Online Business Community Celebrates 13th Birthday

August 15, 2008; 08:06 AM

Idea Café (http://www.ideacafe.com), The Small Business Gathering Place®, is celebrating its 13th birthday this week. The website launched on August 15th 1995 in order to provide A Fun Approach to Serious Business™. Since then, Idea Café has established itself as the home of a lively small business community, and earned recognition in national media. As the site enters its teen years, it is slated to benefit from expanded editorial and development teams.

Idea Café is unique in many ways, but the feature that really sets it apart is the cash grants for business ideas. It’s Free, Quick and Easy to Apply for an Idea Café Small Business Grants. The latest grant is scheduled for this fall; you need to submit your business profile to be eligible for participation.

The website attracts an audience of entrepreneurs, who gather together to exchange ideas and get useful advice. Aside from the informal meeting place in the CyberSchmooze forums, Idea Café also provides a collection of administrative guidelines and sample business documentation. Business experts contribute regularly to the site, discussing a variety of topics.

Started by veteran entrepreneur Francie Ward, Idea Café was recently acquired by DevStart, Inc., which manages a number of prime online properties.

“The oldest online resource for small business owners is going to become one of the freshest,” said Darren Tabor, CEO of DevStart, Inc. “We are committed to thoughtfully improving Idea Café  and want to hear from our visitors about which new features they would like to see added to the site.”

About Idea Café  

Idea Café provides an extensive range of free services, well-written articles and other information aimed at helping small businesses get started and succeed. That includes everything from how to start a business and obtain financing, to tips for accounting, marketing, finding and keeping customers, marketing on the Internet, and more. IdeaCafe.com has been online since 1995 and is known for its popular CyberSchmooze forums, where small business owners, startup entrepreneurs and experts share questions, information and provide objective feedback. They have a well-established base of contributing business experts, plus a large base of loyal readers, who rely on them for new ideas and practical help running their businesses.To find out more about Idea Cafe, visit www.ideacafe.com.

About DevStart, Inc.

DevStart, Inc. is a leading online provider of unique content and powerful tools. Attracting a monthly audience of nearly one million unique visitors, with decision makers at its core, our strong portfolio of media properties offer a uniquely collaborative environment for readers, writers, and advertisers. Since 1998, the DevStart Network has been a popular and trusted source of information and resources for webmasters and entrepreneurs. Our major properties include HostReview, PromotionWorld, DomainInformer, and a variety of other websites that cater to webmasters and online business owners. Our experienced staff, unique editorial features, and powerful free tools make the DevStart Network the Webmaster's Homepage.