Moving interactive sports marketing firm Guest MVP to Royal Oak from Boston earlier this year was an easy decision for Gregory A. Nasto. However, it wasn't because of the usual reasons -- tax breaks or state aid. Loyalty stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Nasto points out that Michiganians, especially metro Detroiters, are almost pathologically loyal -- a mentality reinforced by generations of Big 3 culture, where careers are spent with one employer.

"We still support the Lions, for goodness sake," Nasto says.

That type of mindset, humility and work ethic isn't as prevalent out east, so he decided to move more than 600 miles away -- to downtown Royal Oak. Its people provide the right foundation for the 3-year-old start-up.

"I don't watch my crew leave at 5 p.m.," Nasto says. "They're still on the phone because the work needs to be done."

Plus it helps that the struggling economy makes people more grateful for their jobs and helps drive down labor costs, to the tune of 60 percent of Boston wages. But as Nasto points out, "if we make this work, everybody will get paid."

GuestMVP creates interactive software and marketing content for sports stadiums. For instance, the interactive screens in luxury boxes and club seats lets users do everything from watch a replay to order food. It also gives its advertisers access to some of the wealthiest members of society.

"We're interactive marketing and new media," Nasto says. "We're a new level of marketing that hasn't been seen yet."

GuestMVP plans to launch the beta version of its technology in the Palace of Auburn Hills within the next 30 days, just in time for the NBA Playoffs. Nasto has many other sports venues interested in the technology, if it proves effective in the Palace.

"We're penetrating the sports industry," Nasto says. "It's just not professional but college, too."

He expects to really ramp up GuestMVP's growth within the next six months and for that to continue over the next two years. That could mean adding 15-20 new employees to the staff of eight people, and a handful of independent contractors and interns by the third quarter of this year -- the type of people that Nasto expects will be loyal to his company for a long time.

Source: Gregory A. Nasto, managing principal of GuestMVP
Writer: Jon Zemke

Nimlok Grand Rapids' move into metro Detroit was well-timed. It bought ExhibitsNow, a Troy-based firm, whose owner was ready to move on to bigger-and-better things when Nimlok was ready to move into the region.

"It was a natural win-win scenario, so we acquired it," says Derrick Johnson, vice president and general manager of Nimlok Grand Rapids. "We have high regards for Michigan. We think our products and services are a good fit for metro Detroit."

The acquisition allowed Nimlok to add another three people and about $1 million in revenue. Its metro Detroit presence is about a dozen people strong. It plans to add another two salespeople soon as it searches for a new home office in the area.

Nimlok builds exhibits for trade shows. It wants to get a foothold in the auto industry, and thinks now is a good time despite the state of the local economy.

"We do have faith that's going to flip," Johnson says. "We believe that when the economy does flip it will be robust."

Source: Derrick Johnson, vice president and general manager of Nimlok Grand Rapids
Writer: Jon Zemke

The products behind iDashboards aren't always about business and money, now that the Troy-based firm is breaking into the sports scene.

The company uses Flash to create real-time interactive computer dashboards for businesses. These personalized dashboards analyze, track, and organize a wealth of data into critical information tidbits for companies.

Its NCAA Basketball Tournament lets fans track games, stats and more in real time. This isn't the first fun-style program iDashboards has created. It recently did the same with the 2008 Summer Olympics and the presidential election.

These programs for business and fun have helped make iDashboards successful to the point that the 4-year-old company's revenue records annual double-digit increases. It now employs nearly 100 people around the world and is looking to hire as it forms partnerships in Europe and the Middle East.

Source: Shadan Malik, president and CEO of iDashboards
Writer: Jon Zemke

Lake Orion-based Encryption Security Solutions isn't exactly recession proof, but it's close.

Leading digital security firms know that whether the economy is up or down, securing information is one of the last things new economy companies want to do in the Information Age.

"This isn't something companies can decide to do or not to do," says Kevin Lasser, CEO of Encryption Security Services. "It's something that has to be done. … As the economy goes sour there is more data theft. The thieves are getting more creative."

