Startup Junkie To Pitch IdeaFame to Arkansas Innovators

Startup Junkie founder Jeff Amerine

Startup Junkie Consulting of Fayetteville is planning a new pitch competition platform for prospective entrepreneurs and innovators.

The specific details about the platform, IdeaFame, will be announced by Startup Junkie founder Jeff Amerine on Wednesday at the University of Arkansas. Amerine said IdeaFame will be a global platform competition that will have a first prize of at least $10,000.

Competitors will go to the IdeaFame website, upload a 60-second video of their idea and then try to collect votes. The idea with the most votes will win the prize.

Amerine said the entry fee will be $10 per upload, $5 of which will go to the prize pool while the remaining money goes to Startup Junkie.

“It is going to take all the stuff we’ve done in live pitch events and put it onto a platform that will be global and open to worldwide competition,” Amerine said. “The idea is to democratize or expand the access to validating great ideas on a worldwide basis. You’re going to see great ideas [and that] the innovation and entrepreneurships and these platforms don’t have to come from Silicon Valley.”

Amerine said the competition will have safeguards to prevent bot votes from tarnishing the results. Also, IdeaFame will have a set of rules so that the ideas pitched are socially acceptable.

“It has to be an innovation,” Amerine said.

Otherwise, it’s open to anyone with an idea and a video uplink.

“If you speak Mandarin, and you’re sitting in Beijing or Shanghai, upload your video and get a big audience of people around your idea,” Amerine said. “It wouldn’t matter if you’re sitting in Greenland — not Greenland, Arkansas.”

Amerine said the motivation behind IdeaFame is two-fold. The first is to promote innovation and the second is to generate revenue for Startup Junkie so it can continue its free consultation services. Amerine said the idea is a natural evolution after the success of Startup Junkie’s G60 Elevator Pitch Competitions the last five years.

“We want to expand the movement because our purpose is to inspire, educate and improve lives through innovation on a global basis,” Amerine said. “Second thing is, it gives us another way of non-contract, non-grant funding so we can continue with our core offerings. This is a subtle funding mechanism so we can continue to provide all the great services we provide in Arkansas and northwest Arkansas.”