MSU Research Foundation Podcast
The MSU Research Foundation Podcast takes you behind the scenes of research and entrepreneurship within Michigan State University's ecosystem. Discover how ideas create impact, with stories from dedicated researchers, ambitious entrepreneurs, and the innovators shaping Michigan's future. From breakthrough discoveries to startup journeys, explore how the MSU Research Foundation helps fuel innovation and economic growth across the state.
MSU Research Foundation Podcast
Launching PitchMI 2025 with Pete Martin
In this episode, David Washburn interviews Pete Martin, Director of Portfolio Management at the MSU Research Foundation, about the launch of PitchMI—a new statewide startup pitch competition awarding up to $1.25 million in investment. Pete shares his journey back to Michigan after building a tech career across New York, Chicago, Florida, and Austin, and how reconnecting with the state’s entrepreneurial community reshaped his view of Michigan as a hub for innovation.
We explore Pete’s role in supporting portfolio companies, the momentum he’s seen across Michigan’s startup ecosystem, and how PitchMI will highlight regional strengths in healthcare, clean tech, mobility, software, and AI. Pete also discusses the importance of fostering collaboration across cities, showcasing Michigan’s competitive advantages, and creating opportunities for founders to access capital, talent, and support networks statewide.
Host: David Washburn
Guests: Pete Martin (Director of Portfolio Management, MSU Research Foundation)
Producers: Jenna McNamara and Doug Snitgen
Music: "Devil on Your Shoulder" by Will Harrison, licensed via Epidemic Sound
Stay connected with the MSU Research Foundation by following us on LinkedIn or subscribing to our email newsletters.
Today was a great conversation with my colleague, Pete Martin, who is Director of Portfolio Management within our captive venture funds here at the Research Foundation, did a quick background and introduction on him and then spent a lot of time talking about a new business plan competition that's going to happen here starting this fall in the state of Michigan, so I think you're going to love this.
David Washburn:Welcome to the MSU Research Foundation podcast. Today I'm with Pete Martin, who is a director of portfolio management within our captive venture funds here at the Foundation. I want to spend time introducing you today and learning more about your role at the Foundation and your big announcement that you've been working on. But before I get started, I want to remind you all that this is not and should not be considered investment advice or legal advice. So welcome, Pete.
Pete Martin:Hey, Dave, happy to be here.
David Washburn:Pete, you joined us in what November of 2024? Do I have the month and year correct?
Pete Martin:You do. Yeah, I think it was the week before Thanksgiving, so I joined and then we had a break.
David Washburn:Okay, well, tell us, tell our listeners about your background. You're a Broad College alum, I know that.
Pete Martin:Proud MSU alum. Graduated a while ago now 2009. So we're coming up on a really long time. Spent the majority of my career outside of Michigan in tech, both at an early employee at an electronic broker dealer in New York and then Chicago, and then co-founded a data security company in 2014. So about 10, 11 years ago now, took that through Series B, moved from Chicago to Florida, from Florida to Austin with that same company and then finally came back home just over three years ago, August of 2022, we came back home.
David Washburn:A boomerang back home to Michigan. Welcome back, thank you. Glad to have you back, and so you joined us, and your role is what I would call portfolio management. What does that mean?
Pete Martin:Oh man, so officially, my role comes in, once we make an investment in a company, really once we commit to investing in a company, then it's all about how do we support that company, in addition to capital, right? So yes, the capital is extremely important, but how do we support them with connections to VCs, to talent, to the unique things that we can do, with our connections to the folks on campus at MSU? Basically, how do we clear the road in front of these founders so that they can move as far as possible, as fast as possible, get to their next level of funding? Ultimately, we know that when we do that really well, our companies are going to have better exits. We'll have better returns for the funds.
David Washburn:Yeah, I appreciate that. It's. It's, I think, easy enough to scratch out a couple of early stage investments, uh, you know, to get a couple of things going Uh, but but mentoring and coaching and helping is just key to um helping, helping organizations, new startups, um find their way and give them advice, and sometimes painful advice or painful truth, but such a critical thing in terms of helping the longevity of our companies.
Pete Martin:Yeah, agreed. I think it's really fun to see that we can come in really no matter where a company is on their life cycle. We can come in to help companies. We do it for free across the state with in Lansing, in Grand Rapids and Detroit, and that's great. And then those companies kind of they grow a little bit, they get in a Conquer Accelerator. That's where a ton of the mentorship comes in on our side. And then we have Michigan Rise and we have our Red Cedar Ventures Opportunity Funds that help companies as they're still early stage but as they're getting more, they're getting more traction, they're getting more customers, and so we come in really early and we can support throughout.
David Washburn:Well, we're excited to have you here and you know, I think one of the things that struck us at our organization is you're a very active voice in the the state of Michigan in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. I think you're one who has returned back to the state and spend a lot of time taking inventory of the funds, and the companies and sort of the players within the state. So can you talk a little bit more about sort of, when you arrived back to Michigan, before you joined us there, was you doing a lot of homework, a lot of research on our ecosystem here? Yes, what did you learn?
