livin' the dream

Most of us entrepreneurs do what we do because we believe we can change the world. 

Yesterday, we united together in a GoDaddy boycott based on their public support for SOPA. 

I quickly created a step-by-step tutorial to remove your domains from GoDaddy, as a way for people to vote with their wallets.

The post sat atop Hacker News for almost 24 hours and drew had over 950 1050 (woot!) upvotes along with driving roughly 50,000 visitors to my small blog.

The post was even linked to Forbes and the LA Times.

On twitter, we had over 35 RT’s and hundreds of mentions.

On tumblr, we had 190+ 247 notes, and about 75 90 reblogs!

Most importantly though, is that we made a massive company PUBLICLY CHANGE their stance on SOPA. 

Entrepreneurs, I salute you.  Awesome job.  It’s an amazing experience to feel so empowered.

We won a battle, now we need to win the war against SOPA.

Please do your part and help protect the Internet.

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About Jeff Epstein: I’m a tech entrepreneur & founder of Ambassador: social marketing software which enables any size business to turn their customers into brand ambassadors

I’m a Techstar: part of the NYC 2011 summer cohort. I also founded FundedByNight, a startup competition where 25 companies competed to win a 100k convertible note. I also love Michigan State sports & have a ninja-like backhand in ping pong.

Follow me on twitter

Follow these step-by-step directions to transfer all of your domains from GoDaddy to NameCheap.

I’m Boycotting GoDaddy because they are pro-SOPA.  

[edit: apparently GoDaddy changed their stance according to TechCrunch]

Step 1:  Login to GoDaddy and get to the domain manager.

Step 2:  Select all domains

Step 3:  Click on the “Locking Icon”

Step 4:  Uncheck “lock domains”

Step 5:  Find the tools tab —> “exportable lists”

Step 6:  Click on “Add New Export” button

Step 7:  Select “All My Domains” as the list type

Step 8:  Check the “Authorization codes” box

Step 9:  Generate the Exportable List

Step 10:  Create account at another provider

I chose NameCheap (affiliate link).  The rest of the images are specific to NameCheap.

EDIT: NameCheap is Against SOPA, here is their official stance.

People have also sent promo codes: “switch2nc” and “SOPAsucks” - try them too.

Step 11:  Go to “transfer domain”

Step 12:  Enter domains you wish to transfer & click “transfer”

**EDIT:  You can simply add the domain, Auth code in Step 12 above**

ex: myURL.com, authorizationcode

**Thanks to Josh Pigford for the tip** 

Step 13:  Checkout

Step 14:  Update EPP (Authorization code) code from GoDaddy Export File

Boom! There you go. 

UPDATED: thanks to Jordan Skole, here is a way to expedite the transfer process.

Step 15:  (Back at GoDaddy) Chose “Pending Transfers”

Step 16:  Check all the domains (note: not all of the domains are not showing up yet, this takes a few hours apparently…)

Step 17:  Check the “Accept” button and approve!

Step 18:  Adios Godaddy!

Step 19:  Transfer Complete (about 6 hours later)

Please do your part and help protect the Internet.

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About Jeff Epstein: I’m a tech entrepreneur & founder of Ambassador: social marketing software which enables any size business to turn their customers into brand ambassadors

I’m a Techstar: part of the NYC 2011 summer cohort. I also founded FundedByNight, a startup competition where 25 companies competed to win a 100k convertible note. I also love Michigan State sports & have a ninja-like backhand in ping pong.

Follow me on twitter

It’s 2:50am ET and I’m on the redeye flight back to Detroit.  I just spent the last few days in Las Vegas for the TechStars reunion — and sadly, it feels like I’m leaving family members that I won’t see for a while.  I know I’m not alone, the connections we’ve made during our 4 months and the unwavering support from our fellow alums make this group feel like a big (and actually very functional) family.

It’s no surprise when you consider the founders of TechStars: David Cohen and Brad Feld.  They teamed up to found TechStars to build an entrepreneurial community and support entrepreneurship to help change the world.

Even though I have heard Cohen & Feld speak dozens of times, their opening remarks once again reiterated what makes TechStars so awesome.

When Cohen addressed the alumni he said, “I started TechStars to be around a group of awesome entrepreneurs…”

Feld’s opened with: “Remember to give before you get.”

You see, TechStars is bigger than just the sum of the companies + people incubated in our respective cities.  TechStars embodies they way we should conduct business as entrepreneurs and act as people.  This fosters the tight-knit family atmosphere for each founder, mentor, intern, hackstar associated with TechStars. 

It was awesome to connect with fellow entrepreneurs who have offered to lend a hand, chat or support us as we were going through the inevitable rollercoaster that is startup life.  I couldn’t be more proud of being a TechStars alum.

If you have a startup, I urge you to apply to TechStars. If you think that you won’t get more value than you give (in equity) for being in TechStars — you couldn’t be more wrong. 

