In most dental offices, patients are used to the same routine during their first visit. They fill out a long form with lots of questions. At the new Excel Dental on Plymouth Rd. in Ann Arbor, however, they do things a little differently.  "We go out of our way and take the patients in the back and do a patient interview. It gives us a chance to get to know our patients," says Excel Dental Patient Coordinator Laura Reeves. "Dr. Sandra strives toward patient care and patient courtesy."  A family atmosphere is the aim of Dr. Sandra Shrimankar's Excel Dental. According to Reeves, Shrimankar decided to open her own office after working in different clinics in the area and wanting to be closer to her home and two children. She accomplished that by finding a space in Traver Village Shopping Center, near Kroger. "We are in the the best spot," says Reeves. "We have all the Kroger traffic, but we also have all of the senior complexes behind us. We've seen kids as young as three so far up to the 90s." Excel Dental opened in April after a total renovation that began in February. The clinic currently employs a staff of four, and Reeves says she expects the staff will grow along with the clinic. They business is currently looking to hire one associate dentist.  Source: Laura Reeves, Excel Dental  Writer: Natalie Burg

Talent is a key word for Imetris when its hoping to achieve another key word: growth. The Saline-based IT company has made a handful of replacement hires over the last year and it's currently looking to hire two more tech people. "Local talent," says Chandru Acharya, president of Imetris. "That's what we're looking for." Imetris currently offers tech services in IT and data management, specifically managing data storage area devices for large corporations. It has grown its staff to 110 people over its 17 years. "We have been able to upgrade our talent and existing employees," Acharya says. "That's part of the reason clients come back to us." Imetris grew its revenue about 6 percent last year through growing its workload with existing clients and adding a few new ones. That number was a bit of a disappointment for Acharya who aims for consistent double-digit revenue growth each year. To Acharya a lack of growth means a business isn’t moving forward. It’s why he expects Imetris to grow 15-20 percent this year. "That's a reasonable number considering out overhead and increasing costs over time," Acharya says. Source: Chandru Acharya, president of Imetris Writer: Jon Zemke

The staff at White Pine Systems is in transition. Normally that's not a sign of good things, but it is for the Ann Arbor-based company . The software firm has made a handful of hires from its own ranks in the last year, bringing on a new CTO and a few web developers. "We've gone from more part-time contributors to full-time people," says Doug Dormer, founder & CEO of White Pine Systems. The 8-year-old company’s technology specializing in sharing information between health-care providers. The idea is to streamline the healthcare system (primarily in the behavioral health and traditional healthcare) by making closely guarded personal information readily available to the people who need to see it in a timely fashion. White Pine Systems has been able to bring on more work with existing clients and land a few new ones. It’s adding new modules beyond its normal behavioral health which also is expanding its workload. "It's a combination of the market is getting good with regulations, our work is being recognized, and our marketing efforts are working," Dormer says. Source: Doug Dormer, founder & CEO of White Pine Systems Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Catherine Juon launched Beyond Startup with the idea of helping growing businesses make the leap to second stage. Now she is launching a second part of that company focused on second stage marketing using her own name, CatherineJuon.com, as the URL. "I get the phone call when people have an online marketing problem, and it often turns out to be an second stage thing," Juon says. "The whole marketing SEO thing turns out to be the icing on the cake." Juon helped grow online marketing firm Pure Visibility in downtown Ann Arbor before striking out on her own with Beyond Startup two years ago. The consulting firm helps its clients grow out of small business mode and into rapidly expanding firms. Much of her work has also become helping those firms with market discovery and customer discovery. That has transformed into the creation of its own line of business. "The second stage consulting is really its own thing," Juon says. Juon is now working with Bud Gibson, a profession at Eastern Michigan University who created the search marketing program at the university. The pair are working on creating a sequence of workshops on solving company sales problems in the digital age. "Our partnership is gradually growing," Juon says. Source: Catherine Juon, founder of Beyond Startup Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Atlanta is a city that is struggling with serious sprawl issues. In an attempt to address that MARTA, the metro area transit authority has decided to turrn under-utilized parking lots into mixed-use commercial and residential buildings. Excerpt: "In the long term, MARTA expects such upgrades to result in more riders, which in turn will mean more fare revenue. The big picture outlook also includes nicer public spaces for the city; each project requires a park or a plaza, and 20 percent of all housing must be affordable, says Rhein. MARTA is also looking into air rights development at four downtown stations—Lenox, Arts Center, Midtown, North Avenue—and working with the Urban Land Institute to target TOD opportunities in weaker real estate markets along the system's south and west lines." Read the rest here.

