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So, You Want to be a Start-Up Company in Automation?

by | Feb 22, 2024

Summary

Our CEO Tom Kelly was featured as one of three experts in automation in this article focusing on teaching start-ups how to best implement the technology.

Navigating the start-up experience can be a daunting prospect, especially in the automation sector. From acquiring funding to dealing with rejection, the challenges are complex and will test you — and your team — to the limit. A3 spoke with three experts that have been through the start-up experience to better understand the challenges involved and to get some advice on how to improve your chances of success.

Find a Product Fit

Founders have to understand their customers’ needs, says Tom Kelly, CEO at Automation Alley, a Michigan-based nonprofit technology business accelerator and Industry 4.0 knowledge center.  

Tom Kelly, Executive Director and CEO at Automation Alley. Credit: Automation Alley. “It’s a little bit like the difference between solving a problem that’s an interesting problem to have solved versus having a commercially useful product, which is way more impressive. You need to know why what you’ve created with a prototype is so compelling that customers and investors will want to pay attention to it,” says Kelly.

Start-ups are not just in the product development business, says Kelly, they are in the storytelling business too. That’s because start-ups with a prototype and no money, have just two currencies —momentum and buzz.

“Momentum means that when people hear what you’re doing, they want to get involved with you, even if they don’t want to fund you at that moment. Buzz means that when journalists and magazine editors hear your story, they want to write about it.”

Read the article in full here.

Emmet Cole, A3

Elly Mioduszewski – Manager, ConsultingAs a manager in Clayton & McKervey’s consulting practice, Elly helps business leaders find efficient, effective and sustainable business improvement solutions by championing a data-driven culture.Bryan Powrozek - CPABryan Powrozek is an engineer and CPA who leads Clayton & McKervey’s Industrial Automation practice, providing assurance, tax and advisory services to closely held businesses nationwide. To learn more, contact him at bpowrozek@claytonmckervey.com.‍

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