Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Ross: Our entrepreneurs get access to resources and funding for their business. We think it is a huge opportunity. They get a stipend, as I mentioned, for the four months, while in the program. We provide laptops and BlackBerries; really everything connected with to program, so they get a ton of assistance in taking the business from A to Z as a result of being associated with Bizdom U.

Irina: How much is the stipend?

Ross: It is $1500 a month for four months.

Irina: Is there anything specific that makes your incubator very different from others?

Ross: We  are different in a couple of ways. One is, I think they, get a very intense level of support. That is one thing that makes us different in terms of the involvement of our trainers and the involvement of Dan Gilbert’s family of companies.

I think that the funding also helps. We are not just training people to launch business; we are funding those businesses.

And I think the other thing that will make us different in the long run – we are not there yet – is our goal to be self-sustaining. A self-sustaining nonprofit that lives off the proceeds from our producers, which are our entrepreneurs – that is what we want to be.

We are not just coming in and training people to be entrepreneurs. We want them to launch their businesses. We want those businesses to be profitable, successful businesses and then, based on our equity share, we want be able to sustain our operations and seed future businesses.

I have never seen a model, a nonprofit model, that has been able to sustain itself from the products it produces, which are the entrepreneurs, so I think that is going to make us unique.

Irina: Great. So, where do you get your applicants from?

Ross: Anyone who wants to  apply can go to www.Bizdom.com and there is a get-info box, and they just need to send us an e-mail that they are applying for the program, and they can apply right now. They can apply for the Detroit program, which launches in the fall 2011, or they can apply for the Cleveland program, which launches at the same time.

Irina: Do you your publicize the program? How do you get the word out?

Ross: It is a combination of things.  All of our [applicants] come through the Internet because that is how the business is these days. We have been covered by the media in Detroit and in Cleveland, and we have had some national media coverage, and so people just hear about us. As we launch more and more of those businesses, those businesses get attention, as well.

So, there will be articles about those businesses and they are associated with Bizdom U. We get people interested in the program for that reason, as well.

So, it is a combination of different things. We get our name out there and get exposure from other folks. We also go to business plan competitions; people are looking for funding; we talk to angel investors; we go to entrepreneurship clubs; we go anywhere and everywhere to find entrepreneurs because they are really coming out in all shapes and sizes.

Irina: How do you process their applications?

Ross: We have a series of steps. We have them come to an informational meeting. We tell them at that meeting that this is a difficult process. That entrepreneurship is difficult. It takes 100% commitment. We tell them that and then, if they are still interested, we have them submit an application.It is a two-page application.

Then we do a phone screening where we ask them a series of questions, and then, if we proceed with them, we have them submit an extended application, which is about 20 pages of stuff that they have to complete.

Next, we do a two-hour interview with them. We also do on-site assessments in a variety of subjects. We do some brainstorming techniques, just to see how they think about business, and then we have them present to a panel of people about why they want to be in Bizdom U.

They present a business idea. It doesn’t have to be totally fleshed out, but we want to see how they thought about that idea. If they make it that far, we do reference checks and background checks. Finally, if they make it that far, we let them into Bizdom U.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U - Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio
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