That has allowed the company and its government wing, Pure Entropy Technologies, to hire another person. Its headcount is seven, including interns and an independent contractor. It hopes to add more people soon as it continues to grow.

The firm has enjoyed 100 percent revenue growth as the world increasingly goes digital. Lasser expects that trend to continue this year and next.

Source: Kevin Lasser, CEO of Encryption Security Solutions
Writer: Jon Zemke

It's no wonder that pawn shops of repo men do well in a down economy, but a formal attire business? That's the situation with President Tuxedo, which is opening a new service center and headquarters in Sterling Heights.

The 40-year-old business now employs 150 people in communities across metro Detroit. Thirty of the 50 jobs at the Sterling Heights facility will be new hires.

Robert Gafa, the co-CEO of President Tuxedo, says his company has been able to build on its long-standing reputation as a local business, drawing repeat business and attracting word-of-mouth referrals.

"We have increased wedding registrations, even though marriage licenses are down," Gafa says.

President Tuxedo invested more than $2 million into the new facility, which will handle dry-cleaning, warehousing and distribution for all of the firm's stores. The service center will also house the corporate headquarters, facilitating training of store managers. Gafa and his partner Robert Brannan chose Sterling Heights because the 24,900-square-foot building fits the company's needs and is close to the freeways.

Gafa expects business to increase, despite the economic travails. He points out that people still want to look nice for their weddings, proms, etc.

"When it comes down to the most important day of their lives, they still want to get dressed up for it," Gafa says.

Source: Robert Gafa, co-CEO of President Tuxedo
Writer: Jon Zemke

This might be the worst real-estate market in generations, but you can’t tell from the way Keller Williams Plymouth-Canton is growing.

The firm recently added 21 new people to its staff and opened a new office in downtown Plymouth. The company also has big growth plans in the near term, which could mean lots of new jobs.

"That's our big goal," says Lesley Aiello, team leader and broker for Keller Williams Plymouth-Canton. "We're at a total of 89 agents right now. We'd like to be at 110 by the end of this year and 150 within three years."

And that's while real-estate brokerages are closing left and right -- in a time when the term "foreclosure" rolls off the tongue too easily. They recently added almost a dozen new members from a rival brokerage specializing in Plymouth, including a Crain's Power Seller of the Year. Those 11 people are heading up the new downtown office.

"They wanted a presence downtown," Aiello says. "It was very important for them to get a great location."

The firm has done that by restructuring its pay package, enabling its agents to work with less debt.

"I think Keller Williams was a little bit ahead of the pack as far as package pay and carrying debt," Aiello says.

Source: Lesley Aiello, team leader and broker for Keller Williams Plymouth Canton
Writer: Jon Zemke

Earth Hour 2009 is taking off in a big way, globally and locally. It's a one-hour voluntary statement of concern for climate change sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund in which supporters turn off all non-essential lights for one hour -- between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28.

Cate Blanchett's on board. And so is Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr.

The Great Pyramids of Gaza in Egypt, New York City's Rockefeller Center, and the Acropolis in Athens, Greece will go dark. So will The Emory in Ferndale.

This gesture may seem minor in the larger scheme of icebergs-melting, species-disappearing things. But gestures can add up. And with 190 U.S. cities getting on board, it is symbolic gestures that maybe, just maybe, will grab the attention of the masses.

So, turn off your TV, your bathroom light, and that one you never shut off in the basement. Let your eyes adjust to that crazy thing called the dark. See? It's not that scary!

Ann Arbor, Dearborn Heights, Detroit and Ferndale might be a little less bright on Friday night, but as participating cities, they are leading the way in promoting conversation about energy usage.

If you feel like celebrating the world's largest climate event ever, head to The Emory, where dollar-off drinks and candlelight will mark the occasion.

Source: Jennifer Harlan, The Night Move
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Urban farming is spreading into the old Rustbelt factories of Detroit.

