We’re super psyched to sponsor Boston’s Big IDEA this year!

Boston’s Big IDEA (BBI) is an easy-to-enter, no-strings-attached contest for innovative entrepreneurs to get the word out about their business and win a ton of awesome business-building prizes.

To help support Boston entrepreneurs, we’re offering one year of website maintenance to the winner.

“WhatArmy is a group of collective entrepreneurs – I want to support the local effort as much as we can – and keep Boston relevant,” WhatArmy Founder Chris Merrill said, “In 2009, Y Combinator left for the west coast and was pretty vocal that the reason was lack of startup culture. I think it just needs the constant kick in the ass at the seed level. We don’t have much resources to spare, so throwing my support behind Glenn, who I know cares a ton about this, was our best way of helping.”

Speaking of Glenn – that’s the awesome Glenn Grant, CEO of G2 Tech Group – he chatted with us a bit recently about why he started the contest and what it means to him.

Glenn said he wanted to pay it forward for a community that helped him in his early entrepreneurial stages. He said that when he was adrift in the beginning, he received tremendous support from other entrepreneurs.

Glenn explains that the spirit of the contest is building and supporting the entrepreneurial community in Boston. He envisioned, and made real with the first BBI in 2013 (VerbalCare took home the trophy … literally), a way to help early stage entrepreneurs grow their business without having to jump through a lot of hoops and without any expectations in return.

Along with the low barrier of entry for the contest and no VC-funding-like expectations, the judging criteria is unique, based on:

1. Innovation & Creativity
2. Originality
3. Likelihood of long-term success and scalability
4. Effectiveness in addressing a need in the marketplace
5. Local impact

While we’re on the topic of unique, the prizes are incredible!Everything you need to build your business is included:

• $5,000 cash!
• $10,000 in Amazon Web Services credits from AWS Activate
• One-year membership to FounderSociety.co
• One year of bookkeeping and accounting management from SmartBooks
• Strategic business plan development & executive coachingfrom Crews Coaching Group
• One year of Managed DevOps Accelerator from G2 Technology Group
• One year of website maintenance and support from WhatArmy

Also, ten finalists will receive a one-year Founder Society membership, and there’s something for everyone.

Everyone who enters will receive $250 in credits to Amazon Web Services from AWS Activate.

Glenn stressed that it’s so important to help new startup founders in this way, and to introduce them to other members of the startup community, because they don’t have the capital to hire expensive strategists. This contest and the events surrounding it allow them to “trade notes with other entrepreneurs.”

Some of those other entrepreneurs are the BBI sponsors, most of whom have similar stories and experiences from their early years, and have a lot of valuable advice for those starting out.

Here’s a look at one company that Glenn helped get a great start.

A Bit About VerbalCare

The previous Boston’s Big IDEA winner is amazing (of course). They were just acquired in August and had a launch party on Feb. 5. Here they are on BostInno.

If you haven’t heard of VerbalCare, you should check ‘em out! VerbalCare is a picture-based app that allows any patient to communicate with caregivers. Amazing.

Here’s a YouTube video about their mission.

Now it’s Your Turn!

OK, if you’re not inspired to enter by now, you’re probably not a startup owner. 🙂

If you’re not, share this post with someone who is!

If you are, enter your big idea now for your chance to win!

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