Pete Martin:Well, it started, on a very personal note, with doing a lot of soul searching. Right, I moved back home, had just taken a step back from my company and went from moving 100 miles a minute to zero, and with that came the like what the heck am I going to do? What is my purpose? It was a lot of that, so I was fortunate to be able to spend some time to really think about what my next steps were going to be on a personal level, and it was very much about, yes, I love technology and entrepreneurship, and and and helping to bring about the, the positive change in the world that we all want to see. So it was. It was focused on that. But also, how could I have more of an impact than what I was doing is building the one company? And so I had a lot of time to talk to a lot of people about what was happening in Michigan. I had no idea. I had no idea what was happening in this state when we moved home. In fact, I had the conversation with my wife when we were moving home, because we were moving home for family that we were making that decision for the right reasons. Our parents are getting older. We missed out on every graduation party, every birthday party, all the little things when we were gone for 12 years, uh, and so we were moving home to be close to family and I would I would make that move again in a heartbeat. Uh, but I didn't know that.
Pete Martin:The state of Michigan, you know, the perception that I had growing up was that there wasn't a lot happening here and that I needed to leave the state to go build a career. And I didn't know that that had changed in a substantial way. Right, like really, really big way. And I got really lucky that I was introduced to Trista Van Tine, who had started Michigan Founders Fund, and she told me about Michigan Tech Week, the first statewide kind of celebration or summit, this conference to bring together founders and investors from all across the state of Michigan. That was it. That was the moment for me when she told me about that and I showed up at that event. That is what kind of shattered the glass and I saw it. By the way, MSU was a sponsor of that event and that's how I met so many people is. I saw there were hundreds of people in that room. It blew my mind that there were so many people building in high-growth entrepreneurship in Michigan. I was so excited to learn about that, so mad, that I didn't know about that before.
Pete Martin:And then I met Tommy Skinner, who's now my colleague here at the Foundation. I met him at Michigan Tech Week, met Chris Sell at the Burgess Institute at Michigan Tech Week, formed deep relationships with the folks in Lansing. I kept coming. I literally started introducing everybody I knew to Tommy in particular. Right, because I was like this guy's amazing, what you guys are doing is amazing. They're the most active investor in Michigan.
Pete Martin:Like I was just funneling folks to this organization because it was easy. Right, I could do that around the state, but for some reason connecting folks here was really easy and the reputation around the state was that too. And it was just you know, they will help, regardless of whether they would write a check out of Michigan Rise, like they would help. And it's because they could connect folks with Conquer Accelerator or they could connect folks with Spartan Innovations, and it didn't matter where you were, the organization could help you. So I started doing that a ton, but yeah anyway. So it felt really good that I could make connections with folks all across the state of Michigan. I spent the last two years traveling across the state of Michigan, connecting with folks in Grand Rapids and Traverse City, and Marquette. Found out that there's two Y Combinator companies being built in Traverse City. You know it's unbelievable Nice, anyway. So just met lots of folks. What did I learn? There's incredible companies being built here, there's incredible investors all across the state and there are more coming right.
Pete Martin:The 640 Oxford is brand new, like last year right and there's more Kalamazoo 4 Adventures launched last year and I think there's more of that coming, because the momentum in the state is, in my opinion, it's undeniable.
David Washburn:Well, and as luck would have it, as you were taking inventory about everything that was going on in the state and networking throughout, we too had built a pretty substantial portfolio of companies and we decided we probably need someone to help us in the portfolio management space. So we were lucky and fortunate to have you apply and join us and bring your enthusiasm and bring you to us and work together. And I think it's that momentum and the excitement you bring. That sort of leads us to a new announcement that just came out. We're very excited about it and I think you've been lead on this from our organization. So why don't you tell us about the new thing?
Pete Martin:Oh man, the new thing, all right. So, news just coming out, the MSU Research Foundation has been granted, has been awarded $3 million from the state to put on a series of pitch competitions across Michigan between now and the end of 2026. And, on a personal level, very hopeful that that continues well beyond 2026. It's really incredible because we get to go around the state and showcase the strengths that Michigan has all over the state of Michigan, and so we're doing that and we're being really intentional about this by putting on pitch competitions across Michigan that are open to startups, all across Michigan. So we're going to start on Monday, September 29th. Applications are open now, right? So if someone's listening to this right now, go apply. We're going to start on Monday, September 29th, in Grand Rapids with a pitch competition focused on healthcare and life science. It's $250,000 for that winner. The next day we're going to go to Traverse City for CleanT ech and outdoor innovation another $250,000 for that winner. These are investments, right? These are not grants, these are investments. So you get to come in our cap table right and get all the support that we were just talking about earlier, all the support that we can bring to the folks in our portfolio. The next day, we're going to go to Detroit and we're going to have a pitch competition there Another $250,000. That one's focused on mobility, advanced manufacturing and defense. And finally, the next day, Thursday, October 2nd. So four cities, four days, four quarter million dollar prizes. Ann Arbor will be focused on software and AI.
