Crowdsourcing Detroit's next retail venture

A new contest will utilize Facebook and Twitter to "hatch" Detroit's next retail venture -- and the crowd favorite will take home $50,000 to launch their idea.

Hatch Detroit is looking for the D's next coffeeshop, art gallery, record store or clothing atelier. Beginning July 1, hatchdetroit.com will accept submissions from potential business owners. The Hatch team, Nick Gorga and Ted Balowski (both Metro Detroiters) will then narrow the field through multi-stage voting. While they're applying for 501(c)3 status to accept donations and sponsorships toward the prize money, they say they're prepared to fund Detroit's fan favorite to open its doors.

Excerpt:

Voting will narrow the 16 ideas to eight. The eight will post videos describing why they love Detroit, what they see for the future and how their business will help the city. Through the same online process, the eight will be narrowed to four ideas. The four finalists will get in front of a panel of local and national judges yet to be assembled. Each will give a five-minute pitch, followed by a question-and-answer session.The process will be live at a public event and streamed online.

Read the rest of the article, or visit the website to start hatchin'.

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