- Ideablob: where ideas grow

Which One of These Business Ideas is Worth $10,000 on Advanta’s ideablob.com?

Category: Inside ideablob | Posted: 02/26/2008

Winner to be Selected by ideablob* Community on February 29

Spring House, PA (February 26, 2008) – Advanta Corp. (NASDAQ: ADVNB; ADVNA) has announced February’s eight ideablob.com finalists for the $10,000 monthly contest prize. They are: Noah Curran, Janice Dotti, Erin Ely, Aaron Fleishman, Sunny Hall, Megan Lopez, Ryan McIntyre and Gunter Pfau.

Launched by Advanta in September 2007, ideablob.com is where small businesses and entrepreneurs can share, compare and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them. The finalists include the top two winners from each of the first three weeks of February, as voted on by the ideablob.com community. In addition, the finalists include two contestants who received the most votes overall from the community since the ideablob.com contest began.

“Seven of the eight finalists this month are people I would consider social entrepreneurs,” said Ami Kassar, Advanta’s Chief Innovation Officer. “It’s heartwarming to see so many entrepreneurs and small businesses coming up with these inspirational ideas to change the world and using ideablob as a springboard to grow them.”

Advanta recently presented Boston’s Naomi Bar-Yam with a $10,000 award as January’s ideablob.com winner. Naomi will use the money to start the Mother’s Milk Bank of New England.

February’s $10,000 contest winner will be the finalist that receives the most votes from the ideablob.com community during the 8-day period that began on February 22 and ends on February 29. The ideablob.com community is free and easy to join. In addition to voting, community members are encouraged to submit ideas or comment, advise and offer feedback on other members’ ideas.

“This month the ideablob community has voted a hard-working, social entrepreneur as its winner,” said Kassar. “As a result of participating in our community, Bar-Yam’s idea has been the subject of hundreds of blogs and she has received a tremendous amount of valuable advice and encouraging comments from fellow blobbers.”

Here is more information about the finalists and their ideas.

Noah Curran, Nashville, TN
Noah is a 20-year-old student at Belmont University. He hopes to grow his popular web-based charity called T.A.G. - Turning Actions into Good. Noah’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/1459-T-A-G-Web-Based-Charity-T-A.

Janice Dotti, Nashville, TN / Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
Janice is a 21-year-old student at Belmont University. Her idea is to open a fair trade, organic coffeehouse in her Texas hometown that sponsors social justice causes. Janice’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/1462-Fair-Trade-Organic-Coffeehouse-.

Erin Ely, Eugene, OR
Erin, 52, is a professional volunteer and the founder of Ely Organics. She hopes to build a permanent indoor farmers market in Eugene. Erin’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/894-Permanent-Indoor-Farmers-Market.

Aaron Fleishman, State College, PA
Aaron is a 23-year-old chemical engineering student at Penn State University. His idea is a laptop-based system that enables children in the developing world to connect with doctors using existing cell-phone infrastructure. Aaron’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/1528-Mashavu-Networked-Health-Solu.

Sunny Hall, Knoxville, TN
Sunny, 30, is a work-at-home mother. She hopes to develop a web site where parents of autistic children can tell their child’s story, including information about their diagnosis and treatment plan. Sunny’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/1290-The-Faces-of-Autism-Website.

Megan Lopez, Nashville, TN
Megan is a 20-year-old student at Belmont University. Her idea is to create an informational web site about how to raise children naturally. Megan’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/1566-Organic-Baby-Changing-the-way-p.

Ryan McIntyre, Chicago, IL
Ryan, 32, is the owner of MedBed, Inc. His idea is to economically reduce the environmental impact of apartment buildings. Ryan’s idea can be found at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/285-Economically-Reduce-the-Environ.

Gunter Pfau, Philadelphia, PA
Gunter, 30, is a social media expert. He hopes to develop valuable and fun applications for a popular social networking web site. Gunter’s idea can be found at at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/946-Stuzo-social-media-applicatio.

Beginning on March 1, 2008, the latest cycle of the ideablob.com contest will begin with all new ideas. February entrants may re-submit ideas for March and subsequent months. The eight finalists who will compete for March’s $10,000 contest prize will be named approximately one month from now.

Please visit www.ideablob.com for more information.

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 University, ideablob.com and ideablob are 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, differentiate 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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