Day 2:
Thursday, July 10

Presenter:
Ami Kassar


Small businesses form the core of the US economy, and, with the economic future increasingly less optimistic, this country’s 30 million small businesses need access to the types of resources that will allow them to remain up-to-date on market trends and utilize new, innovative business practices.

Ami Kassar, Chief Innovation Officer at Advanta Bank Corp., noticed the trend of smaller companies becoming more influential and innovative, and decided to create a way for these forward-thinking individuals to share their ideas, receive feedback and fund their projects.

His solution: ideablob.com.

Ideablob.com is an online hub for business ideas. Entrepreneurs can ask for advice, give and receive feedback, and network with a regularly updated panel of guest advisors who are industry experts. Every month the ideablob community votes for the very best business idea currently posted on the site, and the idea with the most votes wins $10,000 from Advanta.

In this session, Kassar will discuss the importance and need for innovative ideas in small businesses.

Attendees of the session will learn:

• How to use non-traditional marketing or guerrilla marketing to publicize their product or service via the Internet.
• How entrepreneurs in the US are pursuing innovative programs and initiatives, as demonstrated by real-world testimonials from past ideablob winners.
• How to incorporate “intrapreneurship”–a person who focuses on innovation and creativity from within an organization in a way that will add value to your companies’ bottom line.

More about Ami
Ami Kassar has been with Advanta since 2001 and has held key leadership roles in the company’s Internet, business development and innovation activities. Prior to joining Advanta, Ami founded shop2give.com, a network of online charity shopping malls. He received an MBA from The University of Southern California and a BA from Brandeis University.