What is ideablender™?

Founded in 2010, ideablender™ is a social solution development company that connects companies, academic institutions, public sector and non-profit organizations, all looking for breakthrough thinking, with a global network of some of the brightest thinkers solving some of the toughest business challenges. By enabling a highly collaborative and innovative marketplace to solve and work together, the ideablender™ is able to accomplish what was once unthinkable: bringing business solutions from sketch to reality via a social platform. The Idea Blender makes geography and title irrelevant, and thereby, opens new markets for creativity all the world over. ideablender™ started as a non for profit social brainstorming platform in 2009 to address the challenge of how organizations tap into talented individuals and groups of people around the world without constraints.

What are the advantages of using ideablender™?

ideablender™ is an innovative marketplace with an impressive solver community. Our customer service is not all bad either. We help you meet your solution needs with a hassle-free money back guarantee. Most of all using ideablender™ provides you with choice: actual solutions submitted based on your specifications by thousands of people from over 150 countries!

How do I post a challenge?

It's easy, once you have selected the platform that is right for you tell us about your challenge, choose your award amount and the duration of the challenge. When you're all done, we'll ask you to pay for your challenge up front but don't worry, we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

What's the difference between each challenge type?

Rapid Design is an open marketplace challenge platform for any organization type that is looking for ideas and high level solution development. This is a great solution for big thinking or brainstorming new ideas. This challenge platform lets our global network of BRAINIACS engage in creativity while lending their knowledge and experience to a variety of business problems. Brief posting periods mean quicker responses. There's no transfer of intellectual property (IP) - instead, a grant to a nonexclusive license to use the solution submitted is assumed.

Rapid Design challenges are also a great way to become familiar with the power of solution building through open source and crowds without the reliance of outside firms, large fees and tying up your resources in war rooms and meetings.
The challenge period is on average open no more than 3 weeks in duration, mainly self managed between the Challenger and BRAINIAC community with involvement from ideablender™ on an as needed basis or to provide services as requested. Once the challenge period has ended, within 10 business days a final score and evaluation will be communicated via the website. 5 business days after a winner has been selected, the award amount which was escrowed by ideablender™ will be submitted to the winning BRAINAIC(s).
The challenge lifecycle is now closed.

Multi-Stage is an open marketplace platform for any organization type that is looking to solve complex or multi-faceted business, environmental or engineering problems. Detailed designs, proof of concept, plans, deliverables, prototypes, etc are requested to support the ultimate solution. BRAINIACs are given more time to respond with an open challenge timeframe of anywhere between 30 and 120 days. The ultimate cash prizes are larger and start at an entry level of $2,500 which takes into account the commitment from a time and resource perspective required to work on these challenges.

Our process consists of multiple rounds (2 or sometimes more) that may start with a concept request that lays the foundation for stage 2 which may be the detailed design for the outcome. An additional stage may be desired by the Challenger to drive deeper outcomes and will be determined during the on-boarding and launch period.
Multi-Stage challenges come equipped with many options to drive diversity of solution development and overall collaboration without borders. Examples are private team room where our global BRAINIAC community can collaborate across continents and work together on providing the best overall solution, influence boards and social media integration.
Multi-Stage challenges are built to provide an open social environment without substituting or cutting corners on the rigor and experience needed to think through solutions from many levels while incorporating a sketch to reality outcome.

Private, Invitation Only. This feature is available for both Rapid Design and Multi-Stage challenges and allows you, the Challenger to select you're "A team" based on browsing the BRAINIAC Bios, working with ideablender™ to recruit the appropriate resources and then sending an invite for them to participate in the challenge. The challenge will still be viewable to other BRAINIACs but they will only be able to participate if invited by the Challenger. That does not mean the BRAINAC cannot send a message to that Challenger to request to be included.

We have worked on many challenges in consulting firms and on the corporate side of the equation and the one important element that is always missing are to be able to select the team you want on the challenge or the team you would like to work with. It's kind of like GYM class as a kid when you are selecting the team for kick ball and you control your own destiny with the folks on your team. We think of it as the same concept.
Benefits - diverse teams without borders, Challengers control the process and communication flows to a smaller group, cost savings, collaboration, free up your resources to work on other tasks, ability to find a new outside resource to work on your challenges.

