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.

What is "out there" for small wind turbines? Again, King: "We've found ourselves taking ideas from aerospace to roller coasters." Roller coasters? Sure, the aerospace industry can easily offer some design ideas to small wind turbines, but the thought to look into how roller coasters are built (presumably regarding their light-weight structure; they wouldn't comment) is marvelous.

It turns out that Anderson and King have tapped in to a historically successful business plan: don't re-invent the wheel. When creating a new product, there are so many things that can go wrong (many of which cannot be prepared for or are completely unexpected), so it only makes sense to use existing technology or ideas in your product to increase reliability.

King told me that it's necessary to make sure that the idea is original. He said to use "Google Patents and research databases of universities to look for Phd. topics" and to find where technology is now. There's no sense in spending your time on a product for which you cannot get a patent or a service that is already being developed by another (presumably larger) company.

He said that "you must look at your personal network to find people who are willing to help you." This goes beyond asking freinds and family for money. When starting a new endeavor, you need to know who can be a part of your program, or even who knows somebody who can offer advice or a service. It's much more efficient to utilise your network rather than the yellow pages for your entrepreneurial needs.

King followed up by saying "If you believe that you have no connections, then you're not trying hard enough."

When I asked Heiss about Michigan’s future, he  pointed out that we have to look at what resources and strengths we have to offer, as a state.  One example he mentioned was the creative class in Florida; where the arts are supporting a good portion of the economy there.

In the next part, Mr. Heiss reveals his innovative ideas to kick-start a fading, but promising market in Michigan.  

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.

A good way to turn around this poor economy is by creating new industries to bring money into Michigan. UM has begun to meet new entrepreneurs halfway by allowing them to "utilize the school's enormous resources [such as] faculty consulting, laboratory equipment, research projects and professional development classes."

What does this mean? Well, for one, that UM is feeling the slow economy. In addition, it has decided to take steps toward changing things. With any luck, area entrepreneurs will be able to use UM's resources to solidify their business in the market.

Corn ethanol, the biofuel receiving the most support from the U.S. government, is a bad substitute for gas. In fact, corn ethanol provides not more than a 3% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, whereas sugar cane ethanol and celluslosic ethanol, respectively, provide a 50%-70% and more than 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. As it turns out, corn ethanol is not very 'green.'

Yes, ethanol can be very useful as fuel. It could reduce our consumption of gasoline. Experts agree that ethanol is energy efficient. But corn ethanol isn't the answer. If we are to use biofuel, then we need to choose a more efficient type of ethanol. However, we need to choose wisely because with the help of biofuels food prices are soaring. Biofuels should only be a means to an end, not a permanent solution. The only way to create a system that can last is to eliminate the use of oil.

For instance, General Motors is a great example of how to integrate technologies within the company and with its suppliers. In order to reach maximum efficiency, there needs to be a smooth and quick flow of information and processes throughout the supply chain.  So when a customer makes a purchase, the system is automatically updated to reflect this in inventory, and when a certain level of inventory is reached, once again, the system automatically orders more needed products all without human interference. In order to do this, it takes the integration and compatibility of a customized information system and technologies. 

There are many other companies that offer enterprise architecture services:

Meta Integration

Best Practice Dynamics

Conlin Consulting

Cygnus Systems, Inc.
 

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”. 

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.

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.

Of course, this leads us to alternative energy. The only problem is that every type of alternative energy has its downside. Some of the most notable are: the radiation hazard of nuclear power, and the price and unpredictability of solar and wind power.

So we've come to the point where we need to choose which type of energy has the least amount of undesireable 'negatives.' I say that fossil fuels have the highest potential for problems; not only do they create tons of pollution, but we have allowed ourselves to be tied to this non-renewable resource. On the other hand, barring any unforeseen disastrous global climate emergencies, the sun and the wind are about as certain as death and taxes.

Whether it will be one hundred or one thousand years before we run out of oil, we need to embrace alternative energies now because it will take decades for us to ween ourselves from fossil fuels. Until we can rely on clean energies for most of our consumption, we must reduce our use of oil. This starts with improving biofuel technology so that we can produce it with clean energy without net energy loss. It starts with replacing the outdated power lines that cross the United States with new high-voltage lines that carry energy from wind farms to the cities that need it. It starts with hybrid-electic cars and hydrogen fuel cells.

There's no reliable way to tell how much oil the earth has left. And if we run out, then you can just about say good-bye to plastics, among other things. We need to start the process towards alternative energies now. This requires us to buy in to alternative energies and to reduce our oil consumption.

Yes we have, but as Dr. Livermore pointed out there are some computer jobs that can be easily outsourced to other countries, such as computer programming and data entry. However, many computer related careers are safe right here at home since they require the IT professional to be on site. For instance, especially in computer networking where a group of computers have to be physically connected through wires or wireless connections, as well as all the necessary programs installed on them, need to be done in person. Additionally, many times computer networking includes security, so the IT professional would have to install anti-virus programs, firewalls, anti-spyware, and the updates that go along wtih these, along with running regular backups, maintaining the system, etc., so the IT professional would need to be on-site, or readily accessible nearby.

In the next part of this series, I will reveal the most sought after IT field. Companies who seek out these specific IT professionals will definitely have the competitive advantage.

Menlo Park is the laboratory where Edison invented the light bulb, another major innovation that has changed how we live. Even to try to understand how Edison came up with the idea of a light bulb is almost incomprehensible. For instance, was he fed up with using candles one day and decided to create something better that did not exist? This was an innovation based on inconvenience that evolved into a much more important concept. It just took some creative thinking, problem solving, and over a thousand t rials and errors!

In the next part, I will further explain how the creation of the light bulb led to other life altering innovations.