Detroit was picked to be the 4th city to host a Open Co. event with NYC, San Francisco, and London. On September 11th 2013 Open Co. Detroit held a  VIP Kick off event at the M@dison building.

Open Co. was created by Brian Monahan and John Battelle to bring businesses together with others in their own communities through open houses. They describe the event as ” a mix between a business conference and artist’s open studio with the vibe of a music festival”.

At the kick off event had presentations by: John Battelle, Brian Monahan, Mayor Dave Bing, David Egner, Jeff DeGraff, and a panel moderated by Amy Haimerl Entrepreneurship Eeditor at Crain’s Detroit Business: Ben Bator : co-founder Texts from Last Night; Amy Kaherl: Founder Detroit SOUP; Monty Luke: Owner, Black Catalogue & Label Manaer and Planet ECommunications; Michelle Srbinovich: Interim General Manager and Digital Director, WDET.

All of the speakers gave moving presentations, but U of Ms professor Jeff Degraff gave one of the best speeches I have ever witnessed.

After the presentations there was a cocktail reception with some amazing appetizers. Originally the reception was to take place on the rooftop of the M@dison building, but due to weather it was moved inside.

Make sure to Add/Follow MODE Detroit to see upcoming event reviews from around Detroit area. A short video from Open co. is in the works and should be posted soon.

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