How a $5,000 Lean Startup Experiment Became Michigan’s Innovation Hub
Four friends in Detroit had a problem: they kept working out of coffee shops and their homes, but never had a space to call their own.
So in 2013, they convinced one friend's dad to let them test a co-working concept in his empty downtown building. He even loaned them $5,000 to buy Ikea furniture and paint.
That experiment became Bamboo, now a co-working community across Michigan with over 200,000 square feet of total space managed.
One of those four friends, Amanda Lewan, is now the CEO of Bamboo, and Bamboo has become something that is way more than she ever imagined it might be: an economic development engine for Michigan's startup ecosystem.
In this deep dive, we'll explore how Amanda and the Bamboo applied the lean startup methods to real estate, how they marketed without much of a budget, and why I’ve even decided to join the Bamboo team in their newest location: Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Story of Bamboo
Before Amanda started Bamboo
Amanda's path to leading a co-working community wasn't planned. She started her career working at an agency, realized it wasn't for her, and transitioned to freelance writing. From there, she started Michipreneur, Michigan's only statewide publication on entrepreneurship and innovation. That's actually where I originally met Amanda when she did a story on my very first entrepreneurial venture where I turned mason jars into speakers (pretty freaking cool, right??).
As Amanda was freelancing, she was working from home and feeling the isolation that can come with it. Around 2012-2013, she was drawn to downtown Detroit as it was being re-energized. Dan Gilbert was moving his people downtown, there was new energy and real estate development happening, and Amanda wanted to be part of that.
The problem was she and three other friends kept working out of their homes and coffee shops but never had a space to call their own.
The start of Bamboo
The timing was perfect for what happened next. WeWork had just opened their first location in NYC two years prior but wasn't in Detroit yet. Co-working was still a relatively new concept, especially in the Midwest.
That's when one of Amanda's friends said, "let's start a co-working space."
Mike Ferlito, one of the four friends, had an idea of how they could test the idea. His dad owned a small building downtown and had a floor that had been empty for 10 years. Mike and Amanda pitched his dad on what Amanda calls "a lean startup approach to real estate."
The pitch was simple: let us test this concept for a year. If we can make some money, we'll start paying rent. In the meantime, you get visibility and can still lease out the space if something better comes along.
Not only did Mike's dad say yes, he also agreed to loan them $5,000 to get started.
Amanda and the team took that $5,000, headed to Ikea, bought furniture and paint, and set up shop. The space was 2,000 square feet with two conference rooms and one bathroom. It had no sign and was located above a bail bonds office down the street from Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit.
Amanda's current team calls it "the speakeasy version of Bamboo" because you didn't know where it was until you came to an event or heard about it.
Despite the lean setup, they started building culture and community that resonated with people. Growth was slow but steady. People were calling and coming in for tours organically.
The model was simple: $99 per month for coworking membership. After a few years in that space, they had 125 members and were making over $10,000 per month in revenue.
From side project to full-time business
Here's where Amanda had to make a shift that a lot of founders face. For three years, everyone was working on Bamboo part-time while juggling other work. But Amanda noticed something important: when they created capacity to work on Bamboo, it would grow.
At this point, two of the co-founders stepped away, Mike focused on the real estate side, and Amanda became the CEO. But she didn't think of herself as a founder at first. As she put it to me, "I just put this title on a business card. Like am I legit? Even though I had customers in a community and a business that was growing."
To help with this transition, Amanda applied for a women's leadership program in Michigan and was accepted. Being in a room with other women running businesses at different stages gave her the confidence to step into the CEO role.
Not only was Amanda’s confidence growing, the Bamboo team knew they had something that was working. So much so that they were outgrowing their first space.
Scaling beyond the speakeasy
Amanda noticed something important happening with their members. One out of every two or three phone calls from potential customers included the same request: "I love what you're doing. I love the community. Can I have a private office?"
This created a dilemma. Private offices stabilize revenue. You can make more money and people stay for multiple years, especially startups that need more privacy as they build teams. But in their 2,000 square foot space, adding private offices would have killed the community aspect that made Bamboo special.
The solution was clear: they needed a bigger space.
Bamboo ended up moving to a new location, their current Downtown Detroit location in the Julian C. Madison building. Their revenue at the time was just barely enough to cover the lease, but it was a risk worth taking because they could finally offer the private office options that would unlock higher revenue streams.
The model worked. The private office options helped to stabilize the revenue and operations for Bamboo while the more flexible memberships and community events enhanced the entrepreneurial community culture.
Taking on investors
Here's where Bamboo's story takes an interesting turn. They reached over $250k in annual revenue without any outside investment, proving the model could work as a bootstrapped business. But Amanda and the team eventually decided to bring on investors.
