SproutBox Archive

Bloomington, Indiana-based SproutBox has launched this morning and hopes to provide a startup incubator that provides talent and services to the selected startups rather than a cash-investment from a typical angel investor. SproutBox is currently seeking applications and hopes to work with four startups this year. Kevin Makice has a recap of the SproutBox launch event last summer.

The model is a similar but different to the popular Y Combinator incubator. It looks like SproutBox will provide more hands-on management over the startups. Sproutbox notes, “The SproutBox team includes full-time coders, creatives and business experts who provide a range of essential services for start-ups — from software development and marketing to administrative assistance, HR, and accounting.” Basically SproutBox looks like a full-service Web shop that helps to get an entrepreneur’s idea from concept to initial launch while taking an equity stake in the company.

 “The current start-up culture is simply failing entrepreneurs. The traditional model ramps up expenses and de-emphasizes revenue during early stages — meaning these companies must find additional funding just to keep their doors open. And today’s economic climate and severe illiquidity further exacerbate the problem. We founded SproutBox to change this model and remove the obstacles that prevent entrepreneurs from turning their idea into a money-making reality,” said Mike Trotzke, co-founder and managing member of SproutBox.

SproutBox is looking for web-based applications with subscription-based revenue models to work with. The initial timeframe is three months with a three month transition period afterwards. It will be interesting to keep track of how SproutBox does this year with their incubator-model along with their physical location.