Entrepreneurs Head to DC for Startup Day

As we’ve continued to build Engine over the past few months, we’ve talked with many people from across America -- with founders, serial entrepreneurs, investors. Even more than talking, though, we’ve been listening. We’ve heard from a cross-section of the startup community, and as this community becomes more aware of the place we as innovators and entrepreneurs hold in the resurgence of the American economy, many have expressed an interest in broadcasting those stories of success more widely and using them to effect change.

But one question has also popped up right alongside: How do we do it?

This week, we’re taking another step forward in working to get those stories heard and helping to focus the efforts of those in power in support of our growing startup community.

Startup Day on the Hill will feature 18 of our nation’s many great tech startups, working directly with policymakers in an effort to to build vital relationships between entrepreneurs and Washington. There will be a demo session for Members of Congress and their staffers to educate them on how the products being developed in our community are disrupting industries and changing lives. We’ll also have a roundtable discussion for staff about the role startups play in the economy, a breakfast get-to-know you session and discussion on Startup Act, and focused meetings with individual startups.

There’s more information about the companies attending, as well as some of the Members who have come on board on our Startup Day page. And follow along this week, as we’ll have plenty of interesting stories about our member companies, what we’re up to and what we find along the way. We hope this will be the first of many events in which we can build relationships, bridge the divide, and further the conversation about just how meaningful the work of entrepreneurs is to the American economy.

Marvin Ammori: One of Fast Company’s Most Creative People

Marvin Ammori was just named number 32 on Fast Company’s “100 most creative people in business” for his stewardship of the takedown of SOPA and PIPA. We caught up with him to talk about SOPA, First Amendment in tech, and what it means to be a creative leader in a digital world.

So, you're on Fast Company's Creative Business list...?

Yes. It's great that Fast Company decided to feature the creativity of the anti-SOPA movement and it was obviously an honor to be chosen as the person to represent that creativity. There were millions of activists involved and perhaps hundreds of leaders in business, academia, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, music, and civil liberties. 

The Internet itself is the world's greatest engine of creativity -- for speech, culture, and business. The anti-SOPA movement was organized much like the web itself, with loose networks and nodes through which lots of people could contribute their creative ideas, test them, and collaborate to make them a reality. Fast Company profiled me, but I was just one of many devoted people fighting the bills, so many of whom exhibited amazing creativity.

Tell us about what you did for the SOPA fight and why it was important.

To stop SOPA and PIPA from becoming law, you couldn't play the usual inside-the-Beltway DC game. You needed activists, organizers, lobbyists, lawyers, and a coalition of business, civil liberties groups, entrepreneurs, and just ordinary citizens who rely on the Internet. 

I am a First Amendment lawyer. What I could do was interpret the statute as confidently as any of the opposing lawyers, and to analyze the First Amendment implications and problems. I also have experience working on public campaigns for Internet policy issues. So, while the other side would explain what the law did inaccurately, I could provide the right analysis, explain it clearly and simply to allies, congressional staff, and the general public. I was not the only lawyer fighting to stop SOPA, and we all learned a lot collaborating with one another.

Beyond the lawyers, other people were experts in cybersecurity (Paul Vixie), or handled the lobbying (Public Knowledge among others) and public activism (Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation) and organized Silicon Valley entrepreneurs (Engine). They could all rely on my legal analysis, just as I could rely on their skills.

What other tech issues have first amendment implications?

Almost all of them. The Internet is our infrastructure for speech in the 21st Century. We need to ensure all Americans have access to high-speed, open Internet connections, wired and mobile, and that individuals (not Hollywood or the telcos) control how people can use those connections. So network neutrality, bandwidth caps, Internet-for-all initiatives. All of these will determine who can speak to whom in our society, with what tools, and whether they need permission, and from whom.

What’s next for you?

I am thinking through a project on the connection between policies that foster entrepreneurship and those that foster freedom generally (like freedom of speech). And I'm supposed to be writing a book. I will probably call Hamish Chandra, an Engine Advocacy advisor who is my creativity guru, to coach me on becoming as creative as the 32nd most creative person in business should always be.

http://ammorigroup.com/

@marvin_ammori

Engine Advocacy Turns Tech Nerds Into Political Experts

In case you missed it over the weekend, Alex Fitzpatrick at Mashable talks about Engine and tech advocacy’s future.

Read more at Mashable.

Mobile Commons Powers 200,000 Congressional Phone Calls

Using Mobile Commons’ technology, Tumblr, Reddit and Engine Advocacy enabled more than 200,000 visitors in a single day to launch calls to their Congressional representatives directly from their websites. Those were among the more than 500,000 calls launched through Mobile Commons during the anti-SOPA campaigns of the past month.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/559713#ixzz1kUk7ZTeT

9,788

9,788. That’s how many calls you’ve made against SOPA through our Click-to-Call tool. Can you find some friends to push us over 10,000 calls?

Stand with Tech Entrepreneurs; Call Congress now to Stop SOPA

Today, 17 Web luminaries sent a letter to Congress opposing SOPA - the Internet censoring, innovation killing copyright legislation.

Will you stand with them and call Congress now.

Please spread the word to friends too - SOPA is heading for a committee vote tomorrow, so time is of the essence. The founders' letter will run as print ads, full page in today's New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, Roll Call, The Hill, Politico, and CQ. You will not be able to pick up a paper in the DC area (or, really, many other places) without reading this letter. There will also be an online ad on CNET, TechCrunch, Gigaom, and Mashable, and Politico already has a story up. The ads point to a call Congress alert run by Engine Advocacy: http://stopthewall.us/

Hi. We're Engine.

We’re very excited to see our plans for Engine come to fruition - creating a platform for communication between one of the fastest growing and valuable industries and the decision makers in government is something we are very passionate about. We're launching our full website today and we want the site to be a collaborative space to engage on issues of importance to the tech industry - like our opposition to the controversial anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA.

We want Engine to be a catalyst for positive change that will benefit our community as a whole. That means creating a dialogue where none currently exists, and through action, education, and collaboration, changing the landscape of the American economy. We want Engine to be the portal through which you can become active and engaged - by being plugged into a network of other interested individuals, by directing public policy through legislative action, and by driving growth in key sectors.