Dear friends from Detroit and beyond,

A touch over three years ago, I read about this thing called Twitter. I created an account like I always do whenever a new service that shows promise rears its head. I didn’t really do anything with it, but then, while catching up with an old friend from high school, talk ran to tech and she let me know that she felt it was going to be a pretty big deal. Well, nearly 30,000 tweets, a career change, and dozens of new lifelong friendships later, I guess I have to say she was right.

I’ve been through a lot in the Detroit-area social media scene. From my first little Tweetup at a sushi bar in 2008, to getting together with now dear old friends just days ago for a wedding (which was almost like a family reunion for many of us), I have tried to be involved as much as I could—hanging out with you guys, laughing, crying, helping, volunteering, and enjoying your company.

I’ve always maintained that I’m not selling anything with social media. Throughout this entire era of my life, I’ve only ever been the community manager for Icrontic, and only asked for help with two things: sharing my content and helping me find a job when I needed one. In both cases, my friends have come through.

Well, for the first time since I became a proud member of the Detroit social media community, I am selling something, and I am earnestly and genuinely asking for help spreading the word about the new service we’re offering.

The power of community

Let me start by saying that if you know me, you know that online community management has been, and always will be, my passion. It’s what I’ve been doing for the better part of my adult life, and I absolutely believe with all my heart that the power of community can be a driving force for success in business and beyond.

For years, I’ve been trying to figure out how to turn that passion into a viable way to feed my family and live my life.

My dear friend Lincoln, who co-owns Icrontic and ShortMedia with me, moved here to Michigan to be a part of this, because he believed in me and the power and promise of the Icrontic community. He’s still here, and he’s fallen in love with Detroit just like many of you have. A great deal of my energy has gone into trying to make good on his investment into Detroit, and me personally. He uprooted himself to be a part of this, and I can’t rest until we make it work.

Needless to say, this year has been kind of depressing for me. I finally had to bite the bullet and admit that it wasn’t working out financially. I got a miserable job with a company that sucked the soul out of me (which luckily didn’t last too long). When I was free from that mess, the fire under my ass was reignited. Still, a fire doesn’t pay the mortgage. I kept up the job search and got another gig as a social media manager—which, while a good job with good people, is not my passion.

Well, all the soul-searching paid off, I guess. It finally hit me just about a week ago. With my community experience and Lincoln’s technical mastery, we are excited to announce a platform for creating deep community engagement. It’s a service that allows community managers and brands to encourage community growth and participation, and lays out a step-by-step roadmap for casual community members to become highly engaged advocates.

I cannot even begin to describe how fiercely I believe that this is a valuable service that will make for some very happy customers. Of course, talk is cheap. There is no community more passionate than Icrontic; any of you who have had a brush with us know exactly what I mean. Some of you have become lifelong community members, and you know first-hand that we are pretty good at this. We can help other communities achieve the same success. That’s why I’m turning to you guys and gals.

I’ve spoken at your events, participated in your discussions, volunteered my services at your conferences, and recommended you to potential customers. I’ve shared your content, helped bring traffic to your sites, linked to you, traveled with you, and done what I could to help you. Now, I am turning to you and genuinely asking, with absolute sincerity, to help me.

Help spread the word. Share this with those whom you think may benefit from this technology.

My dream is to once again own a Detroit-based business. I want to hire local talent and create tech jobs in Detroit. I want to be surrounded every day by the talent and passion that Detroiters have. I want to help build the new Detroit. I want to pay Detroit taxes and eat at Detroit restaurants and food trucks for lunch and hire Detroiters to do our office landscaping and paint our office walls and answer our office phones. I finally feel that I have the right tools to make this a reality.

We don’t need investors or VC or angels. All we need are clients. All we need are friends who believe in us to help launch this by sharing the news. We want to build this from the ground up the hard, gritty way, like Detroiters do.

So I humbly ask you, my friends. Please help us like you’ve helped each other and so many others. We’re doing this for the right reasons. I love you guys and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

-Brian “primesuspect” Ambrozy