Pete Martin:Now, and that's not it. We're not done. We're going to have these four winners in four days. Those four winners will be eligible to compete in six months later in Lansing, during 517 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week. We're going to take those four winners, bring them back and they will compete against each other for a $1 million prize. Wow. So another million dollars and there's six months. We're waiting six months here and we're being really intentional about this, because we actually get to see what happens when we invest $250,000 in these companies. We get to see how fast they grow, how much they change, the customers that they sign up, we get to see how the regions back the these, these startups. Because I bet, like if I'm in Grand Rapids and I have the winner of the Grand Rapids regional pitch competition, I want to win. I want to win the state as as Grand Rapids.
Pete Martin:Same thing with every other city this is like the healthy competition that that we get to see across the state is how much the regions back each winner, which I think is going to be really cool to see. And then we also get to see the lives that change within these startups based on the people that they hire, the people from Michigan that they hire. It's super cool. And then they compete again for that million dollar prize. And the world gets to see the great companies that are being built in this state across a ton of different industries. This is not it's not what you, what people would think of Michigan when you asked them a few years ago. They would think of Detroit only. They would think of legacy automotive. They would think of bankruptcy. They wouldn't have good thoughts. I literally did that when I came home to Michigan. That was my perception. That's why I'm so bullish on what's happening in the state, because I just didn't know and that's nuts. And so now people across the country can see that we are the future of mobility. We have incredible strength in defense and advanced manufacturing and health care and life science and CleanT ech and outdoor innovation and AI and software, and so many great companies are already being built in Michigan today and everyone gets to pay attention to that now thing is then to think about the city and the sector.
David Washburn:city and the sector .So then to I heard correctly, so if I'm sector, so and I have a startup around health sciences or life sciences, I want to sort of compete in the Grand Rapids version. I c t c?
Pete Martin:Absolutely right. Yeah, each of these regions, the pitch competitions that happen in any region are open to startups that are headquartered in Michigan, all over Michigan. So if you have a startup and you are headquartered in Michigan, you should know about every single one of these pitch competitions and you should pick the one that applies to you the most. Apply for that one, okay.
David Washburn:Excellent. Now you said earlier this is two years, right? So we're going to do this in the fall and then have a finals in the spring, Am I correct? We're going to repeat?
Pete Martin:We are. We're going to repeat. We're going to do this, we'll have the state championship in April, and then we're going to turn around and do it again. We'll have another series of pitch competitions in what looks like June. That's TBD, but it looks like June of next summer. Okay, and then another state championship in December.
David Washburn:Wow, that's fantastic. Can you talk about um? How are you partnering with other organizations in these geographic locations?
Pete Martin:Yeah, Well, first we should probably talk about how we're partnering ourselves right. So we have a $3 million grant that we're getting from the state of Michigan here, but the MSU Research Foundation is also co-investing here. So we're actually going to be investing $4 million in startups between now and the end of next year. So just that, to start this whole thing off, we're taking a $3 million grant and investing $4 million, and that's that alone is amazing. It's just, you know, just thank you for the, for the opportunity to do really incredible things that I think are going to move the whole state forward here. Now, in addition to that and I think what really helped put us over the top, because there were lots of folks that that applied for this funding is the fact that we have folks from across the state that ready and willing to help.
Pete Martin:We had many organizations that supported us early in this and have allowed us to. We have 27 days until the first pitch competition. This just got announced, you know, lightly last week. The press came out this morning.
Pete Martin:The only reason this is possible is because we have already been working with folks across the state to make this happen in Grand Rapids, in Traverse City, in Detroit and in Ann Arbor and I can't wait until I know we're going to get to the UP next summer. I can't wait for that because we've been talking to folks up there already. Right, we have folks across the state that are so excited to have this in their area that it just feels like it's the right time the whole state's come together on this and we get to show that at each of these competitions and at the statewide championship we're going to see just how strongly that really the whole state is, not any individual reason region I expect we'll see a lot of really interesting companies at all of these regional competitions and uh and the um and the finals should be uh, that should be really interesting as well.
David Washburn:So where does one go to um to learn more about this? Our applications are on our foundation website, if I'm not mistaken.
Pete Martin:Yes, sir. Yeah, if you go to msufoundation. org/pitchmi. This is the pitch competition series. Name is Pitchme P-I-T-C-H-M-I. It's a continuation of what the state started last year with $100,000 prize, focused on mobility. But you can see now it's expanded in a very large way. We now have multiple industries. We're doing four regional pitch competitions. We have that state championship. But if you're interested in applying, go to msufoundation. org/pitchmi. If you're interested in getting involved in any other way sponsorship opportunities, lots of opportunities to get involved here you can reach out to us. Just pitchmi@ msufoundation. org, send an email to pitchmi@msufoundation. org and we'd love to chat with you.
David Washburn:My guest today has been Pete Martin, director of Portfolio Management within our captive venture funds here at the MSU Research Foundation and future host of the MSU Research Foundation podcast. I'm going to volunteer you to do some hosting at some point with some of our exciting portfolio companies. Maybe some of the folks competing in the PitchMI competition. Pete, thanks for being here.
Pete Martin:Thank you, Dave, always a pleasure.
