Recently in The MORE Program Category

They have chosen to use alternative materials in building small wind turbines in an attempt to increase efficiency and decrease cost. With only a few tweaks of materials, Anderson and King have a real shot at breaking into the fledgling industry.

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Filed under: Alphonse Anderson | Ann Arbor, MI | Charles King | Competing Globally | Financing | Innovation | Renewable Energy | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | Velocity² Wind | Wind Power

Recently, I met with Alphonse Anderson and Charles King, founders of Velocity² Wind and participants in the MORE Program. They have chosen to use alternative materials in building small wind turbines in an attempt to increase efficiency and decrease cost. With only a few tweaks of materials, Anderson and King have a real shot at breaking into the fledgling industry.

The fledgling industry of small wind power, that is. Large-scale commerical-grade wind power is already a huge market, making up most of the 5.2 thousand Megawatts of wind power that was installed in the U.S. just last year. However, the small wind industry is still struggling to take flight, mostly due to the consumer worries of cost efficiency, noise, and visual impact. Oh, and safety issues, too (although there have been no 'innocent bystander' casualties due to wind power. The only casualties have been to workers installing and repairing the large-scale systems, and an unfortunate parachuting accident).

When King had the idea for using alternative materials for a wind turbine, he realized that the only way to properly approach his idea was to attempt it in small wind systems, whether or not it would work in large-scale wind. He remarked that trying to pitch his idea to the large-scale wind companies would be futile, but small wind was a good bet since no company has jumped out to be the leader.

Anderson and King have been working with prototypes of their design and comparing it to existing designs from competitors. So far, their tests have given them great results. Since they decided to enter an industry that has not yet solidified may very well allow them to break through to the surface soon.

I asked Yue what he thought about that day when he had his meeting with Zell Lurie and entered in the Empowered Business Plan Competition. He said "it was at that point where the resources really started to pour in."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Education & Training | Financing | Innovation | MPowered Entrepreneurship | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | Yue Fan | Zell Lurie Institute

One question remains from my series on Yue Fan, his Pattern Clock, and the MORE Program: How did Yue get involved in the first place? Obviously he had the idea for the clock, but how did he set the process in motion?

"I had the prototype and I was dressed up for a meeting [with the Zell Lurie Institute at the UM Business School]. The Business School runs a program where they invest about $100,000 in companies."

Yue continued, "I was in preparation for the meeting but I was walking through North Campus when I saw this [MPowered Student Organization] Business Plan Competition, so I thought 'I might as well do that.' A little bit later we found out we'd won, and we won a trip to California to learn more about starting your own company." A trip to California including the opportunity to give a pitch to a panel of respected Venture Capitalists and get feedback from them.

"That was really how I got started with entrepreneurship resources at Michigan and around Ann Arbor. Before that, I kinda just sat in my room and tried to get help online."

For those of you keeping score at home, that's 3 opportunities. He made a pitch to the Zell Lurie Institute at UMich. He was a winner of the MPowered Business Plan Competition. After he submitted his business plan to the MORE Program, he got involved in their summer internship, including receiving $5,000 in grant money.

I asked Yue what he thought about that day when he had his meeting with Zell Lurie and entered in the Empowered Business Plan Competition. He said "it was at that point where the resources really started to pour in."

There are tons of opportunities for University of Michigan students. Yue didn't even participate in the MORE Program's job fair earlier this year, designed to help students get internships with start-up companies. In future posts, I will tackle the issue of finding opportunities like the ones detailed here that are available to not just college students, but to the general public.

Yue needs some help applying for a patent for his Pattern Clock: "I wrote a non-provisonal patent by myself, so we know it's bad. We know it's really bad." Luckily, as MORE Program Director Jessica Pfeiffer explained to the Detroit Free Press, "We're here to be mentors and provide helpful connections between entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor and Detroit."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Education & Training | Financing | Innovation | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | University of Michigan | Yue Fan

The MORE Program at the University of Michigan does more for young entrepreneurs than just give them grant money. Yue Fan said that "the MORE Program is a program that helps students get experience and get knowledge in starting their own companies."

