Ypsilanti, MI

Download iPod Video (54MB)

Early stage outside equity investors are angels and venture capitalists. Venture capitalists tend to come in later on deals, and angels seem to prefer more hands-on involvement with less initial investment. The SBTDC's Charlie Penner provides an overview of how these types of financing work in Michigan.

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

Filed under: Angel Investing | Charlie Penner | Financing Innovation | Small Business & Technology Development Center | Venture Capital | Ypsilanti, MI

 As Charlie Penner, Regional Director of the SBTDC, mentioned in his first segment, the first choice an entrepreneur has to make is between debt and equity, and most entrepreneurs receive their first financing from friends and family. In this segment, Charlie discusses outside equity. There are two types:

• Venture capitalists have focused interests. Firms tend to focus on one field to the exclusion of others. In Michigan, venture capitalists tend like to target business to business opportunities with proven markets.
• Angel investors range from sophisticated groups to high net worth individuals. As echoed by Terry Cross, angels bet on the individual entrepreneur and typically make investments under $1 MM.

Both sets of investors look for outsize returns which typically come from risky investments. However, in Michigan, angels and venture capitalists have begun to hedge their bets a bit by focusing on companies that are already demonstrating some market traction.

Additional Links:

• This link gives good tips on getting funding from friends and family which often precedes outside equity investment.
• Angels tend to invest locally because they like to be involved in the businesses they invest in.

Download iPod Video (64MB)

Aspiring entrepreneurs will need to invest significant financial resources of their own when they start their ventures. Friends and family can be a good source of funds. Care must be taken to specify the form of financing (debt or equity) and the terms under which it is supplied.

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

Filed under: Charlie Penner | Financing Innovation | Small Business & Technology Development Center | Ypsilanti, MI

The Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) helps small to medium sized businesses in Michigan. Often, it is one of the first places prospective business owners come when they consider starting a new venture. As a result, Charlie Penner, Regional Director of the SBTDC, has a lot of experience helping new business owners figure out how to finance their enterprises.  Charlie notes the following:

• Entrepreneurs should expect to make a significant personal financial investment in their firms. Others won't risk money if they won't.
• The fundamental divide in finance is between debt and equity. Simply stated, debt has to be repaid and is usually tied to hard assets that can be repossessed if the business fails. Equity implies and ownership stake in the business and a sharing of business risk.
• Many entrepreneurs use "friends and family" financing. A few things are important here:
  • Agreements should be formal stating terms of repayment if it is debt financing or ownership stake if equity financing.
  • Given the formal nature of the agreements, it pays to have an attorney involved.
  • Virgin Money is a good resource for all things that should be considered in this type of financing.

Download iPod Video (98MB)

In this segment of my case study, I continue describing the pay per click advertising campaign my Eastern Michigan University classmates and I developed for Dawn Farm. I detail the optimization strategies used to successfully bring Dawn Farm's online ad campaign on par with high performing commercial accounts.

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

Filed under: Dawn Farm | EMU Google Adwords Partnership | New Voices in Innovation | Ypsilanti, MI

As I indicated in my previous post, I had a unique classroom experience working with Google to develop a pay per click advertising campaign for Dawn Farm, a local non-profit organization.  I created actual online ads that connected people to Dawn Farm's website, and I was able to monitor the progress of my ads daily and develop successful optimization strategies.

My project's success came from learning how to identify the specific target market for each of my ads and creating ads that focused on what people in those target groups were searching for on the internet.   I learned that by using strong, catchy headlines and descriptive words in the ad text, I was able to make my ads stand out and grab my target audience's attention.  I also learned that by keeping my ads focused on a very specific product, my target audience was more likely to click on my ad and become potential customers. 

As I learned to optimize my ads, the quality score of the ads increased.  This increase in quality score further improved ad visibility by causing the ads to be positioned at the top of the search page.  The project required a lot of work and attention to detail.  From my hard work came a lot of valuable knowledge and experience.  At the end of my experience, I was rewarded with the ultimate measure of success, my ads obtained a clickthrough rate comparable to that of a highly successful commercial ad.   

Download iPod Video (100MB)

In this first segment, I lay out the challenges one faces in developing pay per click advertising campaigns for non-profit organizations. I use the case of the campaign we developed for Dawn Farm as part of an innovative partnership between Google and Eastern Michigan University.

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

Filed under: Dawn Farm | EMU Google Adwords Partnership | New Voices in Innovation | Ypsilanti, MI

Last semester, I participated in an innovative partnership between Google and Eastern Michigan University where my classmates and I developed Google Adwords campaigns for several local non-profit organizations. This is the first segment of a case study I have prepared about the challenges we faced and overcame as part of this experience.

My team had the pleasure of working with an Ypsilanti-based organization called Dawn Farm.  Dawn Farm works to assist alcohol and drug addicts obtain long-term recovery. This first case study segment that I'm presenting here provides an overview of the initial challenges we faced in managing this account.  New to the world of pay-per-click advertising, my classmates and I went through the growing pains of learning how to effectively market a company over the internet.  We found that trial and error, actively monitoring our progress, and good communication with our organization were all key to our Google Adwords success.

We were able to establish a strong working relationship with Jason Schwartz, the Clinical Director of Dawn Farm.  This relationship was one of the key elements that helped us figure out an effective strategy for Dawn Farm. Jason provided us with valuable insight regarding Dawn Farm's clients and the advertising needs of the Dawn Farm organization.  As my classmates and I worked dilligently at fine tuning the online ads we created for Dawn Farm, we observed how our efforts caused a significant growth in the amount of traffic that Dawn Farm's website received.  By the end of the semester, it was obvious that our efforts had paid off.  Jason Schwartz reported that the amount of traffic on Dawn Farm's website increased over 60%, and Dawn Farm noticed a growth in the amount of applicants.

Currently I am still maintaining Dawn Farm's Google Adwords account and am also a reporter in Michigan Innovators' bullpen section. In future segments, I will focus on how we brought Dawn Farm's Google Adwords campaign on par with high performing commercial accounts.