These aren't your typical venture capital investors though. With groups like the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the City of Grand Rapids investing and partnering in Bamboo locations, this is more of an economic development play than chasing the next unicorn opportunity. These investors are focused on building up Michigan's innovation ecosystem, not necessarily generating massive returns.
Could Bamboo have continued growing without investors? Absolutely, but it would have been slower. The investors allowed them to move faster on opportunities like their new 40,000 square foot Grand Rapids location.
More than just office space
Now, Bamboo isn’t just a real estate play. As Amanda put it, their "ultimate vision is to change culture in the state of Michigan, create a more innovative startup and small business ecosystem."
Yes, Bamboo leases offices and space, but they're really creating community in these buildings. They want density: enough innovators and creators in the same space to help build Michigan's entire innovation ecosystem.
Amanda told me they have stories all the time of people who came in with just an idea, found their technical co-founder at Bamboo, bootstrapped their way to traction, maybe found an investor through the community, and then scaled up. Sometimes they even outgrow Bamboo's space, which Amanda sees as a success story.
This is economic development, not just co-working. It took them a while to realize that's what they were actually doing, but now it's central to their mission.
Growth Strategies of Bamboo
Bamboo grew to $250k+ in multiple ways, but here’s my simple explanation: three of them naturally feed into the fourth. Location, local media, and social media all create awareness and interest, but events are what help convince people to become members.
Community - Physical Location
Almost every business I've done a deep dive on that has a physical location mentions this, and for good reason. Where you're located and how you're presented in that space really matters.
Bamboo's original location was near where Detroit's Lions and Tigers play. Their current locations are in the heart of the cities with visible signage. This isn't accidental.
With the amount of foot traffic in these areas, if you have any interest in entrepreneurship or office space, it's natural to look up Bamboo online or pop your head in to see what it's about. The foot traffic at all Bamboo locations has been a consistent driver since the beginning.
Local Media
If you search for Bamboo online, you'll notice consistent local media coverage. Sometimes it's major outlets, but often it's specific business journals like Crain's or newsletters focused on the local startup scene.
With Bamboo creating recognizable spaces and Amanda building relationships in every city they enter, local media attention comes naturally. The key insight: you don't need major press coverage to succeed with media. Targeted, local coverage in front of your specific audience is often more valuable than a national story.
Social Media
Bamboo's social media isn't about viral posts or massive follower counts. They don't have millions of followers anywhere.
What they do have is targeted content and constant social proof. Members are creating posts within Bamboo's buildings all the time and posting about their experiences. This creates targeted awareness and trust.
When potential customers see people they trust posting about working at Bamboo, it creates a network effect. Bamboo grows by essentially borrowing the trust and credibility of their members, even if those recommendations are just posts on social media.
Events: where it all comes together
As Amanda put it, "being a physical space, what can you do with no money? You can throw events, you can get pizza and beer or a sponsor and then a speaker. Events are really key still to this day for building culture and bringing foot traffic in."
But here's what makes events powerful for Bamboo: they're where all the other channels converge.
If you get local media coverage, the call-to-action can be "come check out our next event." If people are posting about Bamboo on social media, they're often promoting an upcoming event. If someone walks by the space, staff can invite them to an event to get a better feel for the community.
Events turn awareness into experience. Instead of just hearing about Bamboo, people can see the community in action, meet other members, and understand the value firsthand. That's where interest becomes membership.
Why I'm Joining (And What It Means for The Quarter)
I've watched Bamboo from a distance since the start of my entrepreneurial journey. As someone who was building a startup in Grand Rapids for several years, I was always jealous that Bamboo was only in Detroit. When I heard they were coming to Grand Rapids, my first thought was: "that's what I wished we had."
This summer, when Bamboo announced they purchased a 40,000 square foot building in downtown Grand Rapids, I knew this was something special. Soon after the announcement, I interviewed Amanda for this deep dive.
A couple of months later with more conversations with Amanda and the Bamboo team, they offered me the role of leading the Grand Rapids location. After some time thinking about it, I said "I'm moving back."
But this isn't me stepping back from The Quarter. If anything, it's going to make The Quarter better.
I'll be meeting more founders who've bootstrapped from $0 to $250k in annual revenue, and given my connections in Michigan, I think there are going to be great opportunities to do things in real life for The Quarter community.
I learned with the Bootstrapped Report earlier this year that the bootstrapped founders who've grown past $250k in annual revenue with community as one of their growth strategies got to that mark almost a year faster than those who didn't. Founders building with a community increase their chance of success and grow faster. Founders need to build with others.
Bamboo is a great representation of all of this.
Amanda and the Bamboo team have built an incredible innovation community so far and I'm so excited to help add the Grand Rapids community to that.
Only good things ahead.