Do you look out at the world and think — this should just work differently? Ever pitch your friends on what you would launch or build, if only you had the skills, the resources, the time? Do you hear the stories of innovators and entrepreneurs and wonder if that could be you?
 

If so, you'll want to watch  Business Unusual.

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You‘ve seen those business reality shows where contestants pitch

their products in hopes of winning big bucks from an investor. 

Business Unusual is completely different. It‘s about using the tools

of the entrepreneur to launch a different world.

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You‘ve seen shows where chefs, designers and singers compete to

show they‘ve got what it takes. On Business Unusual, innovators 

compete to change their workplaces and schools, their industries

and communities - their world. To replace the way we do things

today with something better.

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(WESTON, CT) – Amy Kalafa, Executive Producer, announced that A-RAY Productions is filming a TV pilot for the new reality competition series, Business Unusual. The pilot episode introduces twelve teams of innovators, among them, MBAs, garage tinkerers, engineers and idealists, each with a passion to replace failing systems around them by building new solutions to meet our most pressing needs. Business Unusual takes a radical idea — that we need to ask the people closest to today’s problems to innovate tomorrow’s world — and turns it into televised drama. 

As host Alejandro Crawford said in a recent Forbes profile, “Far too often we’re investing in the same people, with the same assumptions, coming up with the same kinds of ideas to solve the problems that seem pressing in their narrow world.” Utilizing Crawford’s RebelBaseTM  innovation platform, which equips entrepreneurial rebels with accessible workshops and tools to launch their dreams, the teams have been refining their projects since November, and are now preparing for the main event of the Pilot Episode, which is their audition pitch in front of the Business Unusual judges. The judges will determine which teams move on to the next episode in the competition. 

“Thanks to the Roddenberry Impact Award, we’ve been able to move forward with production of the pilot episode. Doing the bulk of the filming remotely has allowed us to include teams from Bangladesh and Palestine, so we are truly mentoring innovators poised to make a global impact,” says Kalafa. 

The innovations featured include a three-wheeled electric roadster that has motorheads and environmentalists drooling, a marketplace for hard-to-find products for the differently-abled, a construction startup that renovates distressed properties with top-tier sustainability standards for low-income residents, a rental service for kids clothing, and an enclosed last-mile delivery system on rails that uses minuscule amounts of energy to move small goods rapidly and efficiently.

“Each of these entrepreneurial rebels is envisioning how the world could work differently, how something superior could meet needs that aren’t being met,” Crawford says.  “We’re helping them access the tools, resources, and talent they need to launch or scale their ventures,” adds Kalafa. 

“The diversity of projects and presenters is inspiring, and some of the ideas have the potential to change the world,” says Will Carlin, CEO of Speakable, Inc., an organization that develops high-stakes presentations for both startups and Fortune 500 executives. The Speakable methodology powers the RebelBase learning module that entrepreneurial rebels use to develop their pitches. “It will be interesting to see which entrepreneurs can create and deliver a presentation that’s worthy of their ideas.” With a track record of 57 out of 57 successful pitches, Will is lending his expertise to Business Unusual to prepare contestants for their auditions with the judges. 

Over the course of 13 episodes, the teams will build prototypes, test their markets, crunch the numbers, court partners, measure impact and prove their potential to transform the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the supply chains that feed our industries, the environment, and the institutions that meet our communities’ needs.

 

A panel of six judges, with deep experience in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, organizational development, business operations and policy making, act as mentors to the teams, coaching them through the competition as well as making the tough decisions about which teams are eliminated along the way.

 

Kalafa expects the pilot episode to be completed in late spring, at which time she and Crawford will entertain competing proposals from networks and series sponsors.

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You provide the ideas and drive. Business Unusual provides the stage and platform for you to transform your great idea into a viable innovation.