. >> spencer bransome says the advice he got in the idea program about topics like law and accountingnvaluable. >> i get to go out and interact with new individuals, people who are so much smarter than me, take me under their wing and help me out. >> with so many free resources available bramson was able to scale up his company quickly. >> luckily we were profitable after our first six months which gave us the ability to start investigating in our first product. >> while almost no one gets turned away from the door when coming for membership there is a vetting process when it comes to the next level of support. funding. the pitch-a-thon isn't the only chance for them to get money. seven times a year idea gives away up to $10,000 of donated funds per business. >> we call it the gap fund. it needs to close a gap in their business to get them from point a to point b. >> the most appealing part, the money is free. >> they don't have to pay anything back. there is no ip take, no equity take and can you come back more than once and funded up to $25,000 per venture. a small bit to get them t