20-something U-M grad brings start-up Powerleap back to Ann Arbor

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 | Source: Crain's Detroit Business

University of Michigan alum Elizabeth Redmond went looking for love for her start-up, Powerleap, in all the wrong places before finding what it really needs back home in Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 2006, Elizabeth Redmond moved to the Windy City to try to turn a school project into a business.

Her clean-tech design project would use high-tech ceramics to convert the energy generated by pedestrian and vehicular traffic into direct current that could be stored in batteries. She worked by day trying to secure funding and at night as a waitress in a high-end vegetarian business.

Redmond, 25, grew up in Dexter and missed the Ann Arbor area — especially bike rides along the Huron River — but what got her back to Michigan last year were the economic support systems at the state and regional level.

"Chicago is a really neat town, but the resources of a small community in Michigan are much more accessible than those in Chicago. I couldn't find much support there," she said.

Her company, Powerleap Inc., is now a virtual tenant at Ann Arbor Spark's downtown Ann Arbor facility. She doesn't have an office there but uses its facilities and has been provided a wide variety of support services, including help with a new business plan and a due-diligence package for potential investors.

"I think this company is going to be huge, and I want it to be in the state where I grew up," she said.

Read the rest of the story here.