Category Archives: entrepreneurism

Zingerman’s to explore cooperative structure and shared employee ownership

Over the past several months, I’d heard from a few reputable sources that the folks at Zingerman’s were exploring the possibility of transitioning to a business model in which their 600-some employees would share ownership to some degree. And, a few weeks ago, when I’d heard that an unknown person had edited the company’s Wikipedia […]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Food, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Ponyride… a home for social entrepreneurs sharing knowledge, resources and networks in Detroit’s Corktown

Opening the summer of 2011, Ponyride, a 30,000 square-foot warehouse in the Corktown area of Detroit, presently serves as home to 25 socially-conscious businesses, ranging from non-profits like Detroit Soup, to for-profit entrepreneurial ventures like Detroit Denim. Following is my conversation with Ponyride’s Executive Director Kate Bordine on how they made it happen, the power […]

Also posted in Detroit, Local Business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

U-M undergrads to launch Makeathon with A2Awesome grant

A few days ago, the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation awarded $1,000 in cash to University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering undergraduate Beverly Chou (seen below accepting the award from A2 Awesome founder Lisa Dengiz) to help fund the launch of an event that she and fellow students are calling Makeathon. After our meeting, I took the […]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Awesome Foundation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Can we please stop complaining about the Blimpy Burger crowd funding campaign?

Apparently I have a lot of friends up in arms this evening over the fact that Rich and Chris Magner, the owners of Ann Arbor’s iconic Blimpy Burger, have launched a crowd funding campaign in hopes of raising the money needed to reopen their restaurant in a new location. (As most of you probably know, […]

Also posted in Ann Arbor, Food, History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 58 Comments

Donald Harrison to launch FUSE: Mobile Microcinema series with A2Awesome grant

A few days ago, the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation handed over $1,000 in cash to local filmmaker Donald Harrison, who had applied for a grant in order to launch a new local film series. After our meeting, I took the opportunity to ask ask Donald a few questions about the local film scene, and his […]

Also posted in A2Awesome, Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

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