Your point is very well taken, the issue in Michigan isn’t funding for our entrepreneurs. You’re absolutely right. There is plenty of Michigan money, and the real issue is Talent. How to find it, how to keep it.

At the end of the day, the net/net of the trips out West was not funding. It was two other vitally important aspects of rebuilding Michigan:
1) The amazing impression that Michigan entrepreneurs made on the West Coast VC community. In this respect, the trips were huge PR victories for the state. On our second trip out West, Geoff Horst (Algal Scientific) and Oliver Baer (Clean Emission Fluids) tied for 2nd place at the VC Taskforce pitch night, and were clearly very sophisticated entrepreneurs. Ambiq Micro’s (Scott Hanson CEO) win in the DFJ-Cisco Int’l Business Plan competition brought kudos from the likes of John Hummer and Frank Caufield. Getting notified of the win from Tim Draper himself didn’t hurt the state of Michigan’s reputation either Draper was able to meet the kind of brilliant CEO that Michigan has many more of. He was clearly impressed.

2) A confidence builder for the entrepreneurs who went on the trips. They went toe-to-toe with Bay Area companies, and came out at the top. Moreover, they defended their business models to highly respected VCs and didn’t back down. They earned the respect of the likes of Frank Caufield, John Hummer, Tim Draper and Ira Ehrenpreis. Knowing that the grass isn’t always greener, that they don’t have to move their company out West to play with the “Big Guys,” is a huge psychological boost to Michigan entrepreneurs.

Again, I agree with you about the funding. It was my ignorance going into the meetings. I assumed it was a money thing in Michigan, but it’s not. It’s Talent recruitment and Confidence. I hope Stunning was able to make an impact, even a small one, on the Confidence front.