CLUSTER³. Good ideas that lead to great solutions can come from anywhere in an organization. The issue becomes how to cross pollinate those ideas into a cohesive opportunity to impact change. Our platform called CLUSTER³ (community collaboration TO GET IDEAS OUT OF HEADS AND INTO THE WORLD) is hosted in the cloud and provides a medium for all facets of maximizing growth opportunities harnessed by the power of social collaboration. Some of the features included are:

Employee collaboration, knowledge space for sharing, branding and awareness through social media management, influence boards, challenge and task management, forums for open brainstorms, private team rooms, open source challenges, BRAINAC integration, mobile capabilities, lessen reliance on outside help just to name a few. CLUSTER³ is an effective way of harnessing the intellectual power of your best and brightest people without borders to solve problems of importance. Sometimes it's a great place just to get people to talk. Because many companies are large and distributed, and because people move from job to job within an organization, it can be difficult to harness all of the knowledge within your employee base. Everyone in your organization can work together whether they are four cubicles, four states or four continents away from each other.
Our software as a service model creates an open forum through a customized, secure Web portal. Employees know they will be rewarded for contributions that lead to solving your toughest challenges. Leveraging all of your company's talent is at the heart of this solution.

What is different from the traditional methods?

Cost is a fraction of traditional in house or outsourced efforts.
Employ hundreds, thousands, and even millions of creative minds to collaborate with and work toward a common goal.
Individuals who may not know all the facts or data surrounding a problem may actually generate more creativity, thereby arriving at better solutions.
Not limited by company constraints or organizational policies.
Rewarded on a per-solution basis rather than through a standard salary or hourly rate.
Very Collaborative - new national and global business partners.

What can you do on ideablender™ without signing up?

You can take a browse through challenges (some do require you to be a registered user and invited), check our videos and read all help content. Finally, you can subscribe to our newsletter. Why watch from the sidelines? Come join and participate.

How do you sign up as a BRAINIAC?

Registration takes about 30 seconds and is free! Simply click the register button at the top of the ideablender™ screen. Next, you'll receive an activation email (look for it in your spam or junk folder if you cannot find it in your inbox). Just click the link in the email and you're good to go! Your activation email is may be hiding in your spam or junk folder. If you still can't find it, don't worry: just contact us and we'll activate your account for you. You also might want to add ideablender™ to your list of trusted contacts.

How can you change your email, username or password?

Sometimes you just need a new look. To change your password, simply login, click your dashboard and it should be pretty self-explanatory from there.

What payment methods can I use to pay for my challenge?

Choose your payment method between these three convenient options: major credit cards (Amex, MasterCard, Visa, Discover), PayPal or good ol' checks.

Will my purchase be secure?

We protect your sensitive information with industry leading security practices.

How/when do I get paid for a challenge I've won?

After the Challenger chooses a winner(s), typically 10 business days after the challenge closes, your payment is processed within 10 business days.

What will it cost me to be a BRAINAIC on ideablender™?

There is never a charge to BRAINAICs! It is absolutely free to register and you will not be charged any fee or commission when you win an award.

Are Challengers able to modify their challenge and change the scope?

Challengers can update their challenge and change the scope, only if there is a global communication to the participants and it is within the timeframe designated in the challenge prior to launch. If there is any issues with transparency of information in terms of scope changes, then ideablender™ will intervene and either assist in the communication or make sure the original scope is followed.

Does ideablender™ have specific policies to protect intellectual property rights?

Yes. ideablender™ has written policies designed to protect intellectual property. ideablender's Challenger, BRAINIAC and Terms of Use prohibits people from self dealings and selling, reproducing, modifying, displaying or using the content found on ideablender™.com - without the express written permission from the owner of the work.

Who owns the intellectual property for the work submitted by BRAINAICs on ideablender™?

Under our agreements, the BRAINAIC who submits their work to a challenge on ideablender™ at all times owns the intellectual property rights to their original work. Of course, if their work includes work of third parties, those third parties would retain ownership to their own work.

