ANN ARBOR – EntryPoint announced that Molly Theis has joined its team as community engagement manager. She previously was program director at the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

In this role, Theis connects leaders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem by strategically hosting events around emerging trends, successes or gaps in the market related to findings from EntryPoint’s research.

Throughout her career in business hospitality, Theis has planned and executed hundreds of corporate and social events for organizations such as Trinity Health, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education and Autodesk.

Molly Theis

“I’m thrilled to join EntryPoint to develop programs and initiatives that will support the growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems across the Midwest,” said EntryPoint Community Engagement Manager, Theis. “I’ve collaborated with EntryPoint Founder and Managing Director, Emily Heintz, for several years and had the opportunity to assist EntryPoint with the MVCA Annual Awards Dinner and the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition last year. I look forward to building upon our pipeline of community engagement projects.”

2020 EntryPoint Research and Community Engagement Initiatives 

EntryPoint partners with organizations to strategically host events around emerging trends, successes or gaps in the market related to findings from its research.  These community engagement projects include smaller subject-focused lunches, meetings with the legislature, larger sector-focused business conferences, competitions and awards dinners. In 2019, EntryPoint partnered with ID Ventures to organize the 2019 Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and MVCA for the 2019 MVCA Annual Awards Dinner. Theis was a key collaborator in making the events a success through her event management, client relations and day-of coordination.

In 2020, EntryPoint will expand its research practice by announcing a new partnership with the Ann Arbor Community Foundation and Revalue to research and develop the 2020 Washtenaw County Capital Report. The report provides a comprehensive landscape analysis that will focus on Washtenaw County community-based businesses in the real estate, food systems, independently owned main street retail, caregiving and education sectors. The report will offer detailed insight into the capital environment in the County by providing highlights, trends while spotlighting local companies and opportunities to increase investment in undercapitalized areas in the county; this is the first-time data from all investor classes will be compiled in the county’s history. The findings will be used to inform future investment activities and strategic programming priorities. The 2020 Washtenaw County Capital Report will be available in the spring of 2020 and Theis will lead community engagement initiatives to educate stakeholders about community-based investing and strategies to grow local businesses.

Additionally, EntryPoint will continue its partnership with MVCA to research and develop the 2020 MVCA Research Report. The MVCA Annual Research Report provides a comprehensive overview of venture capital investment activity in Michigan. The report will be available in the spring of 2020.

To learn more about community engagement services and to partner with EntryPoint, please contact [email protected].