It's primary season which means that in a mostly democratic town those seeking office tend to be determined in the dog days of summer primaries when voter turnout is low. Here's hoping that Concentrate readers turn out in higher percentages than the populace at large. Ann Arbor News / mlive has a round up of links on how the candidates voted on various hot button issues here. The Ann Arbor Chronicle explores what kinds of personas the candidates have carved out for themselves here. The Ypsilanti Courier reports on mayoral forum here. Ann Arbor News endorses Amanda Edmonds for Ypsilanti mayor here. Ann Arbor News endorses Christopher Taylor for Ann Arbor mayor here.

With two industrial facilities in Chelsea, plants in Fowlerville, Howell and Mexico, and new plant coming to Tennessee next year, Hatch Stamping Company is definitely growing. So much so, that the Chelsea-based company has opened a new local sales office to accommodate their growth. "We are bringing in new customers, and we are growing the customer that we do have," says Steve Emmert, director of sales for Hatch Stamping. "Also, the economy in the auto world is doing better." After running out of room in the Chelsea location that once held their sales staff, Hatch located a pair of office suites on Middle St. to dedicate to sales. Sixteen sales staff will work out of the 4,500 square foot office, of the 245 workers the business employes in Chelsea. Company-wide, Hatch Stamping employs 680 employees.  Though the company's growth extends beyond state and even national borders, Emmert says Chelsea remains the best home base for Hatch Stamping.  "The company has been here since 1952, and we have no plans of moving our our operations out of the Chelsea area," Emmert says. "It's a good place to pull workers from." Hatch Stamping moved into their new sales office in mid June and celebrated a grand opening on July 10.  Source: Steve Emmert, Hatch Stamping Company Writer: Natalie Burg 

Retail is nothing new for Motawi Tileworks. The art tile company has been selling their tiles online at at their Enterprise Dr. location in Ann Arbor for some time, in addition to their wholesale work. But owner Nawal Motawi decided it was time to investigate retail in a more visible location.  "Every once in a while it dawns on me how hard to find our place on Enterprise really is," Motawi says. "But looking at the parts of our business that are most successful, our retail has been quite successful."  Opening a dedicated retail location in downtown Ann Arbor can be expensive, however, so Motawi is partnering with the Ann Arbor Art Center to ease into the downtown retail game. Beginning in late August, about 500 square feet of the Center will be dedicated to Motawi Tileworks, which will be merchandized by the tile company.  Though the tile will be sold on consignment like any other art sold at the center, Motawi will share the cost of staffing with the Ann Arbor Art Center and the dedicated space and control over their inventory will help Motawi experiment with downtown retail location.  "They're feeling really great about it because it's a different way of helping a local artist, so it's still true to their mission," Motawi says. "And really, I want to learn by doing. It would be a great thing to see it grow into own space, and to see if the concept is strong, and if it can be started in other locales." Motawi Tileworks enthusiasts will find extra incentive to visit the downtown location, as Motawi says she'll market test new tiles there, as well as host periodic events during which visitors can watch tiles being created.  Motawi hopes to begin operations in the Ann Arbor Art Center space on Aug. 20 and celebrate a grand opening Sept. 5.  Source: Nawal Motawi, Motawi Tileworks Writer: Natalie Burg

Plymouth Ventures doesn't typically add partners to its team, and it's not for lack of qualified candidates. That changed this year for the Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm as it added a new partner and chief financial officer to go with its new $61 million investment vehicle. "We get about 10 resumes a year from people who grew up in Michigan, went to Washington, D.C, or San Francisco, got married, had children, and want to come home," says Jeff Barry, partner with Plymouth Ventures. "We get 10 really good resumes each year. We usually send them along (to other investment firms) to get placed. This time we happened to be looking for someone." Two new someones to be exact. Plymouth Ventures brought on Chris Frick as its CFO and Evan Ufer (grandson of University of Michigan broadcasting legend Bob Ufer) as a partner. Both are Michigan returnees from the coasts. Ufer, who is in his mid 30s with a young family, worked in private equity in New York City before coming back to Ann Arbor. Barry points out that Ufer and Frick's resumes stood out so much that the firm knew it had to hire both to help maintain the company's growth. "We knew we were going to need some added horse power to deploy more capital," Barry says. Plymouth Ventures closed on its third investment vehicle worth $61 million earlier this month. That’s up from its second fund from a few years ago that totaled $41 million. Plymouth Ventures invests in scalable tech companies in the Midwest and has $100 million under management today. The firm's average investment ranges between $2 million and $6 million. The 11-year-old firm invested two thirds of its last investment fund in Michigan-based startups. Plymouth Ventures expects to invest about half of its new fund in Michigan-based companies. It has already made its first investment for the new fund earlier this year (Ohio-based Certified Security Solutions) and is on target to make a couple more before the end of the year. "We're looking at a handful of great companies in the Great Lakes region," Barry says. "We expect to do 2 more (investments) before the end of the year." Source: Jeff Barry, partner with Plymouth Ventures Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.