“I want to see how awesome $1,000 can be.”

Nathaniel James of the Seattle chapter of the Awesome Foundation nails it with his post: Why I’m Psyched About the Awesome Foundation.  He lists his personal reasons for starting the chapter, and they echo our reasons for starting Awesome Pittsburgh, even if he says it more elegantly.

Here is the clincher for me: Nathaniel calls the Awesome Foundation “a lab” for experimentation. This brings to mind the mission of cityLAB, Eve Picker’s non-profit organization for conducting experiments with the city of Pittsburgh as their laboratory, and it mirrors the startup community’s “fail faster” mantra: turn ideas into action faster and see what works – and what doesn’t. Not every experiment will be successful, but the big ideas will not emerge if no one has a chance to try them out. The Awesome Foundation provides the gas money to take these ideas out for a spin.

I look forward to seeing, discussing, and handing $1000 to the first round of experimenters and get this laboratory humming. And I can’t wait to see how the rest of the city responds to their ideas, helps them to evolve, connects them with other projects, and starts a wave of inspiration to get other people with big ideas to start their own awesome endeavors.

Note: When you check out Nathaniel’s blog post, be sure to scroll down and read the comments. I especially like Christina’s additions to why the Awesome Foundation is so remarkable.