taught me that when you have all of the pieces to your business puzzle set, everything will fall into place.  By starting with what you know best and expanding beyond your own experiences, you will find that there are more untapped pieces of business ideas that are waiting to be put together.

An American manufacturing company builds printed circuit boards in southeast Michigan. Saline Lectronics meets needs small and medium sized businesses.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Competing Globally | Manufacturing | Saline Lectronics | Saline, MI

As a leading manufacturer of Printed Circuit Board (PCB), Saline Lectronics provides their customers with a fully integrated system which gives customers flexibility and control throughout the entire production process.  This insurance comes with an involved testing process, quick and efficient manufacturing, prototypes to test validity of design, and finally a flexible inventory management system.  Addressing the needs of small and medium sized business, Saline Lectronics works with wide array of industries; ranging from medical to aerospace. 

A standout feature of Saline Lectronics is their quality of service.  Not only do they quality test along most points of the production process, they guarantee response to your assembly needs within 24 hours and offer instant job estimates online.  In a market segment that is often outsourced overseas, it is easy to see that in order to stay competitive Saline Lectronics offers a friendly, customer focus approach to their business strategy.

Saline Lectronics knows more then just PCB construction.  They also excel at electromechanical design, DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly), project engineering, and outsourcing.  All of this in pursuit to “Deliver the highest quality circuit board assemblies, on time, within budget, and providing the best customer service possible”. 

Tree Town Toys fills a market void in the toy industry, providing their product list in multiple different search queries, from age range to different skill sets required for games. From local to national business plans, this local company might have both figured out.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Information Technology | Start-Ups | Tree Town Toys

One year ago this month, Hans and Tricia Masing took their online store, Brain Station, to the store front.  Opening their first store, Tree Town Toys in Ann Arbor, they were looking to provide unique and interesting toys to the community.  As new parents, they were driven by their own search for great toys for their children.

As automotive engineer (Tricia) and an IT guy (Hans), the two seem to be an odd couple in the toy industry.  However, combing their quest for toys with Hans' IT experience proved fruitful and helped create their online store Brain Station.  Filling a market void in the toy industry, Tree Town Toys and Brain Station provides their product list in multiple different search queries, from age range to different skill sets required for games.  Want to develop hand eye coordination? They've got 243 toys for that.  Toys for a 1-2 year olds?  Choose from 53 different toys for them.

As all start up companies discover financing is one of the most difficult portions of the process.  Hans and Tricia were no exception to this.  Tricia notes the Michigan economy as a stumbling block.  She notices a change in targeting perspective as one solution to their initial problems.  Current perspectives are interested in national, not local business.  Managing an online store for Tree Town Toys, which is very similar to their Brain Station store, must have helped to ease investors minds.  While the store was only in Ann Arbor, their products are still being sold across the United States.

Beyond toys, Tree Town Toys provides the community with two other great assets.  They are helping our economy by providing more jobs.  Those interested in marketing, customer service, and toys should check out their careers page. Need a creative activity for your own children?  Take a look at their events page.

Peer-2-Peer file sharing programs don't offer much security to their users. Users are capable of titling their files as they please and use of a p2p network requires direct access to a users file network. Tranche solves this problem with their Java based client-server network.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Information Technology | University of Michigan

File sharing systems like Bear Share and Limewire are unsecured file sharing systems because they offer little security to their users.  The two areas in which peer-to-peer (P2P) programs fail the most are in accountability and the need to directly access users files.  Additionally, shared files are not indexed, so the user relies on the file holder to provide secure and accurate data.

In enters Tranche, a client server network which provides secure data sharing for the scientific community.  Created by Jayson Falkner at the University of Michigan in late 2005, Tranche is part of the National Resource for Proteomics and Pathways. Tranche proved to be a reliable data bank for proteomics and is now being used in the fields of glycomics, metabalomics, and 2D gel data.

Tranche goes against the grain in their pursuit of security.  Their software is built off of Java Webstart and is a complete server side operation.  Several security issues are resolved by simply switching to server side software.  Tranche controls all of the data that is shared over their network and keeps their users safe by monitoring all of the files shared on their system.  In addition, users must request the ability to upload data to the server.  Once they have approval, their log in is typically valid for only two weeks.  This ensures that a user name and password cannot be stolen and reused by an distrusted user. Upon upload, all files are given a unique hash. This enables quick retrieval of data from the database.

