Meet new friends groups near Ann Arbor, MI

With 35 years of providing value to entrepreneurs, New Enterprise Forum invites anyone interested in entrepreneurship to join us at our monthly Forum to connect with entrepreneurs, investors, service providers and businesses. Innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors are always in search of the "next-big-thing." Every month, we showcase an outstanding team of entrepreneurs who are looking to raise capital for their venture. They have gone through an extensive coaching from our experienced coaches and these founders are eager to present their venture to the entrepreneurial community at this event. They would greatly appreciate your feedback, insights and encouragement. You will also learn a few tips and techniques in sharpening your own pitch for your venture.

In addition, at every Forum event, we have a panel discussion or a pitch pit.

In the panel discussion, the NEF continues to bring to its Forum meetings the most relevant topics that are important to entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers. Join us to keep current on critical start-up issues and learn from our experienced panel members.

In our pitch pit, four entrepreneurs will each give a four-minute pitch of their business idea to a panel of investor judges in a “Shark Tank” format. Prototypes and visual aids are encouraged but no Power Point presentations. After each pitch, the judges will give detailed feedback and score the business. At the end of the evening, the person with the highest score will receive a cash prize, in addition to the invaluable advice and commentary from the judges.

New Enterprise Forum is an all-volunteer organization of experienced service providers, entrepreneurs and executives who coach start-up companies to perfect their investor pitches. The coaching is provided at no-cost to the entrepreneur. We critique and provide insights on the pitch’s content, including both business and investor perspectives to help the team succeed. We also help the company connect with local and regional investors and other resources. The start-up then has the opportunity to present their pitch to the entrepreneurial community at one of the NEF’s monthly Forum meetings, with follow-on distribution of their Executive Summary to the NEF’s curated list of investors.

In our 35 years, NEF has coached over 400 companies. To read the story of how we got started and what’s happened including a year by year summary of companies coached, awards given, and rosters of NEF Board members, go to About NEF page on our website and download the NEF Book illustrating our history of coaching, perfecting, and connecting.

Also, look for "Help For Entrepreneurs" in the Resources section. You will find a lot of good information for your startup.

New Culture (http://www.new-culture.org) is a community and a movement whose purpose is to examine every aspect of society and experiment to create a world that works—in every way, for everyone. It is a decentralized network with no leader, guru, or dogma; just a loose collection of local groups that value community, authenticity, personal growth, compassion, and social change.

Welcoming of all people—regardless of race, class, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual or relationship orientation, mental or physical health status, or any other identity or characteristic—the events in this group are opportunities to explore ways of relating that are free of oppression and violence; in spaces designed for radical acceptance, freedom, play, and self-knowledge.

How do we create a world based on love and freedom, rather than fear and violence? What might intimate relationships look like in such a world? How do we live well together and co-create joy? We have lots of questions and not too many answers. The fun part is looking at these issues together and trying out possible solutions; while practicing being unattached, curious, transparent, playful, creative, and connected.

In order to create a New Culture in our lives (and in the larger society), we develop and practice the skills we need to make that real through connection events and workshops.

This group is for people who wish to explore New Culture in Southeast Michigan and the surrounding areas.

Greetings! We are merging groups. So this group is on its way out. However, join the merged group (link below) for the exact same awesome organizers, members, and activities.

Welcome to Ann Arbor! 

The intent of this group is to create a warm, friendly social environment where people from every corner of the world, including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antartica, can get together, make friends, and have fun. 

It can also help new people become familiar with things around town, share information, and exchange cultures.

*** Everyone Welcome!!! ***

Everyone is welcome, irrespective of country, ethnicity, religion, gender, sex, age, and so forth and whether or not they are long-time townie or a newbie to Ann Arbor. As long as you like people, diversity, and to have fun while interacting with and learning about other people and cultures you are in good company.

So come and join us. Good people are always welcome, jerks are not. ;)

*** Cost of membership? ***  

None, though a winning smile might help. :)

*** Optional Contributions to help cover out-of-pocket costs *** 
Note that we do encourage an **optional**  contribution which helps manage the cost of having a group on Meetup. It is not free for organizers to have these groups. So anything you can contribute would be very much appreciated and help us cover what we already pay out-of-pocket. This is *entirely* your choice and not a requirement. The group is free. Any amount helps but we encourage at least $10 annually **if** you can afford it. Less or more are also fine. Thanks for understanding this necessity. 

Here is a link for it (alternately you can do cash in-person if you like):