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Lofty goal: Growing start-ups in Zeeland
2/27/2006
By Shandra Martinez
The Grand Rapids Press
ZEELAND -- A year ago, Budd Bentley and Garrick Pohl were happy Johnson Controls employees.
These days, the friends are collaborating on their own high-tech products.
It wasn't a layoff that sent them out into the stratosphere of start-ups. It was a chance to live out a dream.
Their idea for Crayon Interface, a maker of cell phone software, was sparked by personal interest in the growing technology.
"We all had cell phones that we were downloading ring tones and video games. We started thinking, 'What more could people do with cell phones?'" said Pohl, 33, whose background is finance.
In October, Pohl and Bentley, also 33, partnered with Andrew Myers, a software developer and a former managing partner in the Grand Rapids firm Knoware, who is Crayon Interface's software architect.
Within a month, they inked their first deal.
In January, they were one of the few West Michigan companies to showcase their "vehicle telematics" technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Moshi, their first product, will be offered nationwide this summer. The software allows users to monitor and control various devices in their cars from their cell phones.
"We feel the convergence of technology is pointing toward using your cell phone for more than just communication," says Bentley, 33, an engineer.
While Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo are positioning their economic growth around an emerging life sciences and health care hub, the strategy along the Lakeshore is focused on growing high-tech businesses.
It's a natural fit because of the major concentration of engineers and designers working for the area's biggest employers: Haworth, Herman Miller, Magna Donnelly, Gentex and JCI, says Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, a regional economic development organization launched two years ago.
"In our community we have a number of small and mid-size companies that were started by talent developed at our bigger companies," Thelen said.
Several high tech start-ups are getting launched through Lakeshore Advantage's year-old business incubator that provides entrepreneurs with a professional work space, complete with high-speed Internet, voice mail and reception area, along with the opportunity to receive advice from mentors.
The reclaimed industrial loft space, with colorful walls and exposed brick and wood, is configured to offer more common areas for meetings and collaboration between the start-ups as well as established design and engineer firms in the building. "The space better reflects West Michigan's commitment to an outstanding work environment," Thelen said.
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