Business & Professional
ON THE COVER
Biz Kids from page B1
Dan Gilbert's
Entrepreneurial
And Civic Spirit
Bizdom University is important to its
students, the city of Detroit and entre-
preneur Dan Gilbert; but it's almost
a sideline for Gilbert, who launched
his sales career as a youngster in
Southfield, selling homemade pizza,
candy, pots and pans and power tools
to friends and neighbors.
Under Rock Enterprises, an umbrella
entity, Gilbert,
chairman of
Quicken Loans-
Rock Financial,
which he co-
founded 23 years
ago, now has a
diverse portfolio
Dan Gilbert
of companies and
investments in
Internet-based consumer-direct mar-
keting, consumer financial services and
sports, media and entertainment.
Financial services companies include
Quicken Loans (Rock Financial), the
nation's largest online mortgage
lender; Title Source Inc., a title and
settlement services company; In House
Realty, an online residential real estate
brokerage firm; and One Reverse
Mortgage, based in San Diego, Calif.
Sports, media and entertainment
companies include the Cleveland
Cavaliers/National Basketball
Association team; the Lake Erie
Monsters, an American Hockey League
franchise; Quicken Loans Arena in
Cleveland; Veritix LLC, an online digi-
tal tracking firm, based in Cleveland;
Fathead LLC, which makes life-sized
wall graphics of popular sports and
entertainment characters, based in
Livonia; and Xeko, a Seattle-based
children's media property.
Gilbert also is an investor in ePrize,
a global online promotions company;
Rock Companies, a commercial and
residential real estate development
firm; RockBridge Equity Partners;
Xenith LLC, a Boston-based cre-
ator of new helmet technology; and
StyleCaster in New York, a fashion
media property set to launch in the fall.
But Gilbert still finds time to be
active, often behind the scenes, in
civic, medical and Jewish charitable
organizations. He has served on the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit Board of Governors and is past
president of the Farmington Hills-based
Jewish social service agency JARC.
- Bill Carroll
B2
July 24 • 2008
Mason Levey outside the Bizdom U office on the Wayne State University campus
Practical Know-How
Classes at Bizdom (a contraction of "busi-
ness" and "wisdom") are held 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
three days a week all year (some students
have part-time jobs) in an office on the
WSU campus although the school is not
affiliated with the university. Most students
live in Wayne dormitories and are provided
with textbooks, training materials and
high-tech tools like laptop computers and
Blackberry electronic data devices. The
rest of the day is spent reading business
publications, doing homework, meeting
with mentors, working on class projects
and outside jobs.
The curriculum includes entrepreneur-
ship, starting a business from the ground
up, real estate and facility management,
how to obtain financing, principles of eco-
nomics, basic accounting, business ethics
and etiquette, public speaking, grammar
and analysis, reading smart, practical
mathematics, negotiation skills, the history
and culture of Detroit, business law, the
fundamental "isms" of business, "Gizmos
and Gadgets" and even the "Buzz" (keeping
your ears to the ground).
As a "final exam;' each student must
develop a realistic and profitable plan to
launch a business in Detroit and present
the comprehensive plan to Gilbert and
others. If the plan is approved, Gilbert
will provide anywhere from $25,000 to
$500,000 to start the enterprise; and the
entrepreneur will be part owner, sharing
the profits with the rest of the program.
That money will be used to finance other
businesses established by Bizdom students.
Sanders, a former Quicken-Rock execu-
tive who also formerly ran the Detroit
Police Athletic League program, is a full-
time instructor along with Dan Izzo of
Detroit, a former Chicago lawyer, who is
Bizdom's training director. But practical
advice comes from a bevy of Detroit-area
businessmen, entrepreneurs in their own
right (including many Jews), who serve
as guest speakers and mentors. They give
the students the benefit of their real-world
business experience.
Levey's Lessons
Mason Levey is a graduate of West
Bloomfield High School, and attended
Eastern Michigan University and
University of Michigan-Dearborn.
"But I didn't want to wait three or four
more years to get going in a business;'
he said. "When I heard about Bizdom, it
seemed like the right fit for me. But it takes
a lot of discipline and commitment. It's a
great opportunity for me. I learned a great
deal from the instructors, and Dan Gilbert
is the perfect role model."
During the year, Levey lived in a Wayne
dorm and also worked part time as a valet
parking manager at Star Trax/pulse 220, an
entertainment company in Southfield.
His plan calls for establishing the Bablur
Co., which would be an interactive, mobile
marketing agency, focusing on cell phones,
iPhones and text messaging to help com-
panies sell their products and services.
"Text messaging and video messaging
are obviously the high-tech instruments
of the future, so any business would use
them for sales promotion and advertising
campaigns:' he explained. "For example, a
real estate company could show pictures
of homes for sale directly to the prospects
daily, rather than distributing sheets of
pictures all the time; it would speed up the
sales process and reduce the paperwork."
The business plans of other students in
the first graduating class include setting
up an organic food grocery store, selling
jewelry online and creating a Web site for
environmentally sound products.
"We hope the graduates and their busi-
ness plans will help boost the Detroit
economy:' Sanders said. "The city needs
more high-tech, leverageable businesses.
The key to Detroit's economic development
is entrepreneurship; it creates jobs and
growth."
Levey added, "I always wanted to be
an entrepreneur, and now I'm getting an
opportunity to do so; I made the right
choice."
Mentors Matter
Gilbert has been extremely involved with
Bizdom's first class, lecturing to them at
some sessions and taking them on com-
bination business-recreation trips. They