History and Founding
Last Updated (Saturday, 18 October 2008 19:10) Written by Administrator Friday, 06 June 2008 21:06
In 2001, we had emerged from the technology bubble and 9/11 and were struggling as a nation and a business community to make sense of our future. At the time I was with a start up that had ridden the wave up and down during that season. We had marketed our way through a mine field of challenges, repositioned ourselves, latched on to significant technology movements and garnered more than our fair share of attention in the press. Yet we were still struggling to sell a product.
The problem I would learn one day, was that our product didn’t work as promised. We had the marketing and messaging down, but we didn’t have a product that lived up to the story. It was at this same time that I learned of countless other companies in Utah that had tremendously innovative and powerful products with little to no marketing expertise behind them. I was talking with a number of venture capitalists who were complaining about the lack of marketing expertise they were experiencing. They didn’t trust that what was being done with their money was the right thing to move their products.
Thus the concept for Sprout was born. Instead of working for one company at a time as VP of Marketing and watching other companies languish due to lack of marketing prowess, I would found a company that could market for a number of companies simultaneously. I met with numerous VCs in the local market who gave input on the business structure: it had to be light enough to not place a financial burden on the companies for which we worked, yet robust enough to be able to actually deliver the marketing that was architected. We decided not to follow the agency model, hiring teams of creative and tactical talent, but to hire former directors and VPs of marketing who could direct several companies at one time, and to hire experts in areas such as the Internet, Public Relations and Market Research. Then, to build a company that would not seek to keep the talent holed up in an office, but out in the trenches with clients, working alongside them day to day.
Thus the Sprout model began to take shape. Working alongside organizations, as the surrogate marketing department, the Sprout team has assisted more than 100 companies who either can’t afford or can’t find full time marketing help. Many of these companies have great product ideas, compelling business models and smart market timing. They simply don’t have the skill to roll together a marketing program that produces results in the way of revenue.
The problem I would learn one day, was that our product didn’t work as promised. We had the marketing and messaging down, but we didn’t have a product that lived up to the story. It was at this same time that I learned of countless other companies in Utah that had tremendously innovative and powerful products with little to no marketing expertise behind them. I was talking with a number of venture capitalists who were complaining about the lack of marketing expertise they were experiencing. They didn’t trust that what was being done with their money was the right thing to move their products.
Thus the concept for Sprout was born. Instead of working for one company at a time as VP of Marketing and watching other companies languish due to lack of marketing prowess, I would found a company that could market for a number of companies simultaneously. I met with numerous VCs in the local market who gave input on the business structure: it had to be light enough to not place a financial burden on the companies for which we worked, yet robust enough to be able to actually deliver the marketing that was architected. We decided not to follow the agency model, hiring teams of creative and tactical talent, but to hire former directors and VPs of marketing who could direct several companies at one time, and to hire experts in areas such as the Internet, Public Relations and Market Research. Then, to build a company that would not seek to keep the talent holed up in an office, but out in the trenches with clients, working alongside them day to day.
Thus the Sprout model began to take shape. Working alongside organizations, as the surrogate marketing department, the Sprout team has assisted more than 100 companies who either can’t afford or can’t find full time marketing help. Many of these companies have great product ideas, compelling business models and smart market timing. They simply don’t have the skill to roll together a marketing program that produces results in the way of revenue.
