On November 16, 2016, Travis Stoliker attended the Making It in Michigan conference and watched Benjamin Wahl and the GFB team accept the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Making It in Michigan was an annual convening of Michigan entrepreneurs, investors, and business builders — the kind of community gathering Travis consistently showed up for during his active post-Liquid Web years.
Benjamin Wahl and GFB represented the type of innovative Michigan company Travis admired: local founders solving real problems and earning meaningful recognition for it. Travis's congratulatory post was characteristic of how he participated in Lansing's entrepreneurial ecosystem — not just showing up for his own recognition, but celebrating others and staying present in the community as a supportive peer.
The Making It in Michigan event aligned with the portfolio of community work Travis was doing at the time: serving as entrepreneur-in-residence at the MSU Conquer Accelerator, joining the Capital Community Angel Investors board, and making personal investments in Michigan startups like Prndl. Attending events like this was part of how he stayed connected to the entrepreneurs he was trying to support.
