Scoring an spot in the Adams Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program is no easy task. The nonprofit provides talented young people/aspiring entrepreneurs with a job in the ground floor of a startup, a $60,000 living stipend and the chance to break into Metro Detroit's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The only thing that might be more difficult than earning one of those fellowships is landing one of those fellows for your startup. Only a handful of those fellowships are awarded each year. Detroit-based startups landed half of the four Adams Fellows this year.
Stik, a social media startup that calls the M@dison Building home, and ENT Biosystems, a downtown-based life sciences firm, both landed a fellow. The other two went to startups based in the suburbs. The Adams Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program is based out of Automation Alley in Troy but tries to send its fellows to a number of different locales across the region.
"We would like to reach out to more places," says Terry Cross, managing director of the
Adams Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program. "It needs to be done. Those county barriers need to come down."
Adams Fellows make a two-year commitment to work at an up-and-coming startup in Metro Detroit. They are normally one of the company's first employees so the fellows receive a living stipend to support themselves and their families during that time. The fellows often have advanced degrees and a background in business or an aspiration to translate their career focus into a business venture.
Source: Terry Cross, managing director of the Adams Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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