The Richard M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation prides itself on its relationship with organizations that offer support for the entrepreneurial community in West Michigan. The services provided by our partner organizations range from consulting and market research to incubation space and funding. We encourage you to reach out, learn more, and take advantage of the resources available to you.
applied Medical Device Institute (aMDI)
aMDI provides a full range of services, including but not limited to: developing analytical and physical models; rapid prototyping and fabricating systems; comprehensive testing for technical feasibility; and incubator space.
Rende Progress Capital
Loan Fund and an emerging Community Development Financial Institution. Providing lending and investing through racial equity. Rende Progress Capital is a mission-driven lender of loans and provider of investments to Excluded Entrepreneurs who face social and financial barriers to acquiring traditional loans because of bias and racial inequity.
Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses (GRABB)
Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses (GRABB) is an Economic Development social enterprise. GRABB works to foster an economy that creates prosperity and supports the revitalization of predominantly Black neighborhoods. GRABB expands opportunities for Black businesses in the Metro Grand Rapids area by assisting them with acquiring three form of capital (Social, Intellectual and Financial) and creating awareness for Black businesses.
LINC Business Incubator
LINC is a community development corporation that provides services to Kent County, and is involved in a host of projects and services that reach families, houses, businesses and neighborhoods at large. LINC’s mission is revitalizing neighborhoods through authentic engagement, stimulating economic development, expanding housing opportunities, creating affordable housing, and developing leadership and capacity of residents and grass-roots organizations."
www.lincrev.org
Muskegon Innovation Hub
The Muskegon Innovation Hub (the Hub) is a business innovation program that provides coaching, funding, networking, and a synergistic work environment to help businesses and entrepreneurs achieve their growth potential. The Hub is a key partner in the region's innovation ecosystem, supporting startup businesses, entrepreneurs, and corporate innovation teams.
The Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
The SBDC provides a full range of services to growing businesses that includes strategic needs assessment market analysis, ongoing strategy development, financial analysis and access to capital.
Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW)
GROW offers entrepreneurial training, counseling, and networking opportunities provide you with the tools you need to start, run, sustain, and expand your business.
The Goei Center - International Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (I.C.E.E)
The Goei Center provides a modern facility, focusing on women and minorities, and a networking platform for small businesses to be successful. The Goei Center and the I.C.E.E. aims to help create new jobs and grow the local economy by acting as a communal hub for businesses, networking and innovation.
VetBiz Central
Assisting Veterans, Active Duty, Guard and Reserve Members in the formation and expansion of their businesses.
West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to working with all members of the community to increase the economic advancement of Hispanic owned business and assist the professional growth of the Hispanic business leaders in West Michigan.
Family Owned Business Institute (FOBI)
The creation of the Family Owned Business Institute at Grand Valley State University is borne out of the collective belief that family businesses ( large and small ) are the cornerstone of a community's prosperity and a vital ingredient in its quality of life.
Start Garden
Start Garden is turning Michigan into an ecosystem where a thousand ideas can get started. Start Garden is a Grand Rapids based seed venture firm that invests financial, intellectual and social capital into very early stage ideas & startups.
Indie Go Go
Indiegogo empowers people to activate the global community to make ideas happen. Then, we help you spread the word.
Lakeshore Advantage
Lakeshore Advantage is a non-profit economic development organization that connects businesses to the resources they need to grow in Ottawa County and West Michigan. We accomplish this by working to maintain a robust primary business base at all stages of development, tackle talent challenges to overcome barriers to growth and look forward to ensure long-term economic health.
Kick Starter
Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects.
We’re a home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of people like you. Since our launch in 2009, 7.2 million people have pledged $1 billion, funding 71,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now.
Marketing Tools
PageCloud
Allows you to become an expert web developer! This company presented at TechCrunch's Disrupt NY event this summer and blew the start up world away with their company, and probably concerned a lot of web developers in relation to job security! They changed the way we build website by making it feasible for anyone to, quickly and easily develop, edit, and launch all in real time. This resource is $24 / Month or $240 / Annually per site. Very cheap and resourceful resource for clients to get a website up whether it is just a landing page or eCommerce page to start generating sales early on.
RawShorts
Allows you to become multimedia expert! So PowerPoints are great, but videos are better as we all know. This product allows you to create animated video's explaining your product, service, or technology in a very user-friendly way that anyone can use. This is a freemium model, and the premium options are very cheap compared to paying someone to do this and the turnaround time is depended on the user not someone else which is the best part.
Canva
Allows you to become an expert graphic designer! Great tool for creating wire-frames for apps, social media marketing materials, or flyers, graphics, etc.
Softailed
Softailed expedites the process of finding the right marketing software. The analysts compare technical parameters, functionalities, and pricing, providing entrepreneurs with comprehensive data to make decisions. This helps to save hours and days of overwhelming searches and unnecessary distractions.