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Home > News & Events > News Articles > Article Details

TechStart Jump Starts University Start-ups

9/15/00-- This summer, after completing his first year in the MBA program at the University of Michigan, Brian Park was faced with a number of exciting job opportunities from companies eager for qualified and talented MBA students. He deliberated his choice carefully, considering several in state and out of state opportunities in fields ranging from consulting to international trade, weighing each potential experiences' benefits and drawbacks. And, in the end, to his surprise, he found the program that held the most interest and challenge for him was right here in downtown Ann Arbor.

"I was looking for an opportunity to put my knowledge concerning high-tech marketing strategy to use in a direct and measurable way. I found that opportunity here in Ann Arbor", said Park, a former software engineer and project manager at SK C&C, one of the leading systems integration companies in Korea. "Not only did I have the opportunity to help draft the marketing strategy for a cutting-edge Internet security technology, but I was able to work closely with the inventors at the University of Michigan who created it, allowing me to really understand the market from the inside out."

Park's decision to work with an early-stage Ann Arbor high-tech company was based upon the strength of a University of Michigan intern program known as TechStart. TechStart, just finishing its second year, is a summer internship program developed by the UM Office of Technology Transfer (OTT).

Charged with the responsibility of getting the technologies developed on campus out into the marketplace, the OTT, working with inventors, often finds that it makes sense to start a new company rather than to license the technology to an existing business. In those instances, they have found student talent to be very useful. As a result, the intense thirteen-week summer internship program was born.

"In order to spin off new companies from the UM quickly, efficiently and successfully, we needed to be creative and make use of every resource we have at our disposal. That means making use of students' individual expertise, their unique real-world professional experiences, and their enthusiasm for entrepreneurship," said Ken Nisbet, director of New Business Development at the Office of Technology Transfer.

"The students add a great deal of value. They go into the laboratories and talk with the researchers. They brainstorm about possible applications for technologies and then they start developing business plans. They do market sizing studies, conduct customer surveys, and plan pricing and marketing strategies. In short, they do everything that professional business consultants do," said Marvin Parnes, interim Director of the OTT.

It is this hands-on, high-impact approach that draws talented students to TechStart, according to program coordinator Mark Maynard. "The real incentive we offer students is the unique experience of getting into a project at a very early stage. In most cases, the students work directly with the inventors of the technology, and learn firsthand what entrepreneurs deal with every day. It's very frustrating on occasion, given the speed at which projects can change course, but the students who work with us generally find that experience rewarding. They're responsible, to a large degree, for the commercialization of that particular technology, and they take ownership," he said.

This year, due to demand, the program expanded from four full-time student interns to eleven. It also grew to include students not only from the Business School, but also from the School of Information, College of Engineering and the Medical Schools as well. "We've found that students working in multidisciplinary teams are making greater progress, learning more and enjoying the experience more," explains Maynard. "The sharing of experiences and expertise is one of the most positive things about this program. The fact that we have industrial engineers working with MBAs and pre-med students is what makes this program different. People learn from each other and draw on one another's strengths."

This is the second year that TechStart has been financially supported in part by the University of Michigan Business School's Samuel Zell and Robert H Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, through their co-sponsorship of participating MBA students. The Zell-Lurie Institute, in addition to providing financial assistance, has also contributed significantly to both the structure and the vision of the program. Additional funding was also raised this year through an association with the Dow Chemical Company's New Ventures Group, an entrepreneurial offshoot of the Midland, Michigan corporation, presently working to strengthen ties to the Ann Arbor high-tech community through strategic partnership.

"I think it's a great program all the way around," says Maynard. "The inventors, who often don't have the time to really dig in and research all the markets, competitors, and factors that may impact the success of their business, appreciate the assistance. The students, on the other hand, are hungering for interesting, real-world entrepreneurial projects where they can put their education use. And, from our perspective in New Business Development, it's a huge benefit because information is what drives the entire process. Every piece of information that a student brings in is a piece of information that we can use to our advantage when launching this company."

"As for the future of TechStart, we're looking at this year's program and we're learning from it. The interns are taking an active role in helping to further shape the program for next year, giving feedback as to where they were of the most value and where they found the most educational benefit. Those seem to be the keys. We need to hit the technologies at the right point in their evolution, so the students will be of the most value to the inventors and gain the most from the experience. We also need to make sure that the inventors, in every case, have the interest and the time to work with the students. The process is evolving."

When asked how her thoughts on Ann Arbor changed during the course of her internship, industrial engineering student Patricia Stansbury said, "When I started thirteen weeks ago, I had no idea how deep and broad the technology community went in Ann Arbor. As a result of my association with TechStart, I've seen how many companies are hidden away in office buildings doing interesting work, and I've seen how many fascinating technologies are being developed at the UM. It makes me appreciate the research being done at the University and consider how much potential exists for the motivated entrepreneur in this city. I certainly see the possibility of a career here after graduation."

"The most rewarding thing about TechStart," says Nisbet, "is that students are now seeing that there may be opportunities here in Ann Arbor after graduation. We have great technologies coming out of the University and great companies forming all the time. It's incredible to be able to share that with students."

More information on TechStart can be found within the "Opportunities for Students" section of the UM TechTransfer web site (www.techtransfer.umich.edu/students/students.html).