Scenes from Detroit Homecoming
Michigan Central, NewLab, and more
Slightly edited post-publication - including photo of my wingman!
Friends - in Week 4 of Opportunity Recognition we discussed venture capital and its incentives; in particular, how the need to provide consistent returns to LPs that more than make up for venture capital being a relatively illiquid category of investment. To discuss, it was a delight to host Scott Kupor, investing partner at Andreessen Horowitz and also author of Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It, published just in time for the holidays in 2019, excerpts of which were assigned for class. SOSHR is modular, clear and very readable (and written in Scott’s voice), and I do recommend it.
I particularly our discussion of the implications of startups staying private longer, as this impacts, well, many things — from option vesting schedules to how and in what manner companies and employees exit. Thanks again to Scott for joining.
Following class my wingman (alluded to in my last newsletter) and I headed to SFO for the red-eye to Detroit. (And re-learned why they are called red-eyes! Oura confirmed what I already knew.)
We rested up a bit, then joined the group for Days 2 and 3 of Detroit Homecoming.
This was the 11th Detroit Homecoming. Yes, that means the first, in 2014, was held while the city was still in Chapter 9. The basic idea: Detroit and the surrounding area have a massive diaspora (e.g. all those Wayne State, Michigan State, and University of Michigan alums) that can be harnessed in various ways, from time to talent to treasure.
I was there as University of Michigan alum whose parents come from the Detroit area; because we cover Detroit in Clusters class, which is what brought me out to Detroit in 2022 and 2023; and because Detroit shows the power of human agency, both on the way down, and now, on its way back up. The city’s twin mottos remain apt: Speramus Meliora, and Resurget Cineribus (We hope for better things; and It will rise from the ashes).
So this made three trips to the city in three years (plus two visits to Haas to Clusters class by Jared Stasik of Detroit Venture Partners). Clearly, this is habit-forming!
Proud instructor digression: Jared’s visit to Clusters class in fall 2023 led to Detroit Venture Partners investing in Aurelius Systems, founded by Cal/Michigan alum Michael LaFramboise and co-founder John Marmaduke. The Cal-Michigan connection is at work! Below, the room where (it began to) happen.
Detroit comes to Haas; Sept 2023
Before this trip, I had opportunity to hear former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, now Energy Secretary, speak. Secretary Granholm was Michigan governor from 2003-2011, during the worst of the auto industry crisis. During her recent remarks, she was understandably proud that Michigan unemployment is now below 4%.
Michigan unemployment, 1992-2023
That has ticked up a bit in 2024, and unemployment in Wayne County, home to Detroit, is around 5% as of August 2024.
The headliner from our trip - visiting the newly renovated Michigan Central, which re-opened in June, more than three decades after it ended its life as a train depot. The site as acquired by Ford Motor in 2018, and Ford funded the extensive renovation. Michigan Central LLC is a Ford Motor subsidiary headed by Joshua Sirefman, the former head of Sidewalk Labs.
Adjacent to Michigan Central is Newlab, a mobility innovation hub with co-working space and maker space. This is on the site of the former book depository. Photos of the depository, in its collapsed state circa 2006, remind you of the magnitude of the turnaround.
I particular enjoyed meeting Chris Nolte, US Army transportation specialist turned entrepreneur. He’s now head of Bloom, which is trying to be, in Chris’ words, AWS (or Alibaba) for new mobility startups. Chris had just moved to the area from Brooklyn (where Newlab also has a space). The various vehicles depicted in the upper left photo of the gallery are powered by Bloom.
While listening, I remembered hearing Jack Ma pitch the Alibaba vision of catching thousands of small fish at an event of 2000. Were there fish enough in the area to make a mobility supply chain marketplace function? Still, becoming a toolmaker to mobility entrepreneurs feels like the right problem to solve.
added post-publication: hardware needs content and software to come to life. I was reminded of this visiting Michigan Central and Newlab. The buildings, and the breadth of the transformation, are breathtaking. Yet, the buildings are themselves somewhat islands in the midst of Corktown, and will need community and connectivity (physical and virtual) to come to life. Detroit Homecoming-type events are one way to build this connective tissue. Thus, it bodes well that Michigan Central looks like it will itself integrate education providers, community, and retail.
Detroit houses some 660,000 people in a city that housed 1.85 million in 1950, in an area that could visit both Boston and San Francisco. So while the downtown turnaround is well underway - to the point that a JW Marriott (!) is planned - care was taken on this trip to make sure Detroit Homecoming attendees made it out to the neighborhoods where the recovery is still nascent. During a visit to Livernois, we visited Good Cakes and Bakes, founded in 2013, and a planned retail hub in the Live6 neighborhood.
We stayed in the recently opened Roost Detroit in the former Book Tower, itself one of many downtown projects recently completed or underway.
Most memorable, though, were the moments out and about on foot downtown, or chatting with fellow Homecoming attendees. People were out and about, shopping, scooting, or just hanging. With summer lingering and temperatures reaching 80, it really was glorious.
As mentioned I had a wingman on this trip. My son Rohan, now a high school senior, took time off from a busy fall schedule to join me for the trip to Detroit and then to Ann Arbor. And that was definitely worth the red-eye. Here, Rohan takes in Michigan Central.
Onward and upward!
Jon