Category: Member Feature

Last week, our MVCA board of directors gathered for our quarterly meeting on the west side of the state, in Zeeland, known for its blueberries, beaches, and business. There’s no doubt that the west side of the state is beautiful, but it’s quickly becoming a destination for work as well as play. West Michigan’s lakeshore […]

MVCA Venture Fellow Reda Jaber’s resume includes many impressive titles: medical doctor, MBA graduate, startup founder, investor, and children’s book author.  But he’s most surprised by another role he’s assumed, as Partner at IncWell:  cheerleader.  He says becoming emotionally vested in the companies he backs financially has been a happy by-product of finding great technologies […]

As a newcomer to the venture industry, Dan Ratliff didn’t know what to expect when he joined Detroit-based Fontinalis Partners as an MVCA Venture Fellow two years ago.  But as he ends his Fellowship period and remains with the firm, he can more fully appreciate the unique collaborative nature of the Michigan venture community and envision his […]

Three Leaf Ventures’ Sean Kearney readily traded one venture capital hotbed for another, in a move from Denver, Colorado to Ann Arbor this year.  What the three-time Boston marathoner isn’t sure about is if the lower elevation of Southeast Michigan makes up for the higher humidity he’s now running through 100 miles a week.  He says: ““Your […]

The road from company formation to successful exit is a tenuous one, even when the startup is well-capitalized and quickly finds a profitable niche in the marketplace. For a biotech company developing drug therapies, their survival to test the drug safety and efficacy for many years, sometimes a decade or more, is highly dependent on […]

Josh Lin may be concluding his MVCA Venture Fellowship, but the familiar face on the Michigan venture scene won’t be leaving anytime soon.  In addition to his continued role at RPM Ventures, Josh will still serve as a mentor for Desai Accelerator and Coolhouse Labs and work with Nexecon Consulting Group, a student-run, not-for-profit that he co-founded […]

This is part three in a four-part series highlighting the Michigan organizations participating in 2015 Demo Week, a series of presentations where the latest cohorts of companies that have completed an accelerator program present to investors.  Demo Week participant organizations include Coolhouse Labs, Desai Accelerator, Techstars Mobility, and Detroit Venture Partners. Today, Ted Serbinski, Managing Director of Techstars Mobility, talks about his […]

This is part two in a four-part series highlighting the Michigan organizations participating in 2015 Demo Week, a series of presentations where the latest cohorts of companies that have completed an accelerator program present to investors.  Demo Week participant organizations include Coolhouse Labs, Desai Accelerator, Techstars Mobility, and Detroit Venture Partners.  Today, Kelly LaPierre, Managing Director of the Desai Accelerator, talks about […]

This is part one in a four-part series highlighting the Michigan organizations participating in 2015 Demo Week, a series of presentations where the latest cohorts of companies that have completed an accelerator program present to investors.  Demo Week participant organizations include Coolhouse Labs, Desai Accelerator, Techstars Mobility, and Detroit Venture Partners.  Today, Coolhouse Founder and Managing Director, Jordan Breighner, introduces us to […]

Congratulations to IncWell Venture Capital’s Reda Jaber, named today to the Crain’s Detroit Business “20 in their 20s” list!  Great work Reda! Timing was everything for Reda Jaber. He was finishing his M.D. last year and had a 9 p.m. deadline to submit his preferred list of residencies. He was about to hit the “send” […]