Emily Best

Best grew up in Sacramento, California. She holds a bachelor of Anthropology and American Studies from Haverford College in Pennsylvania.{{cite web|title=Indiewire Influencers: Emily Best |url=http://www.indiewire.com/influencers/best-emily |website=Indiewire |access-date=11 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111234004/http://www.indiewire.com/influencers/best-emily |archive-date=11 January 2015 }} She also studied music and jazz singing at Taller de Músics in Barcelona. Best's mother was a fiction writer who became a cable company executive,{{cite web|last1=Staff|title=Seed&Spark's Emily Best: 'We have to be committed to hiring and mentoring women'|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2014/12/26/seed-sparks-emily-best-we-have-to-be-committed-to.html?page=all|website=bizjournals|publisher=New York Business Journal|accessdate=12 January 2015}} inspiring her to take on leadership positions, and her father is a journalist turned strategy consultant. She has one younger sister and one younger brother.{{cite web|last1=Rossini|first1=Elena|title=Emily Best, 30s, Founder and CEO of Seed&Spark|url=http://nocountryforyoungwomen.com/2012/11/emily-best-seed-and-spark/|website=No Country for Young Women|date=30 November 2012 |accessdate=11 January 2015}}

Early jobs included working on an angora farm in Northern California and restaurant managing.

Best began her career as an actress, joining a New York-based theater group with whom she teamed to feature film Like the Water in 2010, with Best acting as producer.

Needing to raise additional last-minute funds for the film, Best created film-centric crowdfunding and distribution platform Seed&Spark. In 2012, a public version of Seed&Spark was launched with Best as CEO. Best won The New York Observer blog Betabeat's competition series The Pitch in 2013, receiving a $10,000 grant for Seed&Spark from SoftBank Capital and Lerer Ventures.{{cite web|last1=Observer Staff|title=The Pitch Season 2|url=http://betabeat.com/pitch/season-two/|website=Beta Beat|publisher=The Observer|accessdate=11 January 2015}} Lerer principal Steve Schlafman explained that Best "proved to us that her product is working and solves a real problem that she experienced first hand."{{cite web|last1=Observer Staff|title=What Makes a Good Pitch? A Q&A With VCs Nikhil Kalghatgi and Steve Schlafman|url=http://betabeat.com/pitch/what-makes-a-good-pitch-a-qa-with-vcs-nikhil-kalghatgi-and-steve-schlafman/|website=Beta Beat|publisher=The Observer|access-date=11 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111233545/http://betabeat.com/pitch/what-makes-a-good-pitch-a-qa-with-vcs-nikhil-kalghatgi-and-steve-schlafman/|archive-date=11 January 2015|url-status=dead}} She was named in 2014 one of 78 "Women of Influence" by the New York Business Journal, and cites David Williams, Robyn Ward, Peter Samuelson, Chad Troutwine, and Cody Simms as mentors.

Best created the prototype for film-centric crowdfunding and VOD distribution platform Seed&Spark with Caroline Von Kuhn and Liam Brady{{cite web|last1=Dunaway|first1=Michael|title=Catching Up With Emily Best of Seed&Spark|url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/12/catching-up-with-emily-best-of-seed-spark.html|website=Paste Magazine|accessdate=11 January 2015}} while raising funds for their feature film Like the Water in 2010. Through their platform, the film was able to raise $23,000 in 30 days.

Unlike other crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, Seed&Spark acts like a registry system, showing potential backers a budget determined by exactly what items are needed and at what cost. The platform also allows backers to purchase or donate specific items. Seed&Spark takes a 5% fee from successfully funded projects, lower than other crowdfunding platforms.{{cite web|last1=Renninger|first1=Bryce J|title=Filmmakers Create a New Platform for Crowdfunding and Streaming Distribution in the Same Place|url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/filmmakers-create-new-platform-for-crowdfunding-and-streaming-distribution-in-the-same-place|website=Indiewire|date=30 November 2012 |accessdate=11 January 2015}}

As a distributor, Seed&Spark offers short films for 99¢, feature films for $2.99, and 80% of profits go to the filmmakers. The public site launched on December 1, 2012{{cite web|last1=Best|first1=Emily|title=FAIR TRADE FILMMAKING: SEED&SPARK|url=http://tribecafilm.com/stories/5130fa651c7d76ec6c00000f-fair-trade-filmmaking-see|website=tribecafilm.com/stories/5130fa651c7d76ec6c00000f-fair-trade-filmmaking-see|publisher=Tribeca Film Festival|accessdate=11 January 2015|archive-date=31 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031204338/http://www.tribecafilm.com/stories/5130fa651c7d76ec6c00000f-fair-trade-filmmaking-see|url-status=dead}} with 11 distributed films and 15 crowdfunding campaigns. The platform raised more than $300,000 in its first 6 months.{{cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Dana|title=Indiewire Influencers|url=http://www.indiewire.com/influencers/|website=Indiewire|access-date=11 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620002527/http://www.indiewire.com/influencers/|archive-date=20 June 2013}} Originally based in Brooklyn, New York, Seed&Spark relocated to Los Angeles in 2014.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Emily}}

Category:Businesspeople from Sacramento, California

Category:Living people

Category:Haverford College alumni

Category:1980 births

Category:21st-century American businesspeople

Category:21st-century American businesswomen

Category:American technology company founders

Category:American women company founders

Category:Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:American technology chief executives

Category:American women chief executives

Category:American women film producers

Category:Film producers from California

Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles