Pitch Playground

We’re here to answer the question you’ve all been asking: who won the $50,000?

We’re thrilled to announce that Jonathan Santos Silva of The Liber Institute is the winner of this season’s Pitch Playground prize! 🎉 Tune in to this mini-episode to hear Jonathan’s real-time reaction to the news and what he’s planning to do with the $$$.

Jonathan is the founder of The Liber Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to equipping Indigenous students, families, and educators to redesign schools from the ground up. Drawing on his experience as an educator on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Jonathan created Liber to center the voices of rural and Indigenous communities often left out of education reform. Through coaching, storytelling, and the POWER framework for school redesign, Liber helps leaders build more inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments—starting at the margins and working inward.

With the $50,000 prize, Jonathan plans to build a group coaching model and expand access to Liber’s tools so that even the most remote communities can benefit from their approach to transformative, community-led education.

To everyone who voted—thank you. Your engagement made this season truly special. Stay connected by signing up for the 4.0 newsletter and be the first to hear updates on Jonathan’s journey and announcements about Season 2 of Pitch Playground. We’re just getting started. 🛠️🎙️

Links & Resources:
About the Host, Nicole Jarbo:
Nicole Jarbo is the host of Pitch Playground and the CEO of 4.0. An entrepreneur and 4.0 alumni herself, Nicole took a side hustle from $0 to $500k per year and founded a fintech startup that empowered Gen Z with their finances. She's passionate about sharing the inspiring stories of the 4.0 community and believes in work that makes the world more livable, creative, sustainable, and fun.

About 4.0:
4.0 is a hub for education innovators and social entrepreneurs reimagining the future of learning. Through mentorship, funding, and community support, we empower bold thinkers to turn their dreams into reality. To date, 4.0 has helped spark and invest in over 1,800 ideas, and our alumni have impacted over 10M students and families. We envision a future where our education system meets the needs of every family and improves life outcomes for all.

We Want to Hear From You!
Whether you're an educator, entrepreneur, or just passionate about changing education, reach out to share your story, ideas, or feedback. Visit us at pitchplayground.com, leave us a review and subscribe to Pitch Playground wherever you get your podcasts. 

What is Pitch Playground?

How could $50,000 transform learning? On Pitch Playground, we invite education innovators and social entrepreneurs to throw their best ideas at us. From technologies that build empathy to providing affordable childcare and reimagining the way we learn—this is a place for pitches from visionaries. Each episode features an intrepid edupreneur workshopping a $50,000 project to solve a critical problem in education. With support from mentors, funders, and fellow entrepreneurs we'll explore what it takes to turn dreams into reality.

At the end of the season, we award $50,000 to the best pitch we've heard on the show. We're inviting educators and social entrepreneurs to play in the sandbox with us and share their vision for the future of education. We encourage these visionaries to be BOLD—don't just think outside the box; reshape the box itself. Draw outside the lines. It's about making good ideas last longer and go further.

About the Host, Nicole Jarbo:
Nicole Jarbo is the host of Pitch Playground and the CEO of 4.0. A serial entrepreneur, former educator, and proud 4.0 alum, Nicole has a track record of building impactful ventures across a variety of industries, including education, financial technology, and media. Passionate about storytelling and innovation, she’s sharing the inspiring stories of the 4.0 community and believes in work that makes the world more livable, creative, sustainable, and fun.

About 4.0:
4.0 is a hub for education innovators and social entrepreneurs reimagining the future of learning. Through mentorship, funding, and community support, we empower bold thinkers to turn their dreams into reality. To date, 4.0 has helped spark and invest in over 1,600 ideas, and our alumni have impacted millions of students and families. We envision a future where our education system meets the needs of every family and improves life outcomes for all.

Have a Pitch to Transform the World?
We’d love to hear from you! Whether you're an educator, entrepreneur, or just passionate about changing education, reach out to share your story, ideas, or feedback. Visit us at https://pitchplayground.com/ and subscribe to Pitch Playground wherever you get your podcasts.

Nicole Jarbo:
Hey, Pitch Playground fans. You've probably been wondering which one of our 10 entrepreneurs won the $50,000. Well, we're here to tell you. Hey, how are you?
Jonathan Santos Silva:
I'm doing good. How are you, Nicole?
Nicole Jarbo:
I'm good. I wanted to just thank you for being on the show. I feel like it wasn't until I listened to your episode that I realized that I know very little about the challenges happening in not just Indigenous communities around, but just rural communities in the country. I was just really glad that you decided to do this and gave us a chance to just learn more about that. Then the other thing I'm supposed to tell you that you have won the $50,000 prize.
Jonathan Santos Silva:
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Thank you. That's so awesome. That's amazing. That's amazing news. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh.
Nicole Jarbo:
Yeah. What are you feeling right now? What's going on in your head?
Jonathan Santos Silva:
I'm overwhelmed in the best way. I feel like the people that I work with, the schools that I serve and the leaders that I work with, they know that rural is its own little unique situation. To be invited to do the show and share it one time with so many people in itself felt like a win, but then now to find out that we won. Man, this is a big deal. It just feels like confirmation that we're doing the right work, affirmation that we're telling a good story. I'm thrilled to be able to use this now to support rural leaders, reservation leaders to transform education. It's awesome. Holy shoot. Holy smokes. My eyes are watering. I'm going to just lay down somewhere and just catch my breath. It's such a dope feeling. It's just appreciation, I guess. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to do this. I'm so appreciative.
Nicole Jarbo:
That's a wrap on season one of Pitch Playground. Thank you so much to all of our participants and mentors this season. Also, thank you for listening and voting. We were overwhelmed by the amount of votes we received. Stay tuned for more Pitch Playground in the future. In the meantime, be sure to sign up for the 4.0 newsletter to keep up to date with education innovation news, and to find out when season two will drop.