Innovate State is a collaboration between the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the MSU Innovation Center.

Hosted in the Entrepreneurship Lab, Innovate State welcomes successful Spartan alumni back to campus for a fireside chat. Guests share their perspectives on everything from launching start-ups to experiencing success and failure to building dynamic and nurturing work cultures.

Growing up in southeast Michigan and acquiring a bachelor degree from Eli Broad College of Business in 2004, Jeffrey Epstein is an accomplished attorney, entrepreneur, and investor. Later going on to earn his J.D. from Chicago-Kent School of Law in 2007, he created and sold his first online business allowing him to successfully pay back his student loans in full and leading the way for his next venture, ZFERRAL, INC dba Ambassador Software (“Ambassador”) which at the time of its creation in 2010, became a leading referral marketing platform used by some of the world’s most recognizable brands.

Since then Epstein grew Ambassador to hold 45 full-time employees until it was acquired by West Corporation in late 2018, but his extensive expertise doesn’t end there. Showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit, he has attended and participated in Techstars (NYC 2011), raising several million dollars along the way in VC funding. Although he has made mistakes in his time, Epstein now focuses on capitalizing and learning from them by consulting, investing and helping other entrepreneurs learn and grow from the mistakes and troubles he has experienced throughout his career.