How did you spend 54 hours of this past weekend? I bet you weren’t as productive as the 40 participants who competed in Startup Weekend Bloomington. About 20 business ideas were pitched Friday night at Ivy Tech. From those 20 ideas, nine progressed into complete business plans, prototypes or actual working products. These ideas ranged from geofencing coupon notifications, or a mobile app for loyalty cards, to a guide to becoming an expert planter, or even a platform enabling you and your friends to create scholarships.

After 54 hours of hard work, the nine companies presented their product to a panel of five judges. The judges deliberated and decided on the winner. Fundships, the winner of Startup Weekend Bloomington, enables people and their friends to create scholarships around causes they care about. You can choose the amount to donate and ask friends to pitch in and then decide who is the most deserving for the scholarship. Fundships makes building a scholarship easy and personal. It makes funding and finding a scholarship simple for both, the funders and scholars.

So what did they win? A million dollars? No, the winning team received development resources from local companies. They also won the chance to compete in Startup Weekend’s Global Battle. Global Startup Battle allows winners from any of the Startup Weekend events that were held in the past two weeks an opportunity to meet leading investors in Silicon Valley and participate in great events worldwide. How do these winners battle it out? Each winning team had 24 hours from the end of the event to upload a 90 second video about their product. From there, the world decides the winner.

How awesome would it be if Fundships, the Bloomington winner, which includes five Bloomington teammates and one teammate from Purdue (he was smart and joined Startup Weekend Bloomington), won the Global Battle?

Here’s what you can do to help:

• Vote for Fundships!
• Like Fundships via Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
• Spread the word about Fundships by signing up for their newsletter and sharing with friends.

A special thanks to Kevin Weaver and Blueline Style and Media Productions for all the hard work that went into making this amazing video:

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Submission deadline is fast approaching, August 8^th to be exact. To help you understand what we’re all about, we turned to a former sprout and successful entrepreneur, James Kappan.

James is the founder of our fifth Sprout, Proposable. This subscription software makes creating, delivering and analyzing web-based sales proposals easy and efficient. Since his months in “the box,” James is successfully managing Proposable, and has a lot to say about how working with SproutBox has helped make his vision a reality.

What made you decide to work with SproutBox to launch Proposable?

Sproutbox offers to fund entrepreneurs based on the quality of the idea presented and the resourcefulness of the entrepreneur.

What was it like going through the application process and selection weekend?

The application process was surprisingly straightforward and fun. It helped me put some more “meat” around the idea I had been thinking about for so long. The weekend was cool, but sort of stressful as you are presenting your idea to a very top-notch group of investors and entrepreneurs. It was great meeting everyone and seeing that Bloomington is a cool town.

How do you feel SproutBox has helped your business in terms of development?

Sproutbox provided everything I needed to make Proposable a reality. From the intense planning sessions to the rapid code writing, the entire team did a stellar job of moving from the idea stage to the working site stage.

What was the atmosphere like in “the box?”

The best way I can describe the box is that it’s like your favorite uncle’s basement. Comfortable chairs, games, food and just enough distraction to make it feel like you’re not at “work”. It’s a great place for collaboration among the team.

How did the SproutBox team support you during the transition process?

They provided guidance and strategy right out of the gate. The transition process was the hardest part of the process, as you now have to actually make your idea make money. This was challenging at first, as the project needs time and development to become a stable platform.

What did you most benefit from working with SproutBox?

I think I benefited most from having so many minds to glean from. I tried to learn as much as I could from each person on the team. I realized the value in having others who think very differently from me.

What advice do you have for those who are interested in working with SproutBox?

Really understand and communicate what pain your idea solves. If you can effectively communicate the pain that your ideas solves, then your idea will sell itself.

If you would like to apply to be our next Sprout, applications are due August 8^th.

Apply at http://www.sproutbox.com/apply

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First of all, thanks to the 250+ people that made it from all over the Midwest (and beyond) to our grand opening event last Friday. We had a blast! There were a ton of people who I know really wanted to check out the space that couldn’t make the event. So I shot this quick video tour of The Box.

Each of the private offices was designed by their occupant. We are running a contest using DecideAlready to determine the favorite of the attendees. We’ll post the results here, so keep an eye out.

Kevin Makice was in attendance and wrote a great recap and snapped some awesome photos you should check out. He also put together this video which gives you a feel for what was going on here Friday night.

While you can get a general idea from the videos and photos– It’s not the same as seeing it. We’d love to give you a tour in person. Just let us know!

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