Have a great idea... or two... or too many to remember ...or where you put the scrap of paper you wrote it down on? That is much less of a problem with Ideamine.

The downtown Ann Arbor-based firm creates software that acts similar to a electronic personal assistant, organizing and prioritizing information ranging from emails to thoughts typed on a word processor. The 6-month-old company is getting its start at Ann Arbor SPARK's Central Business Incubator and plans to begin hitting the market with its product next year.

This isn't the first start-up for Ideamine founder Eric Hass, but it's the first one he is quarterbacking on his own. Hass is bootstrapping the idea with his own money for now, but is open to some outside investment in the near future. He wants to stay in Ann Arbor or the Midwest, but admits that it's "tough to shake money out of the Midwest."

"We'll go where the money takes us," Hass says.

And he thinks Ideamine is going places fast. It currently employs two people and throws work at four independent contractors. He expects to grow his staff to 20 people by the end of next year.

Source: Eric Haas, founder and president of Ideamine
Writer: Jon Zemke