Quick Pitch: Sprouter facilitates collaboration between entrepreneurs globally. Entrepreneurs can expand networks, discover events, start discussions, and follow topics relevant to their business.
Genius Idea: Think Twitter for entrepreneurs. Instead of answering "what are you doing?" in 140 characters, users answer "what are you working on?" The idea is to connect entrepreneurs with each other based on similar interests and goals.
Sprouter works very much like Twitter. You can share what you are working on or solicit feedback from others. You can search the site to find specific posts (spouts?) about a topic or to find people in your area. Sprouter lets you follow users -- just like Twitter -- and send private messages as long as the user follows you back. You can also create Topics using hashtags, much like the long-established Twitter convention. Unlike Twitter, however, you can follow all mentions of a Topic.
Like Twitter Lists, you can create filters in Sprouter for users that you follow if you want to separate them into categories. Here's a video intro:
The one area where Sprouter breaks from the Twitter mold is with Events. You can create an event in Sprouter, have a designated page and tag related to the event and then create groups that discuss the event. We can see this as being very useful for users who want to organize local meet-ups.
Sprouter is an interesting idea, in that it is essentially a highly specialized version of an already existing service. We wish that there were ways to find out if your friends on other networks were also members of Sprouter -- and it would be nice if there was any indication of mobile support. Part of what makes Twitter so great is that you can update and receive feedback using SMS or mobile apps.
We like the idea of having a specialized service for connecting entrepreneurs but as with any other service, its success will ultimately depend on how many users join and how much value can be created.
Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
