Bradley Ericson, a marketing and entrepreneurship major at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, is one of five finalists in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2009 College Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Ericson is co-founder and CEO of 3SecondReceipts LLC, a company developing a platform to create manageable, itemized digital receipts to replace traditional thermal paper receipts.

Voting for Entrepreneur’s College Entrepreneur of the Year runs now through October 12, 2009. The grand prize includes start-up capital, the cover story of Entrepreneur’s January 2010 issue, and a follow-up article in 2011 about the business’ progress.  To vote, visit www.entrepreneur.com/e2009/vote/college.php#112.

Ericson actually came up with the idea for 3SecondReceipts LLC while dining at Drexel University’s Ross Commons. “I was ordering a slice of pizza with my Drexel meal plan. Being a freshman I had an unlimited meal plan, but was still provided with a printed paper receipt that was supposed to tell me how many meals I had left. This receipt was instantly thrown away," Ericson said, "and I realized there had to be a better way to reduce this paper wastage.” From there, Ericson and his brother, 3SecondReceipts co-founder Timothy Ericson (who is also CEO of CityRyde LLC), spent months researching a better solution to paper receipts and subsequently created their business plan.  

Bradley Ericson is vice president of the Drexel Entrepreneur Association and a member of the Drexel Economics Society, Drexel Marketing Association, Dean's Student Advisory Board, and Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity. He also plays field hockey for Drexel’s co-ed team.