Jordan’s Big Commute
A lot of people out there are curious about how Tippster Jordan rolls. The truth is he rolls on a very nice LeMond and his carbon footprint is very small – like a carbon foot that’s been bound. And he rolls deep, like your favorite rap posse. On a daily basis he rides his bike to work, a routine that helps ensure Tippsters receive the very best deals available at no cost to the environment. Jordan is an important cog in the Tippr wheel.
The hardest part of leaving for work is saying goodbye to sweet Lily. Not that she’s emotionally needy, but Lily gets lonely, although she has her daytime soaps to watch. Latin American soaps are in heavy rotation, but Days of Our Lives is her personal favorite.
After Jordan put his foot to the pedal, he headed towards his local coffee provider, Seattle Coffee Works. This fine coffee not only tastes delicious, it also revives Tippr’s otherwise-sleepy star employee so he can keep the deals coming.
Jordan also stopped for doughnuts, but failed to bring any back for his coworkers. Don’t you think Tippr’s hungry staff craves delicious fried O’s? Perhaps that why all the air was let out of his bike’s tires?
Properly caffeinated, Jordan continued on his merry way. Unfortunately, the jovial mood soon soured as Jordan approached his rivals’ business. As a young boy, Jordan had a terrible experience a the Pike Place Market’s fish monger stall.
Ever since they spooked him with a cleverly rigged monk fish, Jordan has doled out revenge. His usual method is to free a handful of Dungeness crabs from their tank. The sight of four or five crabs hustling down the hill towards the waterfront warms Jordan’s soul, even though he is not a vegetarian, but there are quite a few in the Tippr office. Ordering pizza for the whole company takes a lot of compromise on everyone’s part.
Tippr apologizes for soiling the pure-as-fresh-snow Internet, but Jordan really wanted to share this nude sculpture he photographed. 
There are also many fine businesses located along the bike path. Coffee isn’t the only way to start the day… fishing is nice too.
After Jordan’s bike broke down, he contemplated hopping a train to get to work. He’d always longed to ride the rails, see the country from a moving train, and to find the hobo who stole his bike and bring him to justice.
After pedaling for miles, Jordan arrived at the office and discovered someone had painted it to resemble a strip club just off the freeway. “I hope someone makes it rain today,” thought Jordan. He could use a little more coffee money.
Upon entering the office, Jordan was greeted by welcoming barks. He realized it was Bring Your Dog to Work Day, a holiday celebrated by Tippr’s dog people every Friday. Upon seeing Jenny, Mario, and Mrs. Squiggles playing happily, his thoughts ran to his dear dachshund Lily, and his heart sank. Luckily, he remembered that Lily is a trained attack dachshund and certainly would have turned the other pups into ground meat. It was better he’d left her at home. 
Jordan busies himself with the daily Tippr operations, pushing pixels, assisting his fellow workers, keeping everyone caffeinated, and DJing just the right mix of music to keep the creative motivated. God help you Jordan if you play that Ke$ha song one more time. At 6pm, Jordan started the long ride home, his camera in hand.
On the way, Jordan stopped to take in the sunset. As the clouds darkened, he skipped a polished stone into the water and thought about his life so far, his dear Lily, and imagined what the future would hold for a little daily deals company with a big heart and a collection of friendly dog owners coming up with great deals for the American consumer. “Look out world!” Jordan suddenly shouted, startling the few people within earshot. “Tippr is going places! We just ran Emmer & Rye in Seattle! We’re up and running in Austin! Look out world! We’re going places.” Then he pedaled his bicycle home, excited to see Lily, and get ready for another day of work. 
Tippr HQ Moves to Magnolia!
Greetings, Tippsters!
If you haven’t already checked out our Facebook page, you may not know that Tippr’s got a new home. Our headquarters have moved from lovely lower Queen Anne to magnificent Magnolia. Down here by the waterfront, we’re enjoying the rustic shipyard views and the soothing sounds of foghorns.
Here’s the outside of our new office:
Yes, it may look humble from the outside, but don’t let the photo fool you! Between our fully-stocked kitchen and extra square-footage, all of us are pretty stoked for the new location. Our sales team appreciates the extra elbow-room, and the Creative folks are enjoying additional space for their giant speakers and impromptu dance parties. See?
And while for some of us, the new digs may not be as convenient, the proximity to Ballard is nothing to sniff about! And our fearless leader, Martin, clocked his bike ride to work today – a jaw-dropping 22 minutes!
As always, loyal Tippsters, if you’ve got a watering hole or whiz with the scissors that you’d like to see a screamin’ deal on, let us know! Email tips@tippr.com, and we’ll do our best to get them featured. After all, if you think they rock, they probably do!
Cheers,
The Tippr Team
Tippr Updates & Tippr Press!
