Now this should be cool. Hallmark and Sprint said on late Tuesday that they have teamed up with a group of local entrepreneurs to tell the story of innovative, early-stage technology companies being built in some of America's most successful startup hubs. Called Tech Trek, this interactive documentary will be done via a cross country road trip using Google Glass.
Kansas City-based Chris Shaw, "an Entrepreneur-in-Residence" at Think Big Partners, is the organizer of Tech Trek and also one of the participants in Google's Explorer program for Glass. He said he wanted to use Glass to give back to the community that enabled his success. He even plans to use the specs to develop applications in the healthcare space.
"I wanted to test the media capabilities of Glass in a unique way," he said. "Glass is a truly innovative way to tell stories and share experiences."
Hallmark and Sprint are helping the cause because they too were once Kansas City startups. "As a Kansas City native, I am thrilled to work with Hallmark and Sprint to tell this story," Shaw added. "The idea that the area companies I grew up admiring reached out and funded us on Kickstarter is a testament to how amazing the business community in Kansas City is."
Tech Trek will take place in the summer of 2013, and will document a number of startup hubs located in Kansas City, Missouri; Boulder, Colorado; Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; San Francisco, California; and others. Hallmark said the journey will help the company observe firsthand how Google Glass will influence communication in the future. Sprint seems to be just as eager.
As previously stated, Shaw has established a Kickstarter project to fund the trek. He's already surpassed the $9,780 goal, pulling in 27 backers pledging $10,825 as of this report.
"You can join us virtually or in real life on an amazing trip through some of America's most innovative cities, beautiful sites and successful startups," Shaw said. "We don't want to use Glass to tell an ordinary story, we want to use it to tell a fantastic story by pushing the limits of journalism and documentary film making."
The group of trekkers will start with Shaw, BodeeFit founder Blake Miller and Piscator Media founder Spencer Walsh. The Kickstarter campaign will fund production costs, editing hours, equipment and so on.
"Filming and editing is expensive," Shaw said. "The more money we raise, the more people we can take along for the ride. If we are successful in raising the entry-level amount, we'll add stretch goals that allow us to add more people and more destinations. Our goal is to simply tell a compelling story."
To make a pledge, head to the Kickstarter page here.
