LAS VEGAS — Five finalists entered the “shark tank” but only oneemerged as the winner in NACUSO's first-ever Next Big Ideacompetition.

NOWaccount, an accounts receivable merchant service designed forsmall businesses that sell to other businesses or governmentcustomers to potentially provide access to capital for creditunions, was named the winner of the contest.

On Wednesday, Lara Hodgson, president/CEO of NOWaccount inAtlanta, won over the audience, clearly impressing the judges aswell as those attendees who texted in their votes via theirsmartphones and iPads

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Accepting on NOWaccount's behalf Thursday morning at NACUSO'sannual conference was Eric Jenkins, chief operating officer of CUPartner Link, a Duluth, Ga.-based firm that has a partnership withNOWaccount.

With the debut of its Next Big Idea contest, NACUSO said itlooked for innovative ideas that were either at the early stage ofdevelopment that needed investment, those that were ready to bedelivered or implemented and those that would help fuel growth,deal with challenges or help better serve their members or CUSOowners.

The competitors were given eight minutes to present their ideasto the panel of judges, modeled after the reality television show“Shark Tank,” which features aspiring entrepreneurs pitching theirbusiness ideas to a panel of potential investors.

In addition to NOW account, the four other finalists thatpresented during a session late Wednesday afternoon at NACUSO'sannual conference were:

• Hype Kick: a channel that connects merchants with members byoffering special vouchers through mobile and online banking as ameans to generate noninterest income for credit unions.
• Credit Union Exchange Blueprint: a portal for credit unions tohelp members identify the right insurance solutions for theirneeds.
• CU Revest: an arrangement that allows credit unions torecapture value lost in severely delinquent and charged-offconsumer loans and leases, which are then contributed to the CUSOfor units for net cash flow shares.
• JA Bentley & Co.: an online insurance quoting service thatconnects members with up to 60 insurance companies.

At the end of the Next Big Idea presentations, attendees at thesession were asked to text a special code on their mobile phones tovote for one of the five contestants. There was an unexpectedglitch when the votes were initially counted.

NACUSO said while there were approximately 125 attendees whowere present during the contest's presentation more than 300 voteswere received as a result of some who were asking others who hadnot attended to text in their votes. NACUSO said it did a revote onThursday morning and declared NOWaccount the winner.