Demetrius Dixon used to work as a carpet cleaner. He was the on-the-ground man in Detroit for a New York-based company. It was a good gig -- so good that it inspired him to launch his own business, Pristine Impressions.
That was a year ago. It started with Dixon just working on carpet cleaning. He then brought his brothers who has worked in things like property management and landscaping into the business. Now Pristine Impressions has expanded into a full-fledged property management firm with a list of a couple dozen clients.
"We're just growing," Dixon says.
Dixon is also a junior at Wayne State University, pursuing a bachelors degree in business management. He got some help from
Blackstone LaunchPad, a university program that helps students turn their aspirations for launching a business into reality.
"It gave me all sorts of experience that will help me be a better business owner," Dixon says.
It also gave the Woodbridge-based company some seed capital. Pristine Impressions won $5,000 from Blackstone LaunchPad's Warrior Fund earlier this month as part of the program's pitch competition. Dixon and his brothers plan to put the money to use by purchasing $3,000 in new equipment and spending $2,000 to develop a software database to better run the back end of the business.
"I want to be a leading property management firm in Detroit," Dixon says.
Source: Demetrius Dixon, founder of Pristine Impressions
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.