The Ultimate Challenge from Microsoft will reward a small business demonstrating the most innovative business idea with cash and a rent-free spot somewhere in Manhattan for a year.

I can tell you what I would do with the prize from the Ultimate Challenge contest being hosted at the IdeaWins contest site. Invest the cash, sell the infrastructure supplies and software, invest those gains, and sublet the storefront space for some pure profit goodness.

I'll call the business DavidRollsLikeThat.com, and do personal appearances on TV and vlogs to explain my business strategy. Two minutes of your life, a personal appearance fee for me each time. Ka-ching!

Effective? Probably. Innovative? Not really; buying low and selling high has been a marketplace fixture ever since the first person grunted to another that he would trade a pretty rock for a properly sharpened stick.

Microsoft hopes for a singularly promising proposal as they accept proposals (better ones than mine at least) from hopeful entrepreneurs. Those have to be submitted at the contest site by January 31st, 2007, or in person at one of several Ultimate Challenge events Microsoft plans to have at sites throughout the US.

Four finalists will be culled from those entrants. The top rated finalists will be judged by their merits, and the public will get to contribute to the process by voting for their favorite proposal. Whichever one receives the most votes has points added to the totals from the judges' voting.

The IdeaWins contest has been established as a promotion for Microsoft's free Office Accounting Express 2007. The product represents their entry into the home-based and early-stage business segment that might turn to software like Intuit's QuickBooks Simple Start for their needs.

Ideally Microsoft can convert some users of the Express package to move up to more feature-rich versions of its premium small business software packages, which include accounting, CRM, and other for-pay products.

Accounting Express 2007 can be downloaded with a free license from the IdeaWins website, for Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista systems.

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Tags: Microsoft, IdeaWins

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