Van Lukassen is a tech-savvy entrepreneur with a passion for helping people preserve priceless memories with his business, Rocky Mountain Video Services. He has an altruistic heart and wants to use his knowledge to help customers restore and transfer home videos to a more future-proof technology like DVDs or Flash Drives.
Hailing from Montrose, Colorado, Van has been a movie buff for as long as he can remember. When he was younger, he thought he wanted to be a filmmaker, but found a bigger passion as he grew up: preserving at-risk media.
“Most people don’t know this, but VHS and Betamax tapes decay more and more, and with enough passage of time, there will no longer be any working machines to play back important home movies or historic events,” he shared. “That’s why I’ve decided to try and preserve as much analog media as I can.”
Van first started learning about video transfer and restoration by borrowing some of his favorite 1980s movies from the library and making higher-resolution copies. He soon realized with his skillset he could help other people hold onto priceless memories captured on video, and Rocky Mountain Video Services was born.
It is important for people’s home movies to be backed up to a more secure medium, since VHS tapes are rapidly starting to deteriorate, and the machines that can still work to play them are failing more and more each day.
He started out by restoring and transferring his own home videos, before taking on projects from friends and family. He signed up for Celebrate EDU classes and worked hard to develop a business plan and identify what sets his business apart from others like it. He explained, “My business provides a lower service cost, and higher-quality video than other similar companies can produce.”
He applied for and received a Celebrate EDU Microgrant in early 2022 and is excited to take his business to the next level. With his funds, he will be creating a website, purchasing equipment, and setting up a Facebook page where customers can connect with him and ask questions.
We’re looking forward to seeing Van’s business grow and can’t wait to see what he does next.