- Ideablob: where ideas grow

Lee Fox, Founder of KooDooZ.com, This Week's Guest Advisor

Category: Guest Advisors | Posted: 08/25/2008

We are pleased to introduce Lee Fox as ideablob.com’s guest advisor for the week of August 25, 2008. Fox is a passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist. Her experience spans the entertainment, technology and new media sectors where she has taken title as CEO (mobile/wireless); VP of Marketing (professional services); Content Creator (TV writer / Brand Management Producer), and Board Member (currently Chair of AeA LA Council, the nation’s largest non-profit tech association).

Mother of three, coach and active humanitarian, Fox has focused the last two years on the development of KooDooZ.com, an internet youth property whose mission is to teach kids (9-15yrs) how to turn every day challenges into lifelong achievements by providing the methodology and opportunity to become valued change-makers.

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Jeff Jones

Category: Guest Advisors | Posted: 08/20/2008

We'd like to introduce Jeff Jones as ideablob.com's guest advisor for the week of August 18, 2008.

Jones is the Program Director for MicroMentor, a nonprofit web community connecting entrepreneurs with volunteer business mentors and advisors.

MicroMentor's mission is to build businesses that increase economic activity and employment opportunities in low and moderate income communities.

MicroMentor is a pilot program within Mercy Corps' Social Innovations division. Mercy Corps is a non-profit, humanitarian agency that implements community-led and market-driven programming in over 35 developing countries.

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Organic Vending Machine Venture Wins $10k

Category: Winning Announcement | Posted: 08/11/2008

Utah Resident Wins National ideablob.com^® Contest for July's Best Small Business Idea

Elizabeth Dehart is striving to eliminate obesity in the classroom; ideablob's $10,000 prize will help her start a vending company that provides organic snacks to school kids

http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/2776-Organic-Food-Vending-machines-f

SPRING HOUSE, Penn., August 11 , 2008 — Advanta Corp. (NASDAQ: ADVNB; ADVNA) announced today that Elizabeth Dehart of West Jordan, Utah is the July winner of ideablob.com’s monthly contest for the best small business idea, as voted on by the ideablob community.

Dehart’s venture, Healthy Vending Solutions, seeks to offer children healthy, organic food options by making them available in school vending machines. Her initial goal is for kids to have access to healthy food alternatives in Salt Lake City area schools, and she hopes to expand the healthy vending machine concept to airports and hospitals throughout Utah and beyond.

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“Have you ever been somewhere where your food choices were confined to starchy, fatty or sugary foods, when what you really want is a piece of fruit or something healthy?” asked Dehart. “That’s the problem I’m trying to solve. I would love for people – especially kids – to have healthy choices.”

Dehart, the mother of two young children, plans to use the $10,000 prize money to purchase vending machines and locate them in middle and high schools in the Salt Lake City area. She will begin by contacting several organic wholesalers.

“We’re pleased that our latest winner is someone who’s fighting a growing problem affecting so many children in the United States,” said Ami Kassar, Advanta’s Chief Innovation Officer. “The ideablob prize money will help launch her project and make a difference in her community and beyond.”

Ideablob.com is a vital online community where tens of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs actively share business ideas, feedback, advice and support. In addition, experts from various industries take part in weekly ideablob discussions, offering their input on ways that burgeoning entrepreneurs can hone and implement their ideas.

Advanta, one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market, awards a $10,000 monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes of the ideablob community. In recent months, Advanta has awarded the monthly prize to software developers, non-profit leaders and several social entrepreneurs.

To review the ideas submitted by past ideablob winners, please visit www.ideablob.com.

There is no purchase necessary to enter the ideablob.com^® Contest. Contest began on 9/24/07 at 12:00:00 am CT and ends on 9/30/08 at 11:59:59 pm CT. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. who are of the legal age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry. Void where prohibited. Official Rules are available online at www.ideablob.com. Sponsored by Advanta Bank Corp., PO Box 30715, Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0715. Ideablob and ideablob.com are registered service marks owned by Advanta Bank Corp.

About Advanta
Advanta is one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market today. Advanta’s exclusive focus on this market, as well as its size, experience, and commitment to developing meaningful product offerings and a high level of service tailored to the needs of small businesses, differentiates the company from other issuers. Founded in 1951, Advanta has long been an innovator in developing and introducing many of the marketing techniques that are common in the financial services industry today. Learn more about Advanta at www.advanta.com.

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08/24

Media Contacts

Jennifer Sherlock

Manager, PR and Events

215-444-5592

jsherlock@advanta.com

David M. Goodman

Vice President, Communications
215-444-5073
dgoodman@advanta.com

MWW for Advanta

Nina Forman

MWW Group

310-471-1996

nforman@mww.com

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Jeremy Ames

Category: Guest Advisors | Posted: 08/11/2008

Jeremy Ames Featured as ideablob.com Guest Advisor

What: Jeremy Ames is the executive editor and CEO of NuWire, Inc. NuWire, through NuWireInvestor.com, provides news and information on real estate investment and other forms of alternative investing.

Ames will be sharing his expertise as ideablob.com’s featured guest advisor during the week of August 11, 2008.

Where: www.ideablob.com

Who: Ames has built a career around service-based businesses for investors. In addition to founding NuWire, Inc., he co-founded an investment-focused real estate brokerage and a financial services firm specializing in self-directed investing (Guidant Financial Group, Inc.).

