WSU sets up Warrior Fund to provide microgrants to new entrepreneurs

Another funding option for aspiring entrepreneurs is launching out of Midtown, Detroit: the Warrior Fund.

The Warrior Fund is a new pre-seed investment fund focused on providing small amounts of cash (three- and four-figure loans) to Wayne State University students who want to launch tech start-ups.

"It's focused on Wayne State No. 1," says Andrew Olson, commercialization principal of Wayne State University's Office of Technology Commercialization. "We have a number of entrepreneurial programs on campus, like Blackstone LaunchPad. But like a lot of entrepreneurial programs, they can't write checks."

The $25,000 microgrant fund received its capital from the Michigan Initiative for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The fund invites Wayne State student teams to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to score up to $5,000 in a grant to further explore their business idea.

"We never tell them, 'No,'" Olson says. "The answer is either, 'Yes' or, 'Not yet. Here is what you need to do to strengthen your proposal.'"

The plan is to distribute the $25,000 fund over the next 12 months to help a handful of aspiring studentpreneurs. For information, click here.

Source: Andrew Olson, commercialization principal of Wayne State University's Office of Technology Commercialization
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.