by Justin Ruckman, co-founder of Priceless Misc
Our company, Priceless Misc, has always cared deeply about local entrepreneurs — especially those who haven’t yet had the benefit of their story being properly heard. We started CLT Blog some years ago for just this purpose: to shine a light (and a camera) on the people in Charlotte making a positive impact on our city.
So when Seed20 approached us a couple years ago with an idea for big tree-shaped interactive touchscreen entrepreneur video elevator pitch showcase kiosk … thing — we told them they came to the right place.
We had a great time collaborating with the master craftsmen at Big Bad Props and the engineering talent at MyJive. And when the cameras stopped rolling, and the last line of code was written, we had created something truly fun and engaging that will help communicate the diversity and strength of Charlotte’s local social entrepreneurs for years to come.
You can, of course, watch this year’s entire event online. But more so than any one entrepreneur, or any one amazing local project, the story we’re most in awe of is the story of Seed20 itself, and the community of social entrepreneurs that stepped up and used this event as a platform to raise awareness for the many challenges our city faces — and perhaps more importantly — the many solutions to those challenges that are actively being pursued.
In the same spirit, this year we had the opportunity to take our storytelling with Seed20 a step further. We started filming early, following the participants through the early stages of the competition, visiting a few of them on location, capturing their performances on stage of course, and finally getting their reactions when the event came to an end, all the while piecing together the incredible story of Seed20 itself.
We’re already preparing for the return of Seed20 next year. And without a doubt, so are the many social entrepreneurs who will step up to compete in 2015.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy learning more about the event, the participants, and their causes, by checking out this year’s videos.
And next year, whether you’re cheering them on from Twitter, sitting in the crowd on pitch night, or joining them on stage with your own idea, we hope you’ll enjoy the same spirit of generous entrepreneurship we’ve been lucky enough to witness ourselves, since the beginning of Seed20 in Charlotte just three short years ago.
