Mark Shalinsky
What educational, entrepreneurial or business development programs, if any, have you taken advantage of?
None.
Who was your first customer and where did you find them?
Aylsing. I met the CEO when I ran a sales round table at the
Tech Brewery.
Where did you find your first employee?
I advertised on Craigslist, the
Ann Arbor SPARK job board and the
University of Michigan and
Eastern Michigan University websites.
Have you promoted an intern to employee status, and if so how many times have you done it?
Not yet.
Where have you turned to find capital to grow your company and which institutions have provided it?
Bootstrapping/personally financed.
What are some of the advantages to doing business here?
There are a lot of tech companies that require professional sales force. There are a lot of trailing spouses where one partner comes to Ann Arbor for a job and the other is left looking. There are a lot of networking resources.
Name an idea, policy or mindset from elsewhere that you would like to see this region adopt?
I'm not sure if this is a local mindset, but people should have willingness to try something completely new. In trying to hire people, I find a lot of them talking their way out of a job as opposed to willing to risk the chance of trying something new. At the end of the day, if they don't like it, they can go back to their comfort zone.