With its low barrier to entry and seemingly endless demand for new product, the phone app market is inspiring a tsunami of start-ups. That wave has struck downtown Pontiac, with Future Help Designs not only making the city its home but establishing an incubator for like-minded efforts.
RTT USA has expanded the scope of its work while expanding the amount of business and the size of its workforce in downtown Royal Oak. The 13-year-old company has traditionally focused on creating high-end 3-D visualization for the automotive industry. It now includes work in the transportation and manufacturing industries, along with some forays into consumer markets. It has allowed the company to increase its sales sharply and grow its staff (99 employees and few independent contractors and intern) with 28 new hires so far this year. That's an increase from just 25 people four years ago. "We have grown tremendously," says Erik Kornmiller, director of content creation for RTT USA. "It's a matter of increasing our business by getting more and more projects and expanding projects we already have." Kornmiller believes that sort of strategy will allow RTT USA to continue its growth spurt for the rest of this year. "We continue to find ways to make things better and easier for our clients," says Erik Kornmiller, director of content creation for RTT USA. "That allows us to expand our project scope." Source: Erik Kornmiller, director of content creation for RTT USA Writer: Jon Zemke
Computerized Facility Integration is on pace to create nearly 100 new tech jobs in Southfield this year. The 22-year-old company provides consulting and integrated workplace management systems for real estate and facility management businesses. It has hired 10 people so far this year, expanding its staff to 125 employees and a couple of interns. It has 18 open positions, mainly tech jobs, today and is set to hire up to 79 people thanks to a deal it recently struck with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Computerized Facility Integration will received a $434,500 grant from state if it meets performance goals relating to its $908,000 investment in expanding its Southfield operations. The city of Southfield has also approved a tax abatement for the project. "The incentive package was really the tipping point," says Robert Verdun, president of Computerized Facility Integration. "It made the business case for putting it here." Computerized Facility Integration was also looking at an making this investment at another site in Las Vegas. It choose Metro Detroit because it's close to the company's headquarters and the competitive wage scales for technical talent, along with the state tax incentive. Source: Robert Verdun, president of Computerized Facility Integration Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
The Detroit Trading Company has traditionally focused on making online connections for new car sales and financing. Now the Southfield-based company is expanding its bottom line by adding used-car sales connection to that list. The 8-year-old Internet firm posted $9 million in sales in 2010 and raised that to $10 million last year. It's aiming for $12.5 million this year, a 25 percent jump in revenue due largely to the new used-car services it offers. "That represented about $500,000 of our growth last year," says Don Campbell, president of Detroit Trading Company. "We expect it to add $2 million in growth this year." The Detroit Trading Company creates technology that gathers, analyzes, and organizes Internet sales leads for car dealers. After the financial markets collapsed and credit lines froze, the company switched to selling its best leads with the best credit scores to dealer groups who signed on for the service. Now its offering a similar service for use-car sales, capitalizing on the existing good relationships it has with its existing customers. "We identify ourselves at being very good at building relationships," Campbell says. "We believe integrity is a very good way to cultivate business relationships." That has allowed the company's growth to enable three new hires over the last year, rounding out the staff at 18 people and the occasional intern and independent contractor. It has also been named to the most recent list of Michigan 50 Companies to Watch. Source: Don Campbell, president of Detroit Trading Company Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
TM Group is preparing to consolidate its staff in Farmington Hills into a bigger space that will allow the software company to continue its growth. The 28-year-old firm was at 25 people two years ago and has now grown to a staff of 36. Of those employees, five were hired in the last year. TM Group plans to expand its staff to 40 people over the next year. To accommodate that growth, it is consolidating two office suites in one building into a single bigger office space in a new building about a mile away. "We're increasing our space by about 20 percent," says Ken Jacobsen, director of sales & marketing for TM Group. "We're moving into a suite that is about 7,000 square feet. We wanted to get everyone into one suite." Jacobsen expects his firm to continue its current growth streak as it adds more products to its portfolio. The company is also looking to fuel its growth through more Internet marketing and expansion into new business verticals. "We're planning on growing our practice with integrated marketing," Jacobsen says. Source: Ken Jacobsen, director of sales & marketing for TM Group Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Anthony Majewski is a children's book author who has a lot of interaction with mothers. One of the things he noticed is that a lot of these mothers had need for maternal items and wanted an option to acquire them without paying a premium. That's when the CFL went off over Majewski's head and he began working on MomsTwoMoms.com. "There is a void in the market place to sell specific mom-to-mom items," says Anthony Majewski, founder of MomsTwoMoms.com. "Why don't we have a moms-to-moms online store?" The Grosse Pointe-based start-up provides an online platform for mothers to sell gently used items to other mothers. Those items could range from baby clothes to maternity clothes to children's books. "It basically