What are you waiting for?  The next NYC class is accepting applications: http://apply.techstars.com/

—

Jeff Epstein is an entrepreneur, hustler & founder of Ambassador (formerly @zferral) a social media marketing platform for any business.  A graduate of the 2011 class of TechStars New York.  He also has a ninja-like backhand in ping pong.

inspiration for all of us…

I was honored to have the opportunity to speak on the founders panel for the Lean Startup Conference this past week in Grand Rapids, MI.  As a Michigan native and startup-advocate in this state, I couldn’t have imagined a better experience!

Here is a quick recap from a “speaker” perspective:

Accommodations:  They put us up at the amazing JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids.  It was within walking distance to everything (bars, restaurants and conference location) and hosted the initial VIP event.  Couldn’t have been placed in a better place.

Pre-Party: The pre-party, or VIP dinner was great.  It was in our hotel, so there was no excuse to miss it.  The crowd was small enough to be “VIP” and was a great chance to chat with the other presenters in the conference.

Pro-tip:  This may be obvious to some, but the best networking takes place over dinner or beers with those who are in attendance.  We went to a local bar and got dinner and drinks (where Eric Ries was gracious enough to cover the entire tab! What an amazing guy.  Seriously..).  Anyway, it was a great chance to chat with Eric, Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits, Dug Song, Dan Martell, Zach Steindler and Gagan Palrecha among others.

The Conference:  I have been to more than a half-dozen startup events and the quality of the content was the best I have ever witnessed — hands-down.

Eric Ries - Eric simply killed It.  His presentation was thoughtful and energizing.  He was like a rare college professor who had ‘standing room only’ for each lecture.  You need to buy his book - http://lean.st/

Patrick Vlaskovits and Brant Cooper - Filled with hilarious dry humor and great stories, this presentation was the perfect complement to Eric’s keynote.  They presented “10 Reasons to Not Do a Lean Startup.” They are the authors of The Entrepreneurs Guide to Customer Development - another book every entrepreneur should own.

Rob Walling - Rob brought an interesting take from a marketing perspective.  It was really insightful, especially coming from someone with a technical background.  Great message and several key takeaways.  Check out his book: Start Small, Stay Small.  You should also check out his upcoming conference — MicroConf

Dan Martell - Lots of energy and great stories.  Dan had the most upbeat presentation and was filled with great info and an inspiring story about his brother. 

William Pietri - Very well spoken and although he spoke about programming and agile development there were several great jokes and very interesting commentary for the non-technical people in attendance.  

Hosted by the Momentum, the conference was first-class all the way.  A special shout-out to Amanda Chocko, who did an excellent job and has been a huge startup advocate in the region.

I hope we can do it again next year. 

rajibedi:

In sports, buzzer beaters and record breaking games mark the arrival of a legend. In music, sold out shows and platinum records announce the anointment of a diva. But what metrics indicate the rebirth of a once iconic city? Surely it isn’t a staggering decline in population, or the number of abandoned buildings. It can’t be free falling employment numbers or chart topping crime rates.
   
Detroit hasn’t arrived, and it might be a while. But maybe not as long as you think. That’s pretty obvious to the hundreds of people that gathered in Detroit’s Eastern Market last Thursday, April 28th. 

Read More

If you are a founder and looking to raise money, you should need to check out the Funded By Night competition.

Here is the low-down on the event:

• Anyone (FROM ANYWHERE) can apply! (Click here to apply)
• It will be on April 28-29th in Detroit, Michigan
• Only 25 companies will be chosen to present
• A 100k convertible note will be awarded to the winner

No catches, no surprise fees.  We want to help build the tech & startup community in Detroit (along with Ludlow Ventures and Detroit Venture Partners) and this is how we are showing it.

Sponsorships

Rackspace is the the title sponsor for the event - we are super excited to have them. 

If you are interested in providing a sponsorship (it’s a non-profit event) contact me: jeff@fundedbynight.com

About Detroit Venture Partners (DVP): is a Detroit-based venture capital firm on a crazed mission, to help rebuild Detroit through entrepreneurial fire. The DVP team members are creative business builders, not money managers. The firm backs seed and early-stage companies in the following sectors: Internet, social media, e-commerce, digital media, marketing technology, software, and direct-to-consumer. DVP’s principals include Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans; Josh Linkner, founder and chairman of ePrize; and Brian Hermelin, founder and chairman of Rockbridge Growth Equity For more information about Detroit Venture Partners please visit www.detroitventurepartners.com.   

About Ludlow Ventures (Ludlow): invests in early stage technology companies and conducts business not by doing things differently, but by being different. Ludlow believes in venture capital without ego and prefers to talk straight and get the job done, rather than the posturing often found in traditional VC firms. Ludlow holds strong to its Detroit roots and the Midwest mentality, investing in hard-working people who get results and create value with what they do and the things they make. Ludlow funds the dreams of serial entrepreneurs and startups, turning ideas into companies and established ventures into industry leaders. For more information about Ludlow Ventures please visit www.ludlowventures.com.