Once a Challenger selects their favorite solution by "awarding" the challenge to a BRAIANIC(s), the Challenger would pay the BRAIANC(s) and the rights to that work transfer to the Challenger as outlined in the agreements. The terms of the agreements for the challenge are published in the details of the challenge and are available for everyone to review before they decide whether to participate in a challenge. The intellectual property does not transfer to a Challenger until the winning BRAINIAC is paid. Those BRAINACs whose work is not selected continue to own full rights to their work, and we make it very clear to Challengers (in the Agreements) - they acquire full rights only to the work they've selected and only after the BRAINIAC(s) are paid.

What rights does ideablender™ receive to the works that are submitted to challenges?

ideablender™ is given limited rights to the work - similar to the rights people give to YouTube, Facebook and other services so that the work can be published on the site. When users submit work to ideablender™, they give us a "non-exclusive.

What should you do if you forgot your password?

Fear not! You can retrieve your password from the login screen. If you're still running into trouble, please contact us and we will solve this for you.

Can I set the duration of my challenge?

When you post your challenge, you decide how long it will run for. Rapid Design challenges run on average 3 weeks and Multi-Stage run between 30 days minimum and 120 days maximum.

What other products or services does ideablender™ offer?

Open Marketplace

Rapid Design
Multi-Stage
Cluster³
Private / Invite Only

Consulting

Business and Innovation
Marketing, Communications and Social Media

get FEATURED
Blender On-The-Go!
Blender Stores
@#Knowledge
Affinity Programs

How can I extend my challenge duration?

You can't change the end date of a challenge once it has been posted. We do this to protect BRAINAICs who often are planning their own work schedules around your challenge and others. If you do wish to extend your challenge, please contact us so we can discuss this with you.

Can I update or edit my challenge after I post my challenge?

Generally speaking, we don't want people to modify the original content in their challenge but we understand this happens, as the world around us changes daily. If you need to edit the main body of your creative brief for some reason, contact us with your changes and we'll edit it for you.

Why isn't my challenge getting as many entries as others?

All challenges on ideablender™ are different and BRAINIACs are free to choose which challenges to participate in. There are many possible reasons why yours isn't getting as many entries. The most common one is how active you are in managing it; are you giving feedback to your BRAINACs? Are you inviting BRAINIACs through social media or Invite only to participate in your challenge? Is the scope of your challenge clear and understandable? Is your award amount enough? These are all things you might want to consider when viewing the volume of entries in your challenge.

How do I manage my challenge?

The entire challenge is fully managed right on our site and we give you the tools to make this easy like Open Workbench. You can easily sort or filter the entries as they come in, provide feedback and send public or private messages, create updates to your challenge brief, upload files to share with the participating BRAINACs, ask your for Influence and much more.

How does ideablender™ work?

Organization is looking for a solution to be developed, implemented or maybe just wants some high level ideas.
You have 3 choices - look internal, seek out a consulting firm or kill the challenge all together.
None seem appealing, then work with us.
Browse our platform and get to know how everything works.
Then, select the challenge that's right for you.
We can help as much or as little as you would like.
Then... Launch!
BRAINIACs from all around the world can view your challenge.
Now the fun, this is where interested people in your challenge - collaborate, open private team room, create solutions, chatter amongst the crowd, ask questions and solve.
Social Media integration - open more people up to the challenge.
Solution development and finalization - can be 1, 2 or 3 stages.
Challenger + BRAINAC's + ideablender™ = Scoring / Evaluation + INFLUENCE!
A solution is designed.
Cash Award
IP transfers
Process Ends
It is free of charge to the BRAINAICs.
The Challenger pays the listing fee, and a 15% commission upon the award to ideablender™ for managing and contributing to the overall challenge.
ideablender™ offers additional services that are layed out under each challenge when starting out.

What is the challenge Center?

The challenge Center is a space where ideablender™ enables people to chatter and solve business issues for financials award.

What is a Challenger?

Any organization type or individual that is looking for collaboration and outside assistance.

What is a BRAINIAC?

Anyone in the world is a BRAINIAC - a consultant, a teacher, a doctor, a chef; anyone that is seeking out a better way of doing things and putting that into an executable outcome is a BRAINIAC.

How do I register?

To register, simply click the Sign Up link at the top of the page and complete the registration form. After you complete the registration form, you will receive an e-mail confirming your registration. You can then go back and fill in any additional information, update your bio or upload an avatar to represent yourself.

