Laura Schrader
What educational, entrepreneurial or business development programs, if any, have you taken advantage of?
I have participated in the Financing Research Commercialization Practicum at the
Ross School of Business, a
David Brophy program. It was a great program with great students and a great team lead.
Who was your first customer and where did you find them?
A university on the east coast was our first customer. They saw a publication regarding the effectiveness of our products in an industry journal.
Where did you find your first employee?
The first two employees are PhD graduates from an inventing professor's laboratory at the
University of Michigan.
What is one thing Michigan does better or has going for it that other more successful regional economies don't?
Like other regions, Michigan is full of of good, talented people, and the higher education institutions, from the private schools to the larger schools like the
University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Wayne State University, Grand Valley State University and Michigan State University, etc. are key. It's also Michigan's dedicated, down to earth work ethic, stemming from a very long history of innovation, that sets our state positively apart from other parts of the country.
It's often said that Metro Detroit and Michigan need to reinvent their economies to be competitive. Are we making those changes, and if so are we making enough of them or doing it fast enough?
There are a lot of people and organizations making impressive changes to turn the economy within Metro Detroit and Michigan around. These efforts continue to make Michigan a positive place for our life science company and other young companies like us to launch and grow. What I would speed up is getting out a cohesive, constant, cool message to the rest of world that expresses who Metro Detroit and Michigan are.
What could local leaders do to help attract and retain more entrepreneurial young people to Metro Detroit?
First, keep up the drive for change. It's working. Maybe doing a deep dive on how other regions turned their personalities around over time (Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York) to build our own strategy to improve and clean up where we need to, and then do it, could also be fruitful because then retention and attraction efforts will provide a reason for young people to stay, come back, or make Michigan home.