Finally, users are allowed to encrypt their data and share their passphrase with limited parties.  So while anyone can log onto Tranche and download data as they please, you can restrict access with passphrases.  If at a later time the owner wishes to publish their data, they have the option to share the passphrase.

As virus's become more advanced and the number of infected computers rises, I'm sure many more programs will follow in Tranches footsteps. Their client-server environment keeps their users safe and happy.  On top of all of that, Tranche is completely free to use and is open source.

The use of SaaS to provide businesses with solutions to common international business problems.

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Competing Globally | Janeeva

When companies go global, they are doing much more then opening shop in a different country.  They are accepting an entirely new culture and way of life different from their own.  The single most difficult piece of this process is communication.  Companies have difficulties managing communication within their own office, so imagine the trouble you could find yourself in a foreign country.  Along with the communication differences comes different technology standards, government policies, and business practices.  It is no wonder why going global is one of the most daunting tasks a business owner faces.

This is where Janeeva steps in. As a company specializing in Outsource Relationship Management, Janeeva can help smooth out the communication process of globalization.  Areas that Janeeva provides assistance in include: Governance, IT Support, Call Centers, Financial Services, and Heathcare.

To understand how Janeevas software works, you first need to understand Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS. SaaS is an emerging way of administering software solutions. Vendors provide their services over the internet, rather then giving you a software package to load onto your computer. This enables everyone to use the same software, thus eliminating compatibility issues. Saas also simplifies software updates, with all updates managed server-side; you get the most up-to-date version of the software every time you log on.

The most impressive point of Janeeva is the experience of their management team. Their CEO, Vinay Gupta, has an astounding history managing companies on a global scale. Additional members of their staff show very strong computer skills along with international experience.

Janeeva provides an affordable way to launch into a global market. Their great selection of products gives Janeevas customers convient access to technology that limits communication issues and solves many more business problems.

Utilizing innovation and market trends to assist companies in product launch

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Arbor Strategy Group | Innovation

Using innovation and market trends to assist companies in product launch is what the Arbor Strategy Group (ASG) is all about. Based in Ann Arbor, Mi, ASG provides strategic solutions on how to get great ideas off of the drawing board and targeted towards customers needs.

One of the most interesting practices of ASG is their collection of over 100,000 different products from as far back as the 1960s. This gives them the ability to see years of marketing and consumer trends. Products in this collection range from beverages to household items and a special rotating display featuring different items every month.  I see this as a great advantage over simply following typical methods of viewing trends, such as view charts and graphs. By actually seeing the different items, you can catch more detail and subtleties then by traditional methods.

Another way ASG stands out is by not just tracking trends in the U.S, but by gathering data of market trends around the world.  The benefits of this are quiet apparent, most of their customers are dealing with a global market, but I didn't expect this type of scope from a small business based in Ann Arbor.

My favorite part of ASG's website is its Hit or Miss section of their webpage.  Here they pick apart products that they think will be great hits and other products that failed miserably. 

With a friendly approach and a good view of today's market, I think ASG is in a prime position to be successful.  Given the current state of our economy, they could help many companies that are looking for someone to help them turn a profit in a turbulent market.

Meet and greet Michigan Innovators newest blogger

Like this? Let us know with a $5 donation, so we can do more

Filed under: Welcome

Welcome to the meet and greet for Michigan Innovators newest blogger, Colin Loomis. I am excited to join the team and provide you with more insight into innovation around Michigan throughout the summer. Currently, I am a student at Eastern Michigan and study International Business and Computer Information Systems. With only 3 semesters remaining in my studies, I am excited to apply what I have learned to real world applications in preparation for whatever comes next.

I was 16 when I traveled abroad for the first time and I haven't gone a year without traveling somewhere since then. After living in Germany for 5 months and visiting over 10 countries from 3 different continents, my appetite to learn more about different cultures only continues to grow. Working with Michigan Innovators will give me my first real chance to connect my international interests with business and computing interests. I am excited to see what Michigan companies are doing to keep up with the expanding global market.

 I look forward to spending this summer connecting with local businesses and sharing the innovative ways they have been able to use globalization to their advantage. I am always interested in hearing what you the reader has to say, whether you agree with me or not! Leave me some feedback and I will do my best to address your interests.

Signing off for the first of many times,

Colin