Excerpt:

Farming and film aren't two subjects that normally go together, but they do with Detroit’s newest start-up IndiEdibles.

"We have created a model of making urban farming happen in large metropolises," says Michael Peters, co-creator and host of IndiEdibles.

Read the rest of the story here.

Green architecture is growing at Ann Arbor's Rizzolo Brown + Novack Architects.

Excerpt:

The girls behind Rizzolo Brown + Novak Architects may have started their company because of the current economy, but they see the situation as an opportunity.

Celeste Alen Novak and Connie Rizzolo Brown founded their downtown Ann Arbor-based firm last year by focusing on design that incorporates things as eclectic as art and as essential as sustainability. They now have one more employee/intern and two consultants as they continue to take on more work.

"I think things are challenging but exciting," Rizzolo Brown says. "It breeds a new ways of looking at design and energy issues and containing costs."

Read the rest of story here.

North Coast Technology Investors' capital is going nowhere but up these days in Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

Twenty years ago venture capitalist Hugo Braun left California and came back to Michigan, taking a job at Access Ventures. Ten years later he and another partner turned it into North Coast Technology Ventures with $10 million under its management. Today that number has reached $100 million and is still expanding.

The downtown Ann Arbor-based firm is getting ready to close on another investment vehicle (fund) this summer. It will be another large chunk of change that will allow North Coast Technology Ventures to make investments for at least the next few years.

"We feel this is an excellent time to make investments," Braun says. "Even though it's a depressing time there are a lot of excellent ideas out there."

Read the rest of the story here.

It's hard to figure which is brighter for Livonia-based Visotek: its high-powered lasers or its future.

"We've created this laser and it's the Holy Grail of diode lasers," says Sheila Jensen, president and CEO of Visotek.

The firm, which also partners with Fraunhofer USA, develops and manufactures high-brightness diode lasers used for manufacturing and the military. It has already shipped the first 10 to customers and is making 30 more.

Visotek is also working on ways to ramp up growth funding. It estimates its market size at $40 million, primarily in the industrial and defense industries.

The majority woman-owned business started with three people and employs 10 today. It hopes to add another 10-15 within the next 18 months. Those hires are expected to include both experienced management and engineers.

Source: Sheila Jensen, president and CEO of Visotek
Writer: Jon Zemke

A year ago Eloquest Healthcare didn't exist. Today the Ferndale-based firm employs 16 people.

Eloquest Healthcare is a spin-off of the Ferndale Pharma Group, and it's still got a lot of centrifugal force going for it. The company recently hired four people and expects to hire another four in the next few months.

The Ferndale Pharma Group spun off Eloquest Healthcare for legal liability reasons and to help the company focus on its core business without sacrificing revenue.

Eloquest Healthcare is a dermatology specialty company with an emphasis on minimizing dermal pain, preserving and/or repairing the integrity of the skin, and ensuring the integrity of devices adhered to the skin. It focuses specifically on selling its products to hospitals, their healthcare practitioners, and patients.

"We will continue to leverage and broaden our product line," says Tim O'Halla, vice president and COO of Eloquest Healthcare.

Source: Tim O'Halla, vice president and COO of Eloquest Healthcare
Writer: Jon Zemke

The lithium-ion battery impact is already starting to be felt in Metro Detroit.

Compact Power, which helps develop the lithium-ion battery for the Chevrolet Volt, took over an adjacent building in Troy. The new 14,000 square feet of space will be used to accommodate the company's expected growth.

Development of the lithium-ion battery, a key component in the electrification of the automobile, is seen as a potential boon for Michigan. A couple of major factories and research-and-development facilities have already been announced for Metro Detroit, and more are expected.

Compact Power, a subsidiary of Korea-based LG Electronics, is one of those companies. It started in Colorado Springs in 2001 and moved to Troy in 2005 with five people. It has since grown to a staff of 70 employees and a few interns. (The company hires interns as a general practice.)

