announcement

The voting deadline for the Seventh Idea Cafe Grant was extended by one week, from July 7 to July 13th 2009. The deadline extension will give everyone one last opportunity to vote for their favorite business idea. The winner will be announced shortly after voting closes on midnight, July 13th.

Now that we have selected the finalists (read more about them here and here), voting for the winner of the Seventh Idea Cafe Grant is now open, and will continue until July 7th. Visit the voting page (free registration required).

Today we start presenting our finalists in more detail. Every finalist who sent in answers to our question will be featured on the Idea Cafe blog. Regulars can learn more about the competing businesses, and help us determine the winner with their votes. We will be presenting preliminary results, while voting is underway.

Idea Cafe's editorial team has selected 50 finalists out of the list of semi-finalists, which was announced on May 26th. Congratulations to the finalists, and a sincere "Thank you" to everyone who applied for the seventh Idea Cafe grant! It is always a great experience to go through hundreds of innovative and inspiring ideas; and this is what Idea Cafe grants are all about--inspiration.

Idea Cafe's editorial team has selected the semi-finalists for the Seventh Idea Cafe Small Business Grant. The selection process took into consideration several factors: how viable or interesting the business idea was; how well the entrepreneur described her plans for the future; and what she was willing to give back to the local community. We are thankful to everyone who applied for the grant, because going through the descriptions of hundreds and hundreds of wonderful small businesses was an inspiring and somewhat humbling task. And here they are, the semi-finalists for the Entrepreneurial Spirit 2009 Grant.

The registration period for the Seventh Idea Cafe Small Business Grant closed on May 17, 2009. The editorial team of the site will now begin the preliminary selection of finalists, and voting for the winner will open on June 2nd. The entrepreneur who received the highest number of votes from Idea Cafe Regulars will be officially announced the winner of the Seventh Idea Café Small Business Grant on July 7th.

Here at IdeaCafe we were thinking of possibilities to create new networking opportunities for the thousands of Idea Cafe Regulars. And then it hit us: we can use the existing social platforms! So, you are hereby cordially invited to join Idea Cafe on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Click on the links to join the Idea Cafe community on the respective online service.

Registration for the current Idea Cafe small business grant is ongoing with significant interest on part of small business owners. Entrepreneurs from all across America are submitting their applications. Did you submit yours? It's free.

Recession or not, the spirit of entrepreneurs will continue to be celebrated on Idea Cafe. This is why we announce a new contest, where good business ideas for small business will compete against each other. That is right, the seventh Idea Cafe grant opens this week. We will award $1,000.00 and heaps of free publicity and national recognition to the entrepreneur, who comes on top in the competition against hundreds of other small business owners.

Previously, Idea Cafe's Biz Profiles stayed online for 45 days, but we know that in a tough economy entrepeneurs need promotion and networking opportunities more than ever. This is why the period, during which your Biz Profile will be featured on Idea Cafe, for free, went up from 45 to 90 days.

We sent a short list of questions to the grant finalists, and answers are already being sent back in. In an effort to make the grant campaign a more interesting and visible contest, and to make sure Idea Cafe regulars make an informed decision when voting for the grant winner opens next week, finalists will answer several questions about themselves and their business, in addition to the information they've provided here.

The team here is currently assembling the voting page, and we are preparing for a tight publication schedule with a new batch of presentations published every workday. With regard to the voting page, yes, we are several days bit behind schedule, but, well, please have a little more patience.

If you are a finalist and you did not receive your list of question, please contact us at [email protected] .