"It came to me while sitting in an Airport Terminal..."

(Note: Jeb will be participating in Startup Madness on March 14, 2012)

As freshmen roommates attending Boston College, Tom Coburn and Jeb Thomas knew they wanted to start a business. They had a few ideas, none of which panned out. That summer, they started a business in SEO marketing, which introduced them to the world of online advertising. Witnessing firsthand the pitfalls of CPC advertising, they knew there had to be a better alternative that was more engaging for the user and more cost-effective for the company.

A few months into their sophomore year, Tom traveled cross-country to participate in his Club Golf team's national tournament. While watching an ad in an airport terminal, he came up with the concept that would become the heart of Jebbit - Cost-Per-Correct-Answer (CPCA, for short). Back at BC, he, Jeb, and Chase created a new form of advertising - one that was both fun and rewarding for the user and cost-effective for companies. It launches March 12, and you can check it out here.

18 ACC teams participating in Startup Madness

As a volunteer in rural Peru, Joseph Linzon saw a problem. Residents needed electricity for cell phones, laptops and iPods, but they didn’t have a ready source of power. As he traveled through remote villages on foot, the idea came to him. “As you walk you produce energy – kinetic energy, and I was thinking, “How can I convert this kinetic energy, that’s created with the swinging of a foot and charge a battery?” He’s now awaiting a patent and plans to use his prize to develop a prototype and pay legal fees. He calls his invention the Power Sole – with the slogan, “empowering the powerless, one step at a time.”

Joseph, a student at University of Virginia, is just one of 18 student entrepreneur teams from Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Miami, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest participating in Startup Madness on March 14 in American Tobacco.