About 80 percent of aspiring entrepreneurs in the Bizdom U program change their initial business idea. So as organizers look to fill 15 to 20 spaces in the first Cleveland class, they’re not only considering an applicant’s concept, but also the person proposing it. Is that person flexible, hardworking and passionate enough to keep going?
“We really dig deep on the individual,” says Bizdom U Cleveland’s recruiting leader Andradia Scovil, formerly of the Civic Innovation Lab. “If their original idea doesn’t pan out early on, we know we still have a capable person.”
Bizdom U, the brainchild of serial entrepreneur
Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cavaliers and founder and chairman of online mortgage lender Quicken Loans, launched in Detroit in 2007 and is scheduled to open its second location this October in downtown Cleveland.
For those who make the cut, Bizdom U is free and includes a $1,500 monthly living stipend. In exchange, participants commit to four months of full-time work. During that time, they’ll develop a business idea and create a sales and marketing plan with help from staff and visiting mentors.
Anyone who completes the program can make a pitch for up to $100,000 in startup money from a nonprofit fund.
Potential businesses must use technology to some extent, be headquartered in the city and show potential for duplication and high growth.
Brett deMarrais completed the Bizdom U program in Detroit last year. Initially, he wanted to open a production company to take advantage of newly created film tax credits in Michigan.
Bizdom U encouraged him to switch to an idea with national reach. The result was Wedit, a video service he can market to anyone getting married. The company mails five inexpensive video cameras to the bride and groom so their friends and family can shoot the wedding. The cameras are then returned in a prepaid box to Wedit, where the footage is edited and hosted online.
A decidedly untucked crowd of about 50 people turned out for an information session at Quicken Loans Arena in May to see if they, too, might benefit from the program. Most questions pertained to ownership. Assuming their idea takes off, how much will they keep?
(Answer: Bizdom U grads who accept funding give 67 percent ownership to a nonprofit fund, which the entrepreneur can buy back as the company makes money.)
The idea, explains Bizdom U CEO Ross Sanders, is to use profits and payback to seed the next round of entrepreneurs. We sat down with him to find out more about the program.
IB: Why is this program a good fit for Cleveland?
RS: Dan Gilbert really wanted to play a role in transforming both Detroit and Cleveland from muscle-based economies over-reliant on manufacturing to brain economies rooted in innovation and entrepreneurship. With the Internet and all the social media tools out there today, you can build businesses in any city, yet the world is your marketplace.
IB: Bizdom U doesn’t focus on any specific type of business. Why is that a good idea?
RS: Entrepreneurs are very creative. They can go in a lot of different directions, so we didn’t want to focus on a particular industry.
IB: What are some common pitfalls you warn aspiring entrepreneurs to avoid?
RS: We try to distinguish between what we call the wantrepreneur and the entrepreneur. Most people have fancied the idea of owning their own business. They think, I get to be my own boss. I’ll set my own hours. It’s going to be easy and I get to boss people around. We’re about everything but that.
IB: With TV programs such as The Apprentice and Shark Tank out
there, it seems the idea of having business savvy is becoming more mainstream and exciting. Have you noticed a bump in interest in your program?
RS: I think people know more about entrepreneurs now because of programs like those but also because of the tough economy. People are out of work and thinking, Maybe I should create my own business.
IB: If everything went according to plan in Cleveland, what would the ideal results look like?
RS: We’ll have a core of entrepreneurial companies launched by capable, competent people who otherwise probably would not have launched such businesses. Man, if we could take a bunch of these people and have them creating jobs and businesses and wealth, it’ll be so much better than having them sit in a cubicle and be an employee somewhere.