Penn State senior wins $10,000 Ideablob competition

University Park, Pa.  – For the second time this year, a startup business idea generated at Penn State has won a national competition for the nation's best small business idea.
 
Smeal College of Business senior Matt Allison won the April contest on Ideablob.com for his startup idea to produce a portable, electronic athletic training device. Representatives from Ideablob.com presented Allison with a $10,000 check on Thursday, May 8, in the Atrium of Smeal's Business Building.
 
Allison's concept for a portable personal trainer is currently in development. It would allow users to download workouts from a Web site and then display progress charts, advice for future workouts, and daily nutrition information. The Web site also will function as a social networking site for users.
 
In March, a team led by Penn State chemical engineering senior Aaron Fleishman won the Ideablob.com competition for their idea called "Mashavu: Networked Health Solutions for the Developing World," which allows medical professionals to e-adopt children from the developing world through the use of modern communications technology.

Ideablob.com is an online community that allows small business owners and entrepreneurs to share their business ideas in exchange for feedback, advice and votes from the community. Advanta, one of the nation's largest credit card issuers in the small business market, awards a $10,000 monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by votes of the Ideablob community.

Khanjan Mehta, a faculty member in the College of Engineering, served as an adviser to both winning ideas.