TechTown Venture Accelerator

Starting on April 9, 2013, I’ll be facilitating a series of workshops for the TechTown Detroit Venture Accelerator. The goal of the program is to transform early stage startups into viable, sustainable businesses in a short amount of time.

TechTown’s president and CEO, Leslie Smith, describes the new 12-week accelerator program as having the intensity of a bootcamp aggressively seeking to commercialize “trapped” technology. “It’s not our expectation that a company will be ‘done’ at the end of the 12-week accelerator session—it’s more about developing that alternative energy, advanced manufacturing, or medical device technology sitting on the sideline,” she says.

The startup teams that participate in the accelerator are receiving a $10,000 loan and will be eligible for another $15,000 in additional funding and services.

The workshops will use the methodology outlined by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf in The Startup Owner’s Manual, and the program will culminate with a demo day event in front of potential investors.