After spending many hours submitting nominations for the coveted TechPoint Mira Awards for our Sprouts, I received many emails of congratulations. Our Sprouts’ hard work had paid off and I felt it was necessary to call and wake Brad up at 1 in the morning to tell him the good news (he may not have thought that was necessary)!

Maybe you haven’t heard of the Mira Awards, so let me take a second to tell you about them and why this is a big deal for many of our Sprouts and for Bloomington’s tech scene. TechPoint helps promote Indiana’s tech sector by supporting the success of tech companies and professionals in the state. They also support the formation, expansion and attraction of tech companies within Indiana. Each year, TechPoint hosts the Mira Awards which recognizes excellence and innovation in technology in the state of Indiana. These awards focus on the important role technology plays in Indiana’s economy. There are 12 different categories. This year there were well over 100 nominations. SproutBox, along with 3 other Sprouts, were all named finalists in different categories! So it’s pretty awesome to be nominated, even more awesome to be selected as a finalist!

This Thursday TechPoint judges will hear from all finalists in a 20 minute interview. Check out the awards we’ve been named finalists for:

It is an honor to be named a finalist and congratulations to our Sprouts! Good luck and let’s bring home those awards!

We want to wish fellow Bloomington tech company, Bloomingsoft, good luck! They have been named a finalist in the category of Health Information Technology Excellence & Innovation Award.

For more information regarding the Mira Awards check out: http://www.techpoint.org/mira.

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Our Sprout Showcase Series is focusing on one of our “Home Sprouts” this week. CheddarGetter is the brain child of SproutBox Co-founder, Marc Guyer. They are the answer to your recurring billing needs! Check out the update on CheddarGetter.

What they are about: Recurring billing system that grows with your company and makes managing your customers easy and painless. This system is a subscription-based management system which makes it easy to accept and track one-time charges and recurring payments.

Interview with Adam Quirk, CMO:

Why did you start this company?
“CheddarGetter was built by SproutBox to handle recurring billing needs of its future Sprouts. After releasing it into the wild in 2010, we realized it was a viable product in its own right and spun it off into its own company.”

What is your company’s biggest accomplishment?
“We have built a profitable company organically by focusing on product first.”

Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs?
” Build something that serves a very focused niche. Move away from home, at least for a few years. Try something new. Carry a notebook.”

Where are you now (location, position of the company)?
“Bloomington. We’re profitable and growing organically. “

Where do you hope to be in the near future?
“We’d like to become the de facto primary billing option for startup software companies.”

What are some fun facts about the company/employees?
“Marc enjoys eating tacos: http://vimeo.com/24789021
Adam enjoys making video remixes: http://wreckandsalvage.com/departments/quirk/”

Make sure to keep updated on CheddarGetter by reading their blog, following them on Twitter, and liking them on Facebook!

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Welcome back to another edition of Sprout Showcase Series. Our showcased sprout, StoryAmp, has its own unique story…

What they are about: A web-based platform to help musicians, record labels, and music publicists connect with journalists. It’s music publicity on cruise control.

Interview with Dmitri Vietze, the founder:

Why did you start this company?
“I’ve been a music publicist for over 14 years. I have watched each segment of the music industry shift dramatically  in the digital age, including music production, retail, distribution, radio, booking and touring, and fan engagement. Music publicity was dangling as one of the areas awaiting its transformation. Once we prove that this new form of publicity works in America, we will expand worldwide. Once we demonstrate its power in the music industry, we will expand to other industries. The PR service field is a multi-billion dollar industry.”

What is your company’s biggest accomplishment?
“- reviews for clients in Rolling Stone, Associated Press, L.A. Times and more
- referral arrangements with four of the largest independent digital distributors of music
- integrations with BandPage Connect, SoundCloud, and Songkick
- company feature story in Billboard magazine (print edition)
- feature stories in CD Baby newsletter to 200,000 artists
- regular coverage in music industry blog Hypebot
- helped publicize Arctic Monkeys, DJ Shadow, Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame), and thousands more”

Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs?
“Read, learn, meet people. Take some risk. Stick with it. When it doesn’t work, try something else.”

What did you get from working with SproutBox?
“In my case, I fully needed the technical expertise of SproutBox. I’m a veteran and specialist in my field. As a pretty advanced user of databases and web services, I knew what our software application should do. But I could not create it alone. By having an vested party handling the initial build of our product and with ongoing product management and scoping, I have a true partner. SproutBox has helped me tremendously keep my scope reasonable, helped keep my long term vision, helped introduce me to people, get me well-versed in areas missing from my experience and vocabulary, and help me navigate some of the basics.”

Where are you now (location, position of the company)?
“We are in slow growth mode. We continue to adapt the product to feedback from both artist/labels and journalists and continue to develop partnerships to bring more artists and content providers into our system. We are about to roll out tools specifically for professionals in the music industry: record labels, publicists, and managers. Once we have those tools in place, we have additional technical integrations scheduled to roll out this year.”

Where do you hope to be in the near future?
“We will not rest until we are the ubiquitous format for press distribution in the music industry. Then we will tackle other industries one by one, created a deeper and more journalist-friendly publicity service than ever before.”

What are some fun facts about the company/employees?
“I was born in Nashville, Tennessee. I went to the Fame High School in New York City as a music major. I got a full tuition scholarship to college for being a rabble-rouser in the streets of New York. I have a jaw harp collection with over 20 “twangers,” as my mother-in-law likes to say when she gets my voicemail. I go through rabid stages of reading business books. Some of my favorites are Good to Great, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and Made to Stick.”

Make sure to keep updated on StoryAmp by  following them on Twitter and liking them on Facebook!

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