prepares that new mom for the experience," Majewski says. "This way they don't have to pay premium prices at stores." MomsTwoMoms.com has grown from just Majewski a year ago to three people today. It plans to add an intern or two this summer. It recently redesigned its website and is planning to open up a brick-and-mortar retail store. Franchising the business in the future is also an option. Source: Anthony Majewski, founder of MomsTwoMoms.com Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Plex Systems is leveraging its focus on a diverse customer base to significant growth. The Auburn Hills-based software firm has enjoyed double-digit revenue gains and added 50 people to its staff. The 17-year-old company has traditionally made software geared toward manufacturers. Over the last year it has expanded its client list by 45 companies, including firms in the electronics, aerospace and food-and-beverage industries. The food-and-beverage firms are flocking to Plex Systems so it can better comply with new regulations. These new customers have allowed Plex Systems to grow its revenue by 32 percent over the last year. That has prompted the hiring of 50 people over the last year, expanding the company to 215 people and a couple of interns. "It's something we have been executing on for a while," says Mark Symonds, CEO of Plex Systems. "To have long-term staying power we need to be diversified among a number of industries." Plex Systems provides software for a number of manufacturing sectors, including food processing, medical devices, automotive, aerospace/defense, industrial and consumer products in Europe, Asia and North America. It is aiming to continue leveraging this diverse client base for more growth, planning to hire 73 people this year and grow its revenue by at least 25 percent. "We're off to a pretty quick start so I think we could do a little bit better," Symonds says. Source: Mark Symonds, CEO of Plex Systems Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Double is becoming an increasingly common word at Secure-24. The Southfield-based IT firm has doubled in size over the last year and has practically doubled the size of its staff in the same time. "This year we have two major clients so we will be doubling in size again," says Stephanie Goodrich, staffing manager for Secure-24. Secure-24 has hired 92 people over the last year, including 28 so far this year. The 11-year-old firm now has a staff of 230 people and about a dozen interns. It currently has openings for tech jobs (24 positions), sales (14 positions) and back office (five positions) that it plans to fill as soon as possible. Of its hires, half have been of young people, which the firm calls junior-level talent. Another 30 percent have been senior level (management) talent. "It's very exciting," Goodrich says. "I am very proud to be a part of this growing organization." Secure-24 provides IT services for a wide range of industries, including financial, payroll and logistic services, among others. Its founders, Matthias Horch and Volker Straub, relocated from Germany and chose Metro Detroit over California. For information on Secure-24's job openings, click here. Source: Stephanie Goodrich, staffing manager for Secure-24 Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Technology Solutions has doubled its revenues since 2009, adding more clients and broadening the work it gets from existing clientele. That has allowed the company to expand its staff to 12 employees, four independent contractors and the occasional intern. The company has hired two people over the last year who work in data management and customer service. "We are anticipating a growth year again of at least 25-35 percent," says Steve Futrell, CEO of Technology Solutions. "It will be with existing clients and new clients. We could be adding as many as two full-time and one part-time person this year." Technology Solutions specializes in VOIP work in the voice and data industry. The 17-year-old company, which rebranded itself at Technology Solutions in 1999, has grown its client list to include some major corporations in a broad range of industries such as manufacturing and education. Futrell declined to publicly name these firms. The Livonia-based firm expects to continue its growth streak by adding more clients and expanding its client base. Source: Steve Futrell, CEO of Technology Solutions Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Future Help Designs knows it will be plenty busy as it continues to create mobile apps from its headquarters in downtown Pontiac. The 3-year-old start-up also wants to keep even more metro Detroiters employed as the app economy continues to emerge a significant economic driver. "We can't get every job that is out there for mobile developers," says Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs. "We want to help other people be ready to do those jobs." To do that, Future Help Designs is offering training classes for people and companies interested in learning how to make mobile apps. The Mobile Developer Workshop Series will train people who want to get into the mobile app industry and for companies that would like to bring some of that work in-house. The bottom line is Future Help Designs wants to grow the app development community in not only Pontiac but the region overall. It hopes that by attracting local arm-chair developers and tech-oriented firms into the industry it will foster "a rising tide that lifts all boats" philosophy. "We're helping the community grow in terms of the mobile app domain," says Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs. "We're going to be expanding it through our classes." Future Help Designs got its start when Marcillo and Glen Konopaske, two Mac fanatics, were downsized from their corporate jobs. The duo began making iPhone apps and have since expanded into other mobile applications. The company moved out of their homes last year and into office space in downtown Pontiac as part of the city's Rise of the Pheonix program. It now employs a team of 19 people after making three hires over the last year. It hopes to continue adding staffers as it grows. Source: Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs
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