In 2007, he received recognition as the Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

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Articles

Category: Newsroom | Posted: 08/08/2008

Deseret News 08/21/08 Healthy vending options on the way for Wastach Front

MSNBC 08/12/08 Are Entrepreneurial Contests Worth it?

Salt Lake Tribune 07/31/08 Utahn's bright idea wins $10,000

Atlanta Journal Constitution 07/28/08 Grant Lets teacher share love of stargazing with kids

Boston.com 07/24/08 Going to bat for mom

Patriot Ledger 07/21/08 Entrepreneur Practices What He Preaches

Boston Herald 06/22/08 Recycling goods just comes natural

Wall Street Journal 6/17/08 Finding New Business Ideas

Boston.com 6/1/08 The Story of My Start-Up

Wall Street Journal 5/22/08 Winning Cash and Notice: A Business-Contest Roundup

WTAJ-TV 5/08/08 PSU Students with Great Ideas Get $10,000

Centre Daily Times 5/07/08 Penn State Student Wins $10,000 for Best Small Business Idea in National ideablob.com(R) Contest

Penn State Live 5/07/08 Smeal senior wins $10,000 Ideablob competition

The Daily Collegian 03/27/2008 Group Receives Funding

Wall Street Journal 01/18/2008 Brainstorming for Dollars

BusinessWeek 10/19/2007 Planning for a Crush of Startups

SmartMoney 10/15/2007 Starting Up: Entrepreneurs Try Virtual Focus Group

Motley Fool 09/27/2007 Advanta Weaves Web 2.0

USA Today 9/26/2007 Latest gadgets come alive in quirky Demo show

Inc. Advanta Launches Ideablob.com

Mashable.com 9/26/2007 Ideablob is a Place to Grow Your Ideas

901am 9/24/2007 Share your business ideas and win $10,000 at ideablob.com

San Jose Mercury News: “DEMOfall 07: End of the day post, after an outage"

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Blogs

Category: Newsroom | Posted: 08/07/2008

Eating Fabulous 08/22/08 Healthy Vending Machines

Entrepreneur.com 08/15/08 Aptly Named ideablob

So what can I do? 07/28/08 Grant Lets teacher share love of stargazing with kids

Manifesto 07/28/08 Check out ideablob

DavisSCohen 07/28/08 Stars in our eyes

The Chic Entrepreneur 07/28/08 Advanta's Ideablob Helps Launch Women Entrepreneurs

NewsOnWomen 07/27/08 Personal Experiences Lead to Business Ideas

ReadingEagle.com 07/22/08 Matt Allison's idea is getting a workout

The M.A.P Maker 07/14/08 9 ways to help people to help you

HaveFunDoGood 06/27/08 You Could Win $10,000 for Your Do-Good Business Idea

Netbanker.com 06/27/08 Small Business Networks

News on Women 06/27/08 Eight Women Sprint to the Finish Line on ideablob.com

VerdaVivo 06/25/08 Website of the Day: Ideablob

Wall Street Journal Blog 06/17/08 Four Ways to Find Your Next Business Idea

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Dick Larkin

Category: Guest Advisors | Posted: 08/04/2008

Dick Larkin Featured as ideablob.com Guest Advisor

What: Dick Larkin, also known as The Small Business Commando, helps small businesses improve their marketing and customer relationships through online marketing.

He will be sharing his expertise as ideablob.com’s featured guest advisor during the week of August 4, 2008.

Where: www.ideablob.com

Who: Larkin publishes the "Small Business Commando News," an electronic newsletter directed toward small business marketing issues. He is currently the Executive of Strategic Partnerships for Spot Runner, a technology-driven advertising services company whose mission is to actively revolutionize the way advertising is created, targeted, bought and sold.

Larkin was formerly President and co-founder of Weblistic, an online marketing firm acquired by Spot Runner in 2008. Larkin specialized in local search engine marketing, video creation and saturation, and mobile advertising.

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Prior to joining Weblisitic, Larkin was publisher of WorldPages.com, a top Internet Yellow Pages directory that was acquired by Yellow Book in a $1.5 billion buyout.

He was also Vice President of Sales and Marketing for GTE Interactive Media.

Larkin earned his CPA and CFP designations from Deloitte and Touche, and has a business degree from the University of Notre Dame.

When: During the week of August 4, Larkin will be available to provide expert advice about online marketing. He has developed and managed local online marketing for more than 200,000 businesses.

Why: Ideablob.com is a vibrant and active community where small business owners and entrepreneurs are sharing business ideas in exchange for feedback, advice and votes from the community.

Advanta, one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market, awards a $10,000 monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes of the ideablob community.

This is a unique opportunity for business owners and entrepreneurs to pose serious business questions to a seasoned professional. It’s just one example of the innovative ways that ideablob and Advanta are helping small business owners and entrepreneurs realize their dreams.

Contact: David Goodman Jennifer Sherlock

Vice President, Communications PR Manager

Advanta Advanta

215-444-5073 215-444-5592

dgoodman@advanta.com jsherlock@advanta.com

There is no purchase necessary to enter the ideablob.com contest. Contest began on 9/24/07 at 12:00:00 am CT and ends on 9/30/08 at 11:59:59 pm CT. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. who are of the legal age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry. Void where prohibited. Official Rules are available online at www.ideablob.com. Sponsored by Advanta Bank Corp., PO Box 30715, Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0715. Ideablob and ideablob.com are registered service marks of Advanta Bank Corp.

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