U of M College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship (New Director: Tom Frank, Seeks Help from Established Entrepreneurs to Inform Students)

University of Michigan names new Center for Entrepreneurship director

By Nathan Bomey Detroit Free Press Business Writer

   The investment community takes student entrepreneurs seriously. In an oft-cited New Yorker article on the ties between Stanford University and Silicon Valley writer Ken Auletta quoted venture capital mogul John Doerr as calling Stanford “the germ-plasm for innovation.”

   Are Michigan students capable of similar success?

   Tom Frank, the new executive director of the University of Michigan College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship, says it’s inevitable.

   “The real secret to success is enabling the types of programs that are going to get these students to really take things from the concept phase through the discipline process required to build something,” Frank said.

   Frank, a Silicon Valley veteran who once held the No. 2 job at online video firm Real Networks, is responsible for encouraging the development of student-led start-up companies, entrepreneurial programs and partnerships with other university departments.

   One of his tasks is to oversee Tech Arb, a U-M-funded business incubator for student-led companies in an office on Ann Arbor’s Liberty Street tech corridor.

   Those companies are developing mobile applications, alternative energy and health care technology. In some cases, the start-ups have attracted venture capital investment and hired employees.

   But Frank said the students need help from established entrepreneurs.

   Thomas Zurbuchen, associate dean for entrepreneurial programs of the U-M College of Engineering, said the university had about 130 student-led companies or entrepreneurial ventures last year.

   About 2,500 U-M students took classes involving entrepreneurial training.

   But Zurbuchen said he wonders whether the surrounding university environment is sufficiently nurturing of these embryonic ventures to maximize their broader economic impact.

   “This is ecosystem now that has size and scale. I think we’re on the verge of breaking through. That’s what my gut feeling is,” he said. “We need to have more people at bat. There’s a huge difference between talking about entrepreneurship and actually doing it.”

   Frank, who owns a home in northern Michigan, spent time as the head of Dick Clark’s production company in Hollywood and later joined Procter & Gamble. He later spent time “parachuting in” to lead struggling Silicon Valley companies, an experience that gave him insight into the hurdles start-ups face.

   Michigan needs to continue developing resources for budding entrepreneurs — and that starts with teaching students about it in college, even if they have no plans to start a business, he said.

   “I believe that the principles of entrepreneurship should be a core component of every collegiate curriculum,” Frank said. “Today’s global economy demands that people be equipped with the ability to identify opportunities, solve problems, work collaboratively.”

   Contact Nathan Bomey: 313-223-4743 or nbomey@freepress.com  . Follow him on Twitter @NathanBomey.