Hey there, Tippsters!
If you haven’t noticed, we’ve done a little remodeling here at Tippr over the weekend!
What’s new?
* Now you can use Facebook Connect to log-in automatically.
* Links that let you easily share your favorite deals via Facebook and Twitter.
* Friends that you invite receive a $5 credit right away!
* Invite friends and receive a $5 credit when they buy!
* One “My Account” page to see all of the deals you bought and print your vouchers.
* You can now manage your subscriptions from “My Account.”
What can you continue to expect?
* Sweet deals in 9 cities and counting!
* 50%-90% off at your favorite restaurants, theaters, yoga studios, spas, and more!
* Accelerated deals that get better and better as more people buy.
We’re working to make Tippr way more fun, and there’s more to come! We’ll keep you updated as we make more changes. In the meantime let us know if you have any great ideas about how we can make the site and our deals even better. Send your tips to tips@tippr.com !
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Also, we now have a new Press page on this blog. Feel free to check it out for links to the latest Tippr-releated stories!
Not in the mood to browse that page right now? You are more than welcome to browse the latest few…
“Local shops join forces with coupon websites to sweeten sales,” Melissa Allison and Amy Martinez, The Seattle Times, 07/01/10
“Austin startup FanForce riding the resurgent wave of online group buying,” Brian Gaar, The Statesman, 07/04/10
“Groupon Competitors, Clones, And Cousins Are Growing Insanely Quickly,” Jim Moran, Business Insider, 07/06/10
Aloha!
We are very excited to announce that we’ll be launching in Honolulu on Friday! To celebrate, Sakara Blackwell has organized a fantastic Launch Party at the Honolulu Design Center. Tippr CEO and part-time Hawaii resident Martin Tobias will be there to raise a toast with local friends, media, bloggers, and Tippsters!
If there are any businesses that you’d love us to feature in Honolulu or any other city around the US, email the suggestion to tips@tippr.com! Please include the city that the business is located in, because that helps us connect with the right people about doing a promotion. Thanks 
For more information about the Honolulu launch, please feel free to read the following press release…
Tippr.com Sails into Honolulu as Hawaii’s First Nationwide Group Buying Network
Tippr.com rides wave of momentum as surfing CEO delivers best group buying experience to Oahu merchants and consumers
HONOLULU–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Seattle-based Tippr.com, the nation’s third-largest and fastest-growing group buying destination, today announced the launch of Tippr Honolulu, the first hyperlocal group buying experience to serve the Hawaiian Islands. Tippr.com leverages collective buying power to fulfill consumers’ daily cravings for the guaranteed best local deals (50-90% off) on a variety of goods, services, events and entertainment, all while supporting local businesses and communities. Tippr.com is now operating in 10 major U.S. markets including Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu, with additional cities set to debut throughout 2010. Tippr Honolulu started offering group deals to consumers this week, but Tippr has had operations staff on the ground in Honolulu since March.
“This is a homecoming for me and I’m stoked to celebrate the debut of Tippr with local friends, colleagues, and business owners this weekend,” said Martin Tobias, Tippr’s Founder and CEO. “I’ve been a part-time resident here since 2003, so I’m especially excited and proud that I can support local businesses, create local jobs, and help save my neighbors some serious cash on the best Oahu has to be offer.”
Beginning Friday, Hawaiians have access to Tippr’s national network of discounted online merchandise, as well as the guaranteed best deals at Honolulu’s finest local businesses. All of Tippr’s deals include our lowest price guarantee and exclusive features such as ‘Accelerated Deals,’ which increases the value of each deal for the entire group as more consumers opt in. Honolulu-based media publishers, business owners, and bloggers now have access to Tippr’s patented daily deals network, which increases the reach of Tippr deals and empowers media publishers and other local sites to build their own brand versus promoting other group buying sites. Tippr’s powerful, patented group buying technology provides local merchants with an affordable, easy to implement marketing solution to reach new local customers. In the last year, Tippr and its contemporaries in the group buying industry have saved consumers more than an estimated $300 million dollars, and provided local merchants with well over 10 million walk-in customers.
“We can’t wait to get started with Tippr,” said Mike Prickett, owner of Oahu-based extreme sports and action cinematography company Prickett Films. “This is a no risk alternative to traditional forms of advertising, and we’re excited they’re here, especially given the state of the economy.”
“Local publishers, business owners, bloggers, anyone with an online audience, can now easily start benefitting from Tippr’s powerful group buying technology in less than 48 hours,” said Tobias. “Whether you’re interested in getting huge discounts while discovering fun activities in Honolulu, or working with Tippr to promote your business, you should definitely check us out and get in touch.”
