This is the year tech startup TernPro expects to take off.
They believe its visual content software platform, Slope, will gain traction with customers and hit some significant milestones. The biggest one TernPro is closing a $1 million seed round later this spring. It's also looking to bring its platform, which is currently in private Beta, online to the public.
"This year it's really about product development and customers," says Brian Bosche, co-founder & CEO of
TernPro. "Once we close this round we want to perfect the product and get it out in the field."
Bosche is a member of the inaugural 2012 class of
Venture for America, a two-year program that pairs talented college grads with startups in economically challenged cities like Detroit. He worked with the leadership team at the
Bizdom startup accelerator in downtown Detroit during his fellowship, helping many of the startups in the incubator tell their stories through short videos.
Bosche and fellow VFAer Dan Bloom launched TernPro in downtown Detroit two years ago, primarily as a full-service digital video agency. Not long after they started developing
Slope, a software platform that enables novice digital media users to design, store, produce, and collaborate on creating visual content.
TernPro was accepted to the
Microsoft Ventures Accelerator last year, a program that helps startups build their technology and scale their products. The TernPro team was attracted to it because of Microsoft's expertise in developing enterprise software, and opened an office in Seattle after completing the accelerator.
"We still work very closely with them," Bosche says. "It's been a great relationship."
TernPro has a team of eight people after hiring three in UIX design and software development in the last year. The company recently moved to the
Elevator Building overlooking the Detroit Riverfront.
The company released Slope in private Beta in late 2015, and plans to make it public later this year to start building out its customer base.
"It's a fully functioning product but we are still building it out," Bosche says. "We even got our first paying customer."
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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