Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT) is pleased to give thanks to three Michigan based professional business service providers for their superb execution of three separate projects which have been instrumental in accelerating GLCT’s market understanding and business infrastructure.
All three projects were financed under a Michigan Business Accelerator Fund (BAF) grant provided by the Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and managed by Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP).
Ann Arbor MI based miLEAD Consulting is a nonprofit organization built and run by a diverse group of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Michigan. A group of 7 U of M graduate students (4 consultants, 1 project manager, and 2 advisors) led by Ms. Johanna Fleischman performed a deep analysis of the market and the competitive landscape for GLCT’s planned diamond product offerings and they also found interesting adjacent markets which when presented did capture the attention of GLCT.
Flint MI based Social Impact Philanthropy and Investment (SIPI) was founded as a platform for change in 2015 to empower people and organizations to do great things. SIPI developed a professional accounting system for GLCT to use for general accounting purposes. One specific requirement for the accounting system was to be compliant with federal contracting requirements, and the SIPI team engaged the consulting services of Raleigh NC based Kyma Technologies, which has 20 years of federal contracting experience, to provide guidance on how to best achieve that.
Ann Arbor MI based Orbit Digital Solutions offers affordable website design, branding, and business technology consulting for small businesses. Orbit Digital’s founder Mr. Jeff Martin designed GLCT’s website which includes an online store (which will be rolled out in the future) and created their logo and various branding materials.
Dr. Keith Evans, GLCT’s president and CEO, commented, “We give an A-plus to all three service providers as they were all highly professional and both fun and productive to work with. We found miLEAD and Orbit Digital Solutions through recommendations from Spartan Innovations, a subsidiary of Michigan State University Foundation. SIPI’s Jason Ball was recommended by a former colleague in the US Power Electronics Industry Collaborative.”
Evans added, “Many thanks to these three great service providers and to Dr. Heather Splawn at Kyma for her assistance. Also we thank SBDC and LEAP for helping us to receive this support which is critically important for GLCT in its early stages of growth.”
About Great Lakes Crystal Technologies
GLCT is a lean startup spun out of the world-class diamond materials research collaboration between Michigan State University (MSU) and MSU-located Fraunhofer USA Center for Coatings and Diamond Technologies. The company’s mission is to be the leading supplier of high performance diamond materials for advanced (non-gemstone) applications. For more information about GLCT send an email to info@glcrystal.com.
