Purple Maiʻa

Purple Prize Demo Day

It’s not an easy thing to invest in your own ideas. After all, there are so many things competing for our time and attention. We’ve got to get to work on time, got to support and take care of our loved ones, got to do the thing the boss assigned you, got to figure out something for dinner, got to respond to emails–and on and on. While all of this is going on, do you give yourself permission to follow up on your passion projects? Do you take the time to be your own angel investor?

I ask because as preparation ramps up this week for the Purple Prize Demo Day on Thursday October 6, I am thinking about the six teams that will compete to win an as-yet-unannounced funding prize by pitching their projects to jurors and a community audience. Since we held the Purple Prize launch day last spring, these teams have come up with ideas they believe in and taken concrete steps in finding mentors and collaborators and building prototypes. Putting in that time and effort when the rewards are uncertain and the mandate is self-imposed is never an easy thing to do, and we hope that by running the Purple Prize we’ve let Hawaiʻi’s everyday inventors and social entrepreneurs know that there are folks out there who support you!

At Demo Day we’ll get a chance to see the fruits of each team’s creative labor, so get excited! If you haven’t RSVP’d to the event yet, there’s still time. Hope to see you there!