Yue needs some help applying for a patent for his Pattern Clock: "I wrote a non-provisonal patent by myself, so we know it's bad. We know it's really bad."  Luckily, as MORE Program Director Jessica Pfeiffer explained to the Detroit Free Press, "We're here to be mentors and provide helpful connections between entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor and Detroit." Connections such as possibly finding a good patent attorney.

Yue told me more about his activities with the MORE Program: "We have weekly meetings and we get to ask the directors, Brian[Balasia] and Jessica [Pfeiffer] for advice at any time [...] during our weekly meetings we get to bring up what resources we need and what we're kind of getting stuck on that they'll work to find the resources we need to keep going."

"Every week we meet, one team gives a presentation about what they're doing so we learn a little bit more about eachother and we learn a little bit more about what we might run into as we progress along."

So where has Yue progressed to now? He's considering advertising the Pattern Clock on New York City radio. Although it would cost him $3,600, which seems like it would be a lot of money, the advertising would "make about 500,000 impressions." 

"It's amazing how effective radio advertising can be," said Yue.

Anybody can pre-order the Pattern Clock through the website. He's already gotten 1,000 pre-orders, of which "a few hundred" were in the first few days after being "featured on gizmodo.com, a tech blog, and other blogs." About the large amount of pre-orders, Yue said, "it's a pretty good indicator that people want to buy this."

When I asked Yue what he will do with his $5,000 grant from the MORE program, he told me: "right now, we're saving up for the possibly very expensive lawyer and attorney fees for pursuing a patent."

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Education & Training | Financing | Innovation | Start-Ups | The MORE Program | University of Michigan | Yue Fan

On Thursday I posted an entry called Michigan's MisadVenture Capital in which I detailed Michigan's poor venture capital and planned "to examine how universities such as the University of Michigan present opportunities for their students to navigate their way through the early stages of bringing innovation to market." Recently, I met with Yue Fan, who just finished his second year at UM, to talk about his invention, the Pattern Clock.

According to the website, www.patternclock.com, "Pattern Clock is an alarm clock that can not be turned off until the sleeper can repeat back a randomely generated pattern of lights." More information on how it works can be found here, and you can pre-order it (with no obligations) on his home page.

I remember talking to Yue about his Pattern Clock two years ago when we were both seniors at Ann Arbor Huron High. Of course, back then it wasn't much more than an idea. When I saw his picture in the June 23rd Detroit Free Press, I decided to ask him about the process that he has gone through with his innovation.

The Detroit Free Press article highlighted Yue and as one of the students run through the MORE Program. When I asked Yue what he will do with his $5,000 grant from the program, which is run through the University of Michigan, he told me: "right now, we're saving up for the possibly very expensive lawyer and attorney fees for pursuing a patent." He went on to say, "If you want to make a lot of money from [an idea] and have a successful company formed you should probably first check [...] to make sure you can get patent protection, because without it anybody can copy your product. If it's a consumer product it's very easy to copy and you will be forced out of the market by more experienced and bigger manufacturers."

I also asked him if he had ever searched Google for "How do I get money for my invention?" His reply was "Well, I think I might have searched for that exact phrase before. But mostly what you'll get is a site that tells you all the extents you have go through, and at the end it tells you that all of this, it's pretty unlikely to happen."

"We [Yue has gotten help from David Karlak and David Han, who attend Savannah College of Art and Design and Wharton School, respectively] did meet with a very nice banker at Comerica bank, and the problem with that is that we're still in school, and if somehow something goes horribly wrong, we're going to be graduating with more than $100,000, plus tuition, on our back. We don't feel that at this point in life its worth the risk."

As for getting monetary contributions from his family, he said, "I think I might have some rich, distant relatives, but I have no idea who they are."

Yue's opinion on what you should do to start a business? "If you go to the University of Michigan, you should contact [MORE Program Directors] Brian [Balasia] and Jessica [Pfeiffer], or go to the website, www.themoreprogram.com."