• David Ogilvy
  The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

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To celebrate its 10-year anniversary, independent San Francisco ad agency Venables Bell & Partners created a contest, leasing its Union Square offices to a deserving entrepreneur for $10 for the year. The offer was posted on Craigslist and spread via social media, attracting hundreds of applicants — from gaming start-ups to non-profits to Girls Gone Weed to a comedy writer.

After narrowing the pool from hundreds to 60 to 14, the agency settled on three companies to co-habitate with them. These talented and innovative entrepreneurs include: Kalon Gutierrez and Luis Garcia, founders of Schoolbags for Kids, where for every schoolbag sold, one bag with school supplies will be given to a child in need; Patricia Compas-Markman, a CalPoly engineer who invented the DayOne Waterbag™, a reusable personal water treatment device used in disaster relief; and Christian Amundson, an engineer turned filmmaker, who was working out of his wife’s closet before winning the contest.