TechTown, Detroit's business accelerator, is partnering with Silicon Valley-based NewME Accelerator for a pop-up event at the end of the month that is more than what it seems on the surface.
The
NewME Accelerator bills itself as "a residential technology start-up accelerator/incubator for businesses that are led by under-represented minorities in the technology industry." Its partners include tech-giant Google. It will be hosting an intensive version of its program over three nights in TechTown in an effort to help find more startups for its incubator. It's an event organizers from both California and Detroit see less about stealing startups than sharing opportunities.
"Some startups relocate (to Silicon Valley) but a lot of startups end up going back to where they are from," says Angela Benton, founder & CEO of the NewME Accelerator. "These startups become go-to people in their communities."
A couple of Detroit-based startups have already made gone through one of the NewME Accelerator's 12-week cycles.
Ubi Video took part in the program last year and
Rippld, a
Detroit Creative Corridor Center graduate, is currently going through the program.
"We try to look at start-up ideas and their ideas were very good," Benton says.
Leslie Smith, CEO of
TechTown, says this is a healthy exchange of entrepreneurs and ideas across entrepreneurial ecosystems. She thinks the connections and ideas that come from this sort of cooperation will help broaden the Motor City's start-up community by increasing opportunities for investment.
"We need to get away from the 'us-vs-them' mindset and into an 'us' mindset," Smith says.
Source: Angela Benton, founder & CEO of the NewME Accelerator
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.