Hey Michigan, GET A CLUE… The digital economy is the future!!

First and foremost, welcome to Michigan! Its a beautiful state with a screwed up government and a lot of people with great ideas. Time and time again, Crain’s Detroit Business has reported on the spirit of innovation here and the corresponding lack of support for it. Innovation is of the utmost importance and provide a great vehicle for getting this state back on its feet, yet there is still no concrete effort or idea for supporting and growing innovation based businesses here.

Sure, we have the 21st Century Jobs Fund but has it really done any good for the state from a short term perspective? It’s a great fund you know, something in the range of $2Bil earmarked for anything in Advanced Manufacturing, Alternative Energy, Homeland Security, or Bio Sciences. Why so specific? Are we treating special interests here? Seems kinda of fishy that a great majority of all funded businesses in Michigan are in the Bio-Sciences world, and if I’m not mistaken, does it not take in the range of 7-10 years for any BIO to turn a prospective profit? Look around Michigan, our great state has a whole lot more to offer.

Ever heard of the internet? It’s not a fad! No, really- it’s not! The biggest problem in Michigan is the legacy of the laggard, late adopter mentality. Let me be clear, WE ARE ENTITLED TO NOTHING. The Auto industry was started here, but they are not obligated to stay here. So, lets look at diversifying our economy and align with the “E” Economy and DO SOMETHING about our state wide economic conditions.

There are many compelling reasons to align with digital business. In my experience in overseeing a start up, the intrinsic value can be profound, highly scalable, and run on a very tight budget. I’m not saying that we’re going to see the next YouTube.com, Google.com, or even Microsoft pop up here, but digital business creates a unique, new opportunity. For the businesses in the E-commerce space, there is the prospect of bringing new dollars in from out of state paid through the MBT (HEY MICHIGAN GOV’T, MORE TAX REVENUE HERE). Additionally, these scaling businesses create new jobs, and typically are willing to hire people at a lower pay scale and teach them to do the job at hand. Digital business alone is not the silver bullet, but is something that needs to be seriously considered for the future of our state.

HEY MICHIGAN, GET A CLUE!!!

So you’ve got a digital / internet start up in Michigan?.. now what?

As the chair of a digital networking group, I am introduced to a number of new digital ideas weekly. I love it, but one thing that seems to be a trend is the lack of understanding of the digital world. My colleagues and I are very adept to the web market place and have a pretty good understanding of its intricacies, but our geographic location makes us the minority. See, we’re in Michigan, you know the place known to be the “World Capital of the Auto Industry”.

Being a digital / internet entrepreneur here is a tough case as the business majority just does not get us. The primary point of separation or misunderstanding is what is misconstrued as an “asset free” business model. In Michigan, there has long been a focus on manufacturing and industry of which a common trait is tangible assets and the high prospect of intellectual property in the form of Patents. Conversely, in the digital world, we do have assets, of a very high value in fact, but they are in digital format. In many cases, the assets are are patentable, but remain trade secret due to the nature of the internet. This seems to be a primary sticking point for those businesses that are scaling and fundable because the investment community is just not prepared to work with such an enterprise, or are they??? Its time for change here thats for sure, who’s interested in leading the charge?

In Michigan, we have a rapidly growing community of digital enterprises and start ups. Of the 50+ enterprises related to Digital Edge Mi many of which are fundable, but due to the economic environment combined with the legacy mentality, the digital business is being ignored. Our Digital Edge seeks to change this environment over time, but its looking to be an uphill battle. Of our members that are funded, the dramatic majority of their funding has come from sources out of state and that is a travesty.

So what is my underlying message to Michigan Digital Entrepreneurs? Stick with it, we’re going to make the system work, but its going to require getting involved. Best case is to join Digital Edge on Facebook and get involved or contact me directly!