Josh Linkner
| Josh Linkner | |
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Josh Linkner Keynote Speaker
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| Born | July 28, 1970 |
| Alma mater | University of Florida |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, author, jazz guitarist |
| Website | joshlinkner |
Josh Linkner (born Joshua M. Linkner, July 28, 1970) is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author. He founded several companies including ePrize, an interactive promotion agency, where he served as CEO and Executive Chairman. Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Gwendolyn Bounds noted that ePrize is targeted at small businesses that don't have the resources to do this type of marketing themselves but cautioned that the service is not of the pay-per-sale type.
Since 2010 Linkner has served as CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm helping to rebuild urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Detroit Venture Partners' portfolio includes DJ app Rockbot, mobile app developer Detroit Labs, and CAPTCHA replacement company Are You a Human. General partners of Detroit Venture Partners include Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. On November 4, 2014 Linkner announced he will step down as CEO to focus on a speaker and author career.
Linkner has published four books, the first Leaning Forward: Surviving/Winning in the Future of Interactive Marketing in 2007, a New York Times best-seller Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity in 2011, in 2014 a New York Times best-seller The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation, and in 2017 Hacking Innovation: The New Growth Model from the Sinister World of Hackers. In Disciplined Dreaming he states that the original thought and imagination of jazz performance (in his particular case, playing guitar with his jazz ensemble Guymon Ensley Quintet) are transferable skills for creating value in the business world. GetAbstract said the book provides "a clear, methodical guide to developing creativity". His third book, The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation, was published May 7, 2014.
He is a regular writer for Fast Company,Inc. Magazine, and Forbes. Linkner was one of the speakers at TEDx Detroit in September 2011.
On August 18, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama gave Linkner a Champion of Change award in the youth entrepreneur category. He won an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award in the Realizing Business Potential category for Central Great Lakes Region in 2004.
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