Company officials haven't publicized the number of jobs they expect to create, but they are anticipating significant growth soon.

Source: Dick Pacini, spokesman for Compact Power
Writer: Jon Zemke

If the company you work for uses Safety Track of Michigan's equipment, there is a good chance they know where you are hiding.

The Belleville-based firm uses GPS to track company cars and other equipment. This sector has remained a growth industry, no matter which way the economy turns.

"When things are not as good, people want to know where their money is," says Jeff Stoker, director of operations of Safety Track of Michigan. "One of the biggest expenses is employees and vehicles, and companies want to know where their employees are with their vehicles."

The company has experienced double-digit sales growth recently; last year's was 25 percent. A 50 percent increase is expected this year.

"February was our best month ever," Stoker says. "We're continuing to grow."

Today the firm has two employees and 2-3 independent contractors. It hopes to add more staff later this year.

Source: Jeff Stoker, director of operations of Safety Track of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

MBM Computer System Solutions has a good average working for it. With a staff of 50 people (plus interns) after about a quarter century of doing business, it averages about two new hires each year - bad economy or not.

"We've had some good growth in the market," says Jason Goelde, its chief executive officer. "Even in this down economy we have sustained our growth."

40 of the IT firm's employees are based out of its Troy office. The company is looking to expand again in the near future as it looks for the right opportunity.

"I think time will tell with the economy the way it is," Goelde says. "We have some stuff in the pipeline that should help our growth."

The company helps manage phones and computers, along with selling the associated technology. It has been able to turn the economy in its favor, attracting companies cutting back on their IT departments to save costs. MBM Computer System Solutions has been ready to step in and pick up the slack.

Source: Jason Goelde, CEO of MBM Computer System Solutions
Writer: Jon Zemke

If some yard improvements are on the agenda this year, it's the perfect chance to lower your home's carbon footprint and even put it to work for you.

Think about investing some sweat equity into your yard: it's an extremely cost-effective way to improve your homestead. It's good for your health and the environment and, well, it's pretty darn fun.

OK, now that you're on board and ready to dig, think about what you want to accomplish. Things to consider:

• Letting go of the lawn -- the water and care that a lawn requires is, sorry, absurd. Consider replanting it entirely with thyme, mixed dwarf fescue or native buffalo grass.

• Even if you can't abandon it entirely, your new yard design should minimize the grassy area.

• First step: vegetable garden. This one is a no-brainer. Dig up some grass (yes, this step is a pain), use some compost to enrich the soil (many cities have free piles for resident use) and start planting. The first year might be a little light on the output, especially without a Miracle Gro crutch, but this is a long-term project.

• Other ways to reduce your lawn: Border plantings of native grasses -- try switch grass or bluestem. Install a compost area. Trees! A perennial bed of native plants, like black-eyed Susans and coneflowers.

• Rain barrels are great and can render your hose useless. Ann Arbor even gives a tax credit for their use. Watch this HGTV video on how-to build a barrel for tips.

• Whatever lawn remains, mow long and leave the clippings in place. 'Nuff said.
  

Please keep in mind that gardening is not about instant gratification. There is a famous saying, quite applicable here, that time is a gardener's best friend. We're so used to seeing monster geraniums and impatiens that are chemically fed and live for just a few months that our "beauty-meter" is out of tune. What grows around us naturally might be less showy, but its beauty is more than skin deep.

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Managed hosting provider Secure-24 is adding 250-300 IT jobs over the next five years to its Southfield and Plymouth Township operations. Secure-24 manages IT systems for middle market companies and large enterprises.

“We’ve been growing every year by about 100 percent for the last six years,” says president and CEO Matthias Horch. “I think businesses have started realizing that they should focus on their core businesses and let others handle their IT needs.”

The consistent growth has the Southfield-based company investing $3.7 million in a new 18,000 square-foot data center in Plymouth Township and a 20,000 square-foot office facility in Southfield, which will allow it to consolidate its operations.