“If you have an online presence, you would have to be crazy not to try Tippr,” said Adam Smith, publisher of WTFhawaii.com, the edgy guide to all things awesome in Hawaii. “It’s extremely easy, free to set up, and within days I’ll have Tippr daily deals generating revenue on both my Web site and Facebook page.”
On Friday, June 25th, Martin Tobias will visit Oahu to celebrate Tippr’s Honolulu debut at an exclusive, invite-only launch party to be held at The Honolulu Design Center. Hawaii’s social media trendsetters, press, and prominent business owners will be in attendance to meet Tobias and preview Tippr’s industry-leading daily deals technology firsthand. In celebration of Tippr’s Honolulu debut, ten Tippr Honolulu members will be randomly selected to attend the exclusive launch party and share a toast with Tobias. More than 3,000 Tippr Honolulu members have already qualified for a chance to win tickets to attend. To qualify, consumers must sign up at Tippr.com prior to June 25, 2010.
Don’t be caught in a deal “phishing scheme”
Most of us are aware of email “phishing” schemes. You get an email that looks like it is from someone you trust (say Paypal) asking you to share some personal information (that they should probably already have) because there has been some kind of glitch. Well it seems in the daily deal space, some of the smaller sites are getting desperate to look big and are basically starting to use Tippr deals to “phish” for their own email subscribers.
Beware of any time you see a Tippr deal on a non-Tippr branded or non-Tippr powered site. Especially if you have to enter your e-mail address or give any other personal information in order to access the deal. Any official Tippr partners would never engage in such Phishing activities. If you see such sites, please let us know by email to support@tippr.com. We will take the appropriate actions to protect our Tippr customers and experience.
A funny twist on this unfortunate situation is that Tippr is the most aggregator friendly deal site out there. Today we announced the acquisition of FanForce and the extension of our deal platform to white labels powering lots of brands. Other deal sites explicitly prohibit their deals from being aggregated. We believe daily deals should be distributed everywhere. But not without attribution. Not without authorization. Not in a poor customer experience. If you see Tippr deals elsewhere on the web, please let us know. We want you to see Tippr deals in lots of places, but we want to be a part of it and ensure a great customer and merchant experience.
Tippr.com Takes Lead in Affiliate Group Buying via Acquisition of Austin-based FanForce
Tippr’s Industry-Leading ‘Plug and Play’ Group Buying Technology Allows Media Publishers, Entrepreneurs, and Bloggers to Quickly and Easily Join Tippr’s Network of Branded and Co-Branded Daily Deal Sites
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tippr.com, the innovative daily deals network behind the first ‘plug and play’ group buying platform, today announced the acquisition of Austin-based FanForce for an undisclosed sum. Tippr’s advanced group buying platform is now the leading solution for media publishers, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and anyone with an online audience wishing to add group buying functionality, generate new revenue, and extend their brand.
Tippr has already assembled a broad portfolio of patents on group buying, and with this acquisition adds several key features that enable group buying, including: the ability for publishers to easily customize the look and feel of a branded group buying site, source deals into and out of the larger Tippr-powered network, leverage social networks for viral growth, deliver offers to mobile devices such as the iPhone, customize deal characteristics, and more. In addition to technology, Tippr offers a full service solution for publishers including everything from copywriting of the deal text to back office financial reconciliation.
“We’re leading the industry in providing customizable, networked, plug and play group buying technology to publishers,” said Martin Tobias, Tippr’s founder and CEO. “This is the easiest, most cost-effective way for media publishers to add group buying functionality, tap into a network of quality deals, and begin generating revenue within days.”
Tippr’s advanced group buying platform is now powering several well-known daily deal sites in Austin, including the female focused Tidbits Treats and the popular Facebook blog, “365 Things To Do In Austin, Texas,” which has attracted nearly 89,000 fans, and become one of Austin’s most successful deal sites in a matter of months. Last week Tippr announced the acquisition of Chicago-based Chitown Deals, which was transitioned to Tippr’s group buying platform with full functionality in less than 48 hours, while retaining the site’s branding and providing continuity for local consumers.
The founders of FanForce will join the Tippr management team, including Samy Aboel-Nil who joins Tippr as President/COO, Dane Knecht who joins Tippr as VP of Product Management, and John Whitmarsh, who joins Tippr as CFO. The FanForce team most recently worked together in executive positions at Austin-based MessageOne, which was acquired by Dell Computer in April 2008 for $155MM.
“Combining the FanForce white-label offer technology with the Tippr platform and patents made perfect sense,” said Samy Aboel-Nil, Tippr’s President and COO. “Publishers can now use Tippr to deliver turn-key group buying capabilities that utilize Tippr’s patented technology, services, and leverages Tippr’s existing network of publishers and merchants.”
