SproutBox: an incubator that wants you to make money now

There’s a new organization called SproutBox opening its doors today to startups in search of mentorship and a little bit of funding. In many ways, SproutBox (based in Bloomington, Indiana) can be seen as the next in a line of firms that take the incubation model pioneered by Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator to different parts of the country — a list that includes TechStars in Boulder, Colo., Launchbox Digital in Washington, D.C., Start@Spark in Boston, Mass., and Capital Factory in Austin, Texas. But SproutBox also stands out for its self-proclaimed focus on an even-more-intense-than-usual three-month development period, in which the startups create a revenue-generating product.

That’s rather out-of-line with the conventional wisdom encouraging startups to focus on product first and worry about making money later. So what’s the rush? Here’s what Mike Trotzke, co-founder and managing partner at SproutBox, says in the press release: “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.”

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The team says it developed two services to illustrate its approach and the fact that it’s possible to create a strong product in three months — decision-making tool DecideAlready and subscription management system CheddarGetter. Obviously, the compressed time period limits the kinds of ideas you can work on; SproutBox says the best fits will probably be “simple, focused web-based applications that operate on subscription revenue models,” though other forms of software might work as well. That super-cool gadget, on the other hand? Not so much.

Applications for the first group of startups are due on August 8. Four winners will be selected, and they’ll receive $250,000 worth of services, SproutBox says, plus “just enough cash to enable entrepreneurs to stay focused on creating and marketing their product.”