This morning, I’m proud to launch the premiere of Thought Liters’ inaugural “Six Pack” series, in partnership with Innovation Works.

Here’s why you should care: Pittsburgh is at the precipice of being the next great tech city. We’ve got the talent; we’ve got the ideas. As it turns out, we’re starting to get the capital. The market, in a way, is coming to us.

But: even at this point, the city stands to gain extremely little from it.

Why? And: how do we ensure we maximize on the growth potential? Is there any way to keep the next great businesses from flocking to the coasts?

These are questions I’m guessing most of you have asked yourselves.

That’s the point of this Six Pack — to get to the bottom of the question, and provide a few shining examples of potential answers. To kick the series off, I sat down with Innovation Works CEO Ven Raju to learn more about the state of capital in town, and the flaw holding back our potential today. Watch below:

From here, the remainder of the Six Pack consists of five entrepreneurs building their businesses right here in the city (within the IW bubble). Together, they represent the spirit this town needs, desperately, to hold on to. They are:

If you enjoyed this debut episode, and are interested in this series…or honestly, if you aren’t: engaging with the video on YouTube is the single most helpful thing you can do for me. Consider subscribing as well.

And: if you know anyone who would like stories like this, especially in the Pittsburgh — please feel free to forward this around.

Cheers.

Adam