Last Friday morning, Xconomist Henry Balanon, co-founder and director of mobile at app development shop Detroit Labs, sent an e-mail through the Madison Building, Detroit Labs, and Bizdom e-mail lists telling respondents that, effective at the end of the workday, he was leaving the company he co-founded:
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision because I’ve loved serving as a co-founder and helping grow Detroit Labs into what it is today, but I am also ready for new challenges to build some cool, never-been-done-before technology.”
He called the experience of working at Detroit Labs a “dream come true” and thanked a host of people, including Detroit Labs’ CEO and co-founder Paul Glomski, Detroit Venture Partners’ Josh Linkner, and Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert. (Gilbert and Linkner funded the creation of Detroit Labs.)
“I’m proud to be vacating my seat feeling so confident in Detroit Labs’ business, team, and future,” Balanon added.
He also listed what he planned to do over the summer, which, along with the usual barbecues and weddings, included “working on a new (ad)venture.” In a subsequent follow-up e-mail, Balanon elaborated: He’s joining Protean Payment, a mobile payment startup we profiled in December, as its co-founder and chief technical officer.
Thiago Olson and Chris Bartenstein are staying on as Protean’s co-founders and CEO and COO, respectively. There’s no word on whether Protean’s original third co-founder, Miron Klimkowski, has left the company. A LinkedIn profile page that appears to belong to Klimkowski lists him as working as an analyst for the Huron Consulting Group in Dallas, TX.
Balanon said that while Protean is based in Ann Arbor at the moment, the company expects to relocate to Detroit within a year.
