Carl Erickson is the president and co-founder of Atomic Object, a software product design and development consultancy. After earning a PhD in computer engineering from Michigan State, Carl taught computer science at Grand Valley State University for ten years. A short adventure with a failed dot-com startup in 2000 left him with the opportunity to start his own company. Atomic Object has since grown to 50 people and two locations.
Carl's ultimate goal is for Atomic Object to become the world's first 100-year-old software consultancy. In his role as CEO, Carl guides Atomic Object on its mission to help companies reinvent their products, their industries, and themselves with software.
His recent talks include "Craftsmanship as Competitive Advantage" at HighEdWeb in May, "The Right Kind of Startups" at Techweek Detroit in April, and "We’re All Software Companies Now – How Software Can Help Companies Innovate & Serve Markets Better" last year.
In addition to speaking engagements and guest blogging for Crain’s Detroit, Carl maintains his own blog, Great Not Big – Experiments in Running a Small, Innovative Company.
Carl is also an active angel investor, a member and director of Grand Angels, a managing director for Tappan Hill Ventures, a board member and co-founder of Blue Medora, and an advisory board member for Local Orbit. He's also served on the boards of Varsity News Network, and Mock Draft Central (acquired).
