Thrive Selected as Finalist for Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW

Thrive Selected as Finalist for Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW

Leading Free Financial Management Website JustThrive.com to Showcase Behavioral Budgeting in Innovative Web Technology Category

AUSTIN, Texas, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Thrive (www.justthrive.com), a free personal financial advisory website, has been named a finalist in the Innovative Web Technology category for the inaugural Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW, where early stage technology companies will demo their creations in front of judges and a live audience. Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, Moontoast, Mosso | The Rackspace Cloud, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, more than 200 companies submitted to present at the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW, and 20 were chosen as finalists in four different categories: online video-related technologies, online music-related technologies, social networking, and innovative web applications.

The day-long event will be held Monday, March 16, on the sixth floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton. Thrive co-founders Avi Karnani and Ori Schnaps and Lead Scientist Matt Wallaert will present alongside eight other companies in the Innovative Web Technology category at 11:00 am.

At the event, Thrive will unveil plans for the industry's first behavioral budgeting capability. Rather than simply constructing budgets by using arbitrary dollar amounts, Thrive will analyze user spending and then construct a budget based on real behaviors, like dining out, bar hopping, or shopping for clothes. Behavioral budgeting then adjusts user budgets for both short and long term goals, like buying a new Palm Pre in the spring or saving for a house next year.

Let's imagine the budget tool looks at your credit card bill and sees that you usually eat out about 12 times a month, at an average of $15 per meal. That's $180. Thrive knows that your Palm purchase plan calls for saving $30 this month, so it eliminates two meals and gives you a "bank" of 10 eat-outs. You can position them on the calendar if they are scheduled or, as you eat your way through the month, Thrive will put them on the calendar for you and show them disappearing from your behavior bank.

"Thrive's mission has always been to give you more than charts and graphs that tell you about what you have done. We want to talk about what you can, and should, do. That means actionable advice that you can use to plan and improve your financial behavior, whether we're talking about next month or next year," explained Avi Karnani, Thrive co-founder. "We are honored to be recognized as an innovator at SXSW and even more excited about the opportunity to showcase how behavioral budgeting will help people make sense of their week-to-week spending in order to improve their financial health."

Guy Kawasaki, noted industry luminary and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, and veteran technology journalist Brad King, will co-emcee the showcase. Judges will select a winner in each of the four categories, which will be revealed at 4:55 pm.

"The number and quality of submissions we received for the inaugural Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW is certainly an indicator of the need for an event supporting tech startups vying for their big break, especially when times are tight," explained Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW Coordinator, Chris Valentine. "We're confident that we've chosen a strong group of finalists, and look forward to giving them an opportunity to make their case in front of industry influencers, potential partners and investors."

For more information about Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW and to view the complete list of finalists, visit the following site: http://sxsw.com/interactive/accelerator

About Thrive

Headquartered in New York City and part of the Tree.com (NASDAQ:TREE) family of sites, Thrive is a free financial management website helping you save more and spend less so you can accomplish your goals. We improve your financial health by helping you organize your accounts, understand your behaviors, and get personalized financial advice designed just for you. To start Thriving, go to www.justthrive.com.

About Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW

Scheduled Monday, March 16, from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm on the sixth floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton, the 2009 Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW showcases some of the web's most exciting new innovations, enabling the entrepreneurial visionaries behind these new products to demo their creations in front of a live audience of industry professionals and technology trend-setters. Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW is divided into four categories that demonstrate the various strengths of SXSW - online video-related technologies, online music-related technologies, social networking and innovative web applications.

About the SXSW Interactive Festival Scheduled March 13-17 in Austin, Texas, the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival provides practical how-to information as well as unparalleled career inspiration, bringing together some of emerging technology's most creative thinkers. The event features five days of keynote sessions, more than 200 panels, the SXSW Web Awards, the Interactive and Film Trade Show & Exhibition, the ScreenBurn Arcade, the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW, and dozens of exciting evening events. Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology. For more information on SXSW Interactive, see www.sxsw.com/interactive.

Source: Thrive

CONTACT: Dave Clarke, for Thrive, +1-609-279-0050 x 105, +1-703-819-6507
cell, dave@resoundmarketing.com, or Matt Wallaert, Thrive, +1-610-585-8076,
matt@loudwaterlabs.com

Web Site: http://www.justthrive.com/

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