TechTown shares startup advice with WSU students

Detroit's TechTown, at 440 Burroughs, provides space and resources for entrepreneurs in the community. (Photo: Andrew Jameson at en.wikipedia)

If you live in or near Detroit and haven't yet visited TechTown, you should check it out.  It's another example of the cool things Wayne State is doing in the community.  Our Entrepreneurship in the Arts class went there Friday on a field trip (ably documented by classmate Ansar Alim) and learned about the legal ins and outs of starting a business.

Prof. Eric Williams, director of the Program for Entrepreneurship and Business and Law, warned us about the perils of "piercing the corporate veil," entertained us with stories of business names gone horribly wrong, and discussed the difference between copyright and trademark. As often happens with lively class discussions, we also picked up random bits of trivia, such as what those removable, clamp-on table legs are called.

In a more practical vein, I was able to get answers to some specific questions I had about my own fledgling LLC. For example: (1) if you form a new business, you should get a new Employer Identification Number (EIN), even if you had one for a previous business; (2) initial capitalization (in layman's terms, using your own money to finance your startup) is not a taxable event; and (3) you can hire yourself as a contractor.

And as a bonus, I got a chance to enjoy the beautiful, almost-Spring weather as a classmate and I walked  back to campus afterwards.