Jacob Zuppke's businesses —
Traffic and Venture Park —
are growing fast.
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Cool New Workspace In Royal Oak
Allan Nahajewski
Contributing Writer
S
tanding in the middle of a gutted
building on Fourth Street in Royal
Oak, Jacob Zuppke was describing
his vision for his newest venture.
Called Venture Park, the 15,000-square-
foot former Knights of Columbus hall is
being redesigned to be right for startups,
tech companies, entrepreneurs and the
independent types who have been using
coffee shops as offices.
The vision is the kind
of hip, creative workspace
that young tech work-
ers dream about. The
only structure remaining
from its K of C days is
the 40-foot L-shaped bar.
That's being refurbished
Jacob Zuppke and will have two kegs
on tap.
The ceiling tiles are
gone; the new look includes exposed
ductwork, birch wood trim, black epoxy
floors and lofts with ladders. One section
of the building will emulate a streetscape.
Private offices will have awnings over the
doors, surrounding an open workspace,
ideal for collaboration. Upstairs, walls are
being removed, adding to the openness.
After hours, the shared work desks in the
bar area will be cleared to create a meeting
24 August 22 • 2013
space, available for rent.
Traffic, the digital marketing company
that Zuppke co-founded a year ago, is in the
building next door. Both buildings will have
glass garage doors that on nice days will
open into a shared 1,900-square-foot court-
yard, which is being equipped with a stereo
system, lighting, arborvitae and a firepit.
Future plans include working space on the
roof of Venture Park as well.
Zuppke works fast. It was July 22, a day
before construction on Venture Park was
scheduled to begin, and he expected it to be
ready for occupancy by the end of August.
Even the space rental arrangement is
unique. "It's a membership model: says
Zuppke. "You can get 8-to-5 access for $175
a month:'
He notes that coffee shop workers are likely
to be spending more than that already. "If
you're at a coffee shop all day, you're prob-
ably spending 10 bucks a day on coffee. That
comes up to $200 really quickly' he adds.
"Here you get free coffee, a mailing address,
printer access, WiFi, a conference room, and
you're surrounded by like-minded people:'
Zuppke, 25, is already a seasoned vet-
eran in the startup world. He co-founded
his first company — a bagel delivery ser-
vice — at age 16. After graduating from
Bloomfield Hills Andover High School,
he co-founded Zuppler Services, a power-
washing and landscaping company, while
also helping Market Square get into digital
marketing and the pizza business. He also
co-launched two online coupon compa-
nies, Oy What a Deal and Hip City Deals.
Today, Zuppke splits his time between
Venture Park and Traffic, the market-
ing firm he started with Jeremy Sutton,
34, one of his college professors at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn, the
first college in the United States to offer a
degree in digital marketing. Zuppke was
the program's first graduate. He trans-
ferred to U-M Dearborn after two years at
Oakland University
"In my first semester, I tried to join the
class two weeks late. I bugged the profes-
he
sor, Jeremy, every day to let me
recalls. "Eventually I got in, and we hit it
right off. I told him about my experience
with my startups. He was a startup guy
himself, and we just saw eye to eye. It was
the first A+ I ever got in college:'
Traffic already has 21 employees, not
including its nine interns. Its clients
include 1-800-LAW-FIRM, Cottage Inn
Pizza, 1-800-4BLINDS, Levine & Sons
Plumbing, Yottabyte, 1-800-0BRYANS,
Rhino Shield, Lumeria Hotel, Reverie,
Fairlane Ford, Skyward Group Real Estate
and the Honigman Miller Schwartz and
Cohn LLP law firm.
"We just started a new brand, Rad by
Traffic, a video production company:'
Zuppke says. "We have three full-time
members, plus contractors. They're
incredible. Chevy just sponsored them to
drive cross country and film the whole
road trip. They won two awards along the
way for one-day films:'
Current tenants at the Traffic and
Venture Park complex are Coleman Media,
a visual effects company that has worked
on feature films, and Tylar and Company,
a marketing firm. The facility hosts a
monthly networking event for entrepre-
neurs, called Bootstrappers, and has also
hosted a Jewish Federation NEXTGen
Detroit event.
What next?
"We're going to continue to build the
Traffic brand:' Zuppke says. "By the end
of this year, we'd like to have 25 full-time
staffed employees and an additional 15
part-time who work under our roof, and
we have plans to open a second office in
Baltimore in November. We also want to
build Rad by Traffic into a larger company.
"It's a lot of fun. I really do love it:' he adds.
"We added three more people in the last two
weeks. We started this without a dollar. We've
done a lot of cool stuff in one year. It's excit-
ing to think about what we're going to do
next. I never imagined we would accomplish
this much in one year:'
❑
Venture Park and Traffic are located at 404
and 412 E. Fourth St., three blocks east of
Main. Web addresses: trafficdigitalagency.com
and venturepark.org.