Utilizing Tippr’s powerful daily deals technology, media publishers have converted or launched their own deal sites to Tippr’s group buying platform in less than two days, and taken advantage of new features and services. Tippr’s advanced group buying platform includes exclusive features such as “Accelerated Deals,” that increase the value of each deal for the entire group as more consumers opt in. Merchant partners also have access to Tippr’s branded and affiliate network of deal outlets, extending the reach of their offers.
“Joining Tippr was an important strategic victory for both companies that positions our technology at the forefront of a rapidly evolving group buying industry,” said Aboel-Nil. “Tippr has the winning combination of momentum, industry-leading IP, and venture backing necessary to dominate affiliate group buying and compete with Groupon and LivingSocial.”
To see the press release as posted on BusinessWire, click here.
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tippr.com, the nation’s third-largest and fastest-growing group buying destination, today announced the acquisition of Chicago-based Chitown Deals for an undisclosed sum. Tippr’s industry-leading collective buying platform powers the best hyperlocal group buying experience for consumers and small businesses. Tippr is now operating in 10 U.S. markets including Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu, with additional markets set to debut throughout 2010.
Beginning today, Chitown Deals members have access to Tippr’s national network of discounted online merchandise, as well as the guaranteed best deals (50 – 90% off) at Chicago’s finest local businesses. All of Tippr’s deals include our lowest price guarantee and exclusive features such as “Accelerated Deals,” which increases the value of each deal for the entire group as more consumers opt in. Chitown Deals’ merchant partners now have access to Tippr’s branded and affiliate network of deal outlets, extending the reach of their offers.
Tippr’s advanced group buying platform offers media publishers, local entrepreneurs, daily deal sites, and bloggers the easiest way to enter the group commerce business immediately, while maintaining their own brand and online community. Case in point, Tippr kept the Chitown Deals branded site and community intact and fully transitioned the site to Tippr’s advanced platform in less than 48 hours. The quick integration of Chitown Deals’ members, merchants, and sales force significantly accelerates Tippr’s ability to service the Chicago market.
“Tippr’s advanced collective buying platform is the future of group buying,” said Martin Tobias, Tippr’s founder and CEO. “We’ve streamlined the group buying experience, providing more and better deals for consumers, while making it easier than ever for publishers with an existing audience, to add collective buying as a plug and play service to extend their brand with e-commerce.”
“Our members and local businesses will love the changes coming with Tippr,” said Alen Malkoc, founder and CEO of Chitown Deals. “It’s exciting to see how Tippr’s platform will further enhance and carry forward my vision for Chitown Deals.”
You can go to the original article by clicking this link.
Tippr press kit for national launch
As part of our national roll-out we created a bunch of stuff to help our friends in the press understand the Tippr story and our management. Here are some of the documents:
Tippr National Press release:Tippr National Expansion Release
Martin’s Bio: Martin Tobias Bio
Tippr Fact Sheet: Tippr Fact Sheet
Tippr Expands!
The Tippsters have been busy lately. What with? Starting our national expansion!
Haven’t been to Tippr.com recently and wondering which cities we’re now live in? We hope you do check out the site and the latest deals again… but, here’s the current list.
Atlanta – @TipprAtlanta
Boston – @TipprBoston
Chicago – @TipprChicago
Los Angeles – @TipprLA
New York – @Tippr_NYC
San Francisco – @TipprSanFran
Seattle – @TipprSeattle
Washington, DC – @TipprDC
Are we not in your city yet? Make sure you subscribe on our site and tell your friends to do the same! Subscriptions let us know that the people in your city want Tippr deals.
Have you seen the latest Tippr press? No? Feel free to browse the following articles…
Tippr will battle Groupon, Living Social in 10 cities
By: Mark Briggs
Lost Remote
5/11/2010
Tippr.com Expands Nationwide
Northwest Innovation
5/11/2010
Tippr.com moves on to Groupon’s turf as part of national expansion
By: John Cook
Techflash
5/11/2010
Tippr Expands to 10 Cities, Takes on Groupon in Social Buying Online
By: Greg Huang
Xconomy
5/11/2010
Tippr Expands to 10 Cities, Takes on Groupon in Social Buying Online
Tech Blips (Summarizes Xconomy placement)
5/11/2010
Tippr.com moves on to Groupon’s turf as part of national expansion
Seattle 2.0 (Summarizes Techflash placement)
5/11/2010
Tippr.com moves on to Groupon’s turf as part of national expansion
Business Insider (Summarizes Techflash placement)
5/11/2010
Hey! Where are my Tippr emails?
If you didn’t see your daily deals newsletter when you woke up this morning, chances are it went into your spam folder. That’s why it’s important to add nobody@tippr.com to your safe sender list– so you don’t miss out on any sweet deals! If you’re using Gmail, make sure to mark your Tippr mail as “Not spam” to keep it coming to the right place: your inbox.