Secure-24 received a $7.1 million tax credit over 10 years from the state to help defray the costs of the build-out.

Horch cited the credit, as well as a public-private partnership with Wayne County designed to consolidate IT projects and attract other IT firms to the area, as his reasons for staying in the state.

Secure-24 is providing 25 people for the Wayne County project. The company is known for its intensive two-year training program in which employees are trained in labs while learning the ropes. Its new hires will include junior and senior positions.

“It’s always a challenge to find the right people, but Michigan has a great resource pool with many leading universities,” Horch says.

Source: Chelsea Nimiac, DP+Company

Writer: Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains.

Billhighway.com is a Web-based finance and accounting software provider. President and CEO Vincent Thomas says the Troy-based company hasn’t decided exactly where the new facility will be located, but he wants to stay in Oakland County.

"Part of the process including assessing other cities we thought would allow our business to grow," Thomas says. Those cities included Washington, D.C. and Dallas. "We’re really focused on finding good technical talent."

Though good talent is hard to find, Thomas acknowledges that Michigan’s universities give him access to qualified future employees.

“I think the schools have great programs," Thomas says. "That’s one thing Michigan has going for it."

The company is expected to create 43 jobs over the next five years.

"We’re trying to change the culture by creating jobs in Michigan," he says.

The state approved a tax credit valued at $1.1 million over 10 years and Oakland County will provide $25,000 in job training funds to support the project.
 
Source: Chelsea Nimiac, DP Company
Writer: Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains.

Business development in Metro Detroit is getting a little venture capital from Uncle Sam. The recently passed federal Omnibus bill includes $2.784 million in earmarks for regional business development.

Omnibus is short for an Omnibus Appropriations Act, which is basically a budget bill that Congress passes each year. These are notorious for earmarks (federal dollars set aside by members of Congress for projects in their districts) which make up a fraction of the overall bill. What some talking heads like to decry as pork often turns out to be valued funds for getting stuff done outside the beltway.

These get-stuff-done funds include:

• $100,000 for a micro business incubator at Cleary University
• $73,693 for the Detroit Creative Business Corridor
• $343,900 for business retention and attraction programs at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
• $385,000 for the Macomb County Business Accelerator
• $225,000 for an entrepreneurship center on the Oakland campus of Wayne State University
• $245,643 for an ex-offender Entrepreneurship Program at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan
• $245,643 for a telecommunications portal and logistics center at the Aerotropolis
• $167,676 for the small business clinic at Wayne State University Law School
• $285,000 for planning and reconstruction of an international business center for business incubation at Automation Alley in Troy
• $285,000 for the DREAMS teacher training initiative at Eastern Michigan University
• $333,000 for curriculum development for an associate of applied science degree in energy management at Macomb Community College in Warren
• $95,000 for the Institute of Radio Frequency Electronics and Nanoelectronics at Oakland University in Rochester

Source: Offices of senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow
Writer: Jon Zemke

Having just agreed to work with Ford on its hybrid program, automotive electronic parts manufacturer Magna Electronics is expanding into a $20 million Rochester Hills facility it hopes to occupy by the end of April.

"We just ran out of all the seats in the building," says Kevin Pavlov of Magna Electronics.

Magna Electronics is moving from its existing 12,000 square-foot facility into a 55,000 square-foot facility in Rochester Hills. The company expects to create 90 jobs over the next five years.

The state recently approved a $3.4 million tax credit to keep Magna Electronics in Michigan. Pavlov says the company was looking at out-of-state sites, but the credit and the manufacturing base encouraged the company to stay.

"This is the center of auto production so we're in what we see as being the center of an expanding auto market," Pavlov says.  

The city of Rochester Hills is considering an eight-year abatement valued at $139,271 to support the project.

Magna Electronics is currently working with Ford to create a battery-operated vehicle. Production is set to start in 2011.

Source: Chelsea Nimiac, DP+Company
Writer: Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains.