Brandon Kessler

Age: 36

Company: ChallengePost

Year founded: 2008, site launched in June 2009

Site: challengepost.com

What ChallengePost does: ChallengePost is a public marketplace for companies, non-profits, and individuals to create contests and award prize money for solving problems. Once a challenge is created, anyone can join the challenge or pledge money in appreciation.

How he’s changing the game: Kessler, a serial entrepreneur, came up with the idea for ChallengePost after seeing Colin Nederkoorn’s contest to develop software that could run Windows XP on an Intel Mac in 2006. Donations from people interested in using such an application poured in, bringing the cash award to more than $13,000 for winner Jesus Lopez, a San Francisco–based programmer. Last month, Kessler hired Nederkoorn. ChallengePost earns revenue by taking a percentage of the prize money. Kessler’s taking a new approach to fostering innovation. He believes that true problem-solvers are motivated, not just by money, but by intellectual challenge and status. When an individual, company, non-profit, or government agency posts a challenge, developers working on innovations to meet those challenges are rewarded with a cash prize, but also with the intellectual stimulation of the challenge itself, altruistic satisfaction, and social recognition for their ideas on the site.

Recent highlights: Since its launch nearly 10 months ago, 100 challenges have been posted. Two of the biggest challenges earned ChallengePost a lot of attention. NYC Big Apps challenge, issued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office, offered $20,000

in prize money to software developers who could come up with the most useful, inventive, appealing, effective, and commercially viable applications for delivering information from the City of New York’s NYC.gov Data Mine to interested users. The challenge was a way to engage the public on a personal level. As aresult, participants in the challenge created more than 4 million dollars in software and 85 apps that are now available to the public. Currently, ChallengePost is hosting a $40,000 challenge from First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The “Healthy Apps for Kids” project is looking for software developers to design fun and engaging software tools and games that encourage children directly, or through their parents, to make more nutritional food choices and be more physically active.

What’s Next: “The most exciting work is yet to come,” says Kessler. ChallengePost plans on increasing their distribution and working on more challenges with corporate clients.

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