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!!!
