Small Business Spotlight - podcast cover

Small Business Spotlight

Crain's Detroit Businesswww.crainsdetroit.com
Detroit and Southeast Michigan's premier business news and information.
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Episodes

Detroit Rising podcast: Colbeck wants to end 'winners and losers' economic development

State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton Township, is running a long-shot campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. In an interview with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood, Colbeck details his plan for eliminating the state's 4.25 percent income tax and getting the state "out of the game of picking winners and losers" in economic development.

Jul 10, 201816 minEp. 35

Detroit Rising: Saginaw doc running for gov seeks to cap medical provider payments in auto no-fault

Jim Hines, an obstetrician from Saginaw County, is running for the Republican nomination for governor in a long-shot bid to be Michigan's next chief executive. He spoke with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about his views on tax incentives that "pick winners and losers" and his plans for fixing the state's roads, improving educational outcome in K-12 schools and lowering auto insurance rates.

Jul 03, 201816 minEp. 34

Detroit Rising podcast: Rapidly-growing StockX pushing e-commerce platform beyond sneakers

At less than 29 months old, StockX is one of Detroit's fastest growing startups, employing 300 people in the city. The e-commerce company is a so-called stock market of things, seeking to commoditize high-end luxury consumer goods like sneaker, watches, handbags and street wear. StockX CEO Josh Luber and Chief Operating Officer Greg Schwartz sat down with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood recently to talk about the company's rapid growth and where it might be headed next in the evolving wor...

Jul 01, 201827 minEp. 33

Detroit Rising podcast: Shri Thanedar wants to replace 'corporate welfare' with small biz incubators

Ann Arbor businessman Shri Thanedar, a Democratic candidate for governor, talks with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about his plan gut "corporate welfare" tax incentive programs, invest in small business incubators and seek $30 billion in new state debt for investments in roads, bridges, underground infrastructure and schools. Thanedar is running in the Aug. 7 Democratic primary against former Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing and Abdul El-Sayed, the former Detroit ...

Jun 26, 201816 minEp. 32

Detroit Rising podcast: Calley talks Detroit policy issues, plans to accelerate road-funding

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, talks about how he will approach policy issues affecting Detroit and governance in an interview with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood for the Crain's Detroit Rising podcast. If he's elected governor, Calley said he will propose speeding up by one fiscal year the state's plans to spend $1.2 billion more annually on roads.

Jun 17, 201816 minEp. 31

Detroit Rising podcast: Abdul El-Sayed takes on health, auto insurers in bid for governor

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, Detroit's former health commissioner, is campaigning for governor on a platform of creating a state-run, single-payer health insurance that he says would eliminate the need for medical coverage that drives up the cost of auto insurance. In this week's segment of Detroit Rising, El-Sayed talks with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about his plans to tackling Detroit's biggest problems if he's elected Michigan's next governor.

Jun 12, 201816 minEp. 30

Detroit Rising podcast: How a Detroit high school is putting students on career paths

At Detroit Cristo Rey High School, a student's enrollment is contingent upon working to support the school's bottom line in lieu of a five-figure tuition bill that would be out of reach for the school's low-income Hispanic and African American families. One day a week, students work in business across metro Detroit as part of their education. In this week's segment of Detroit Rising, the high school's president and CEO Michael Khoury discusses the program along with two Detroit business leaders ...

May 24, 201816 minEp. 27

Detroit Rising podcast: How GM is building an engineering talent pipeline through FIRST robotics

Joaquin Nuno-Whelan, chief engineer for next-generation SUVs at General Motors, discusses how the FIRST robotics program is creating a pipeline of engineering talent for the Detroit automaker. He was joined on the Detroit Rising podcast by students from Detroit Cristo Rey High School, the school's robotics team coach Ann McGowan and Milton Martinez, a global diagnostics strategist at GM's Milford Proving Grounds.

Apr 22, 201816 minEp. 25

Detroit Rising podcast: Real estate course teaches Detroiters how to get into the business

Chase Cantrell, founder and executive director of Building Community Value, talks with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about his organization's "Better Buildings, Better Blocks" seminar that teachers Detroiters how to build, rehabilitate and manage residential and commercial real estate in the city. The course is taught by Dietrich Knoer, president and CEO of The Platform.

Apr 19, 201816 minEp. 24

'Detroit Rising' podcast: Ideal Group grows in southwest Detroit into multifaceted company

Ideal Group President Loren Venegas talks with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about how the company his brother founded in 1979 has grown from a steel fabrication business into a multifaceted enterprise that designs and builds bumper post bollards for major retailers, sells obsolete auto factory machine parts around the world and does general construction contracting. In 1995, founder Frank Venegas Jr. began moving his business from Livingston County to a shuttered General Motors plant o...