What is "influence"?

Influence is real-time contribution from the global BRAINIAC community in terms of scoring and evaluating solutions built for the challenge. BRAINIACs are selected that are not part of the actual challenge but have relevant expertise or potential contributions to the overall. You can earn influence dollars that translate into BLENDER BUCKS and are both redeemable on demand or placed in your account for future spending purposes.

You can earn influence participating in a challenge that has INFLUENCE as a feature.

Each challenge that has INFLUENCE included will have 10% of the challenge award value set aside for the INFLUENCE board to split upon award transfer to the winning BRAINIAC. The value does not impact the overall award amount to the BRAINIAC and is paid directly by ideablender™.

What types of challenges exist?

Concept. Are you a big thinker? Do you like to brainstorm and find new ideas, new paths to solutions? The concept challenge lets you lend your imagination, creativity and knowledge to a variety of problems.

Implementation. Detailed description, models, write up and you are asked to present physical evidence that yours is the best solution. You're given more time to respond, and the cash awards are larger to reflect the greater commitment required to work on these challenges. Longer posting periods allow you time to generate data needed to support your proposal.

RFx. If your organization provides contract services, then let us bring Request for Proposals (RFPs) right to your desktop. Search the ideablender™ RFx challenges, and submit proposals that detail how your organization best fits the skills and experience that the Challenger wants. Unlike the other challenges where a cash award is granted for the winning solution, eRFP winners negotiate the terms of the contract directly with the Challenger.

What is a challenge room?

ideablender™ has created a secure space for collaborating and forming cohesive teams "challenge team rooms"; where BRANIAC's can access the secure and confidential communication forum and space pertaining to a particular challenge. In the challenge room, you can review the challenge details, submit your solution proposal, ask questions, and receive answers confidentially. To open a challenge room, you must be a registered user on our site.

How do I withdraw an entry?

You can withdraw your entries from a challenge at any time before the challenge closes.

What are the core disciplines represented on our site?

Marketing &Sales (example: branding, loyalty, sales force effectiveness)
Information Technology (example: strategy, transformation)
Operations (example: supply chain, procurement, cost efficiency)
Finance (example: strategy, financial mgmt, budgeting and reporting)
Organization (example: org design, change mgmt)
Strategy &Planning (example: business unit planning, product portfolio mgmt)
Risk (example: corporate, business unit, product)
Vertical Markets (example: industry expertise needed)
Globalization (example: operating in foreign markets, growth opportunities, day to day survival)
Corporate Development (post merger integration, growth, et al)
Innovation (example: culture, measurement

After I submit a solution, how much time does it take to be notified of the results?

It depends. Typically final scoring is done within 10 days after the close of the challenge. You will be notified if your submission is accepted or rejected. Where available, we also include detailed feedback from the Challenger about your submission.

How do I earn cash?

Win A challenge = $$
Refer a friend who launches a challenge = $$
Become an influencer = $$
Get Involved = $$
Become a Partner = $$

How do I know these challenges and awards are legitimate?

ideablender™ only posts challenges and awards from highly reputable companies and not-for-profit organizations. We make sure everyone is treated fairly. We pride ourselves on the trust we have built up with both our loyal clients.

How do I set up a Team Room and invite others to join?

Setting up a Team Room is a simple process. First, create a team. Second, click on the "Create a Team Room" button in the challenge's details page. The person who launches the team room will be designated a the challenge manager and will be responsible for coordinating the deliverables and final responses.

What is Open Workbench?

In managing and contributing to challenges and challenges, people feel frustrated by how much time is spent trying to stay on the same page with everyone (making sure teammates have the information they need, figuring out what everyone's working on, clarifying priorities, ...) and doing "work about work" (progress report emails, meetings, etc). Our org has tried them all - email, wikis, whiteboards, Microsoft challenge, Google Docs, you name it, and we feel that our workbench is great at keeping everyone synched up and on the same page to manage a challenge or the solution execution after the challenge is developed. challenge management is a beachhead into solving a larger set of organizations' information management needs. Today people use separate tools for each kind of data they manage: applicant tracking, CRM, support ticket management, discussion threads, bug tracking, etc., but also one-off spreadsheets.