As part of its charge to support entrepreneurial and startup activity, the
Lansing Area Economic Partnership launched a business acceleration program in December to help companies move products from the concept phase to the marketplace.
Lansing PROTO will fund two to three product-based startup companies with $15,000 each. In return, each company will participate in an intensive eight-month program beginning in February 2016. Entrepreneurs will commit 20 hours each week to work on their product with the help of resources provided onsite at the LEAP office in REO Town.
"Lansing PROTO is the state of Michigan's first physical product startup acceleration program," says Bob Trezise, President and CEO of LEAP. "Lansing will now join the ranks of Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor which each have their own excellent accelerator programs for startups."
Companies accepted into the program will have access to resources like product development and design consulting, rapid prototyping, business plan development, marketing and branding, legal support, accounting support, as well as continued mentoring, guidance and access to capital. The
Lansing Makers Network will also provide access to laser cutters, a CNC machine, scanners and 3-D printers and software.
Tony Willis, director of LEAP's New Economy Division, will direct the program. He says the plan is to have two businesses market-ready by October 2016 and to showcase their products during Lansing Maker Week.
"Lansing has such a unique history of producing great physical products from automobiles to medical isotopes," Willis says. "We see that maker background on a larger level and in the start-up and entrepreneurial eco-system. At LEAP, we're working to support that."
The New Economy Division assisted 94 businesses in 2015. Those businesses, in turn, have helped create about 60 jobs.
"While we don't have exact numbers or estimates for how many jobs might come out of this particular program, we do consider the potential," says Willis. "What we do know is that without a program like this, the number of jobs created would be zero."
Companies and entrepreneurs may apply to Lansing Proto
here up until Dec. 31.
Source: Tony Willis, director, LEAP New Economy Division
Writer: Ann Kammerer, News Editor
Got a story idea for Capital Gains? Email Ann Kammerer here.
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