Apr 08, 201816 minEp. 23

'Detroit Rising' podcast: Urban Land Institute meeting in May to showcase Detroit revitalization

Real estate developers Jill Ferrari of Shelborne Development and Eric Larson of Larson Realty Group and the Downtown Detroit Partnership discuss the Urban Land Institute bringing its spring meeting to Detroit, May 1-3, in an interview for the Crain's "Detroit Rising" podcast with Senior Reporter Chad Livengood at Sister Pie bakery in Detroit's West Village.

Apr 02, 201816 minEp. 22

Detroit Rising podcast: Leveraging technology in tracking Detroit blight-removal demolitions

Brian Farkas, director of special projects for the Detroit Building Authority, discusses how Detroit's blight-removal program has become more technology focused to give city officials real-time data on demolitions of houses and commercial buildings and provide real estate developers, investors and residents information on building permits, side lot sales and property for sale in the city.

Mar 21, 201816 minEp. 20

Detroit Rising podcast: Recapturing service industry sales one hair 'blowout' at a time

Detroit natives Nia Batts and Katy Cockrel opened the Detroit Blows hair blow-drying salon in downtown Detroit last fall in response to a need for the specialty service that could previously only be found in the suburbs.Their business model aims to fill one of the many voids Detroit still has in the service industry that causes both Detroiters and suburban residents who work in the city to head to the suburbs for services every day. They also have a social entrepreneurship mission built into the...

Mar 07, 201816 minEp. 18

Detroit Rising: Detroit Chamber's policy conference focused on building regional culture of civility

The Detroit Regional Chamber's annual Detroit Policy Conference on Thursday will focus on making a business case for creating a culture of civility in a region with a long history of divisions among race, geography and wealth. Devon O'Reilly of Detroit Regional Chamber and Jeanette Pierce of the Detroit Experience Factory joined Crain's reporter Chad Livengood for a discussion on the Crain's "Detroit Rising" podcast about the conference's civility pillar.

Feb 27, 201816 minEp. 17

Detroit Rising podcast: Growth opportunities for more food businesses, affordable housing in Detroit

Melinda Clemons, senior loan officer for Capital Impact Partners, and Ashley Mizzi with the Detroit Community Loan Fund, think there's an opportunity for more food-based businesses and subsidized affordable housing developments to create jobs, access to fresh food and residential density. Clemons and Mizzi talked about their organizations' work in Detroit in the respective fields of real estate development and lending to small business start-ups during an interview for the Crain's "Detroit Risin...

Feb 13, 201816 minEp. 15

Detroit Rising podcast: As automakers race to build electric vehicles, 'range anxiety' persists

As Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and other automakers race to build a new generation of electric vehicles, so-called "range anxiety" persists because of a limited number of publicly-available electric-charging stations and the time it takes to charge EV batteries. Consumers Energy Co. and DTE Energy Co. are starting to work with the Michigan Public Service Commission to build an infrastructure and business model around supplying the energy needed to propel the future of electric vehicles. P...

Feb 03, 201816 minEp. 14

'Detroit Rising' podcast: At Bamboo Detroit, a wide variety of businesses working under one roof

CellularEMT CEO Dwain Watkins and business and non-profits consultant Chanel Hampton operate vastly different businesses under the same roof at Bamboo Detroit, a co-working space in downtown Detroit. In this segment of the "Detroit Rising" podcast, they talk with Crain's Senior Reporter Chad Livengood about how their start-up businesses have thrived at Bamboo and what Detroit needs to do to continue fostering small business growth.

Jan 30, 201816 minEp. 13

Detroit Rising podcast: Lightweight materials R&D takes root in one-time auto parts plant

Larry Brown, executive director of Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow (LIFT), discusses the joint manufacturing institute that LIFT operates with the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood inside the old Mexican Industries auto parts plant. The facility's research and development equipment and capabilities will be showcased during the industry preview days of the North American International Auto Show.

Jan 14, 201816 minEp. 11

'Detroit Rising' podcast: Revitalizing city neighborhoods goes beyond fixing dilapidated homes

Real estate investor David Alade is betting the young millennials filling up apartments and condominiums in Midtown and downtown will eventually want a little more space to spread out, put down roots and possibly raise families in Detroit. Alade, a native of Queens, New York, says Detroit's high auto insurance costs and the quality of the city's public schools remain barriers to getting young families to buy single family homes in Detroit.

Dec 22, 201716 minEp. 8
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