Sprouter Re-Design: Focus.
Today we’re announcing a re-design of Sprouter.com. We’re refining our focus, reducing features and embracing that oft repeated startup phrase “pivot.”
We’re doubling down on what’s working and re-designing to be easier to use.
We’ve decided to focus on the immediate opportunities that our Q&A platform offers. Our Q&A, despite previously being buried at a nebulous subdomain, has continued to grow and return high value to the entrepreneurs who use it. We’ve been blown away by the amazing people who have come forward to share their advice and by the rich content that continues to be generated.
We believe founders get the most value from Sprouter by getting advice from seasoned entrepreneurs and investors. Our experts are carefully curated; invited personally by us based on their experience in the startup ecosystem and their ability to contribute thoughtful and actionable advice.
Whether participating in live sessions, getting advice from experts or sharing experiences with other founders, Sprouter continues to support entrepreneurs as they face the various challenges of growing a business.
The Q&A has become an important resource for many startups around the world and we see a lot of opportunity to continue to expand on it. We’ve decided to focus on this opportunity and are thrilled to bring the amazing content that is being generated to the forefront of Sprouter.
The new and improved Sprouter allows founders to:
Ask a startup-related question. Submit your small business question on the general form, or submit it to a specific expert.
Browse startup experts. Look through our list of experts to see questions they’ve already answered, and to find the people who matter the most to your business.
Search relevant content. Find answers related to your area of interest, and see similar answers while you wait for your question to be answered.
Comment on answers. Add valuable information to an expert’s answer by sharing your thoughts. Or clarify a question you’ve asked by adding a follow-up thought.
Vote and share. Vote answers up based on how useful they are, and share them with your network.
Create your own hub of knowledge on Sprouter. Your questions and answers, and the answers you find useful, are stored on a devoted page so you can refer back to them at any time.
We look forward to your feedback as we continue to expand on our service, and appreciate your continued support.
13 Responses to “Sprouter Re-Design: Focus.”
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Wow, very cool and congratulations!
I need to check this out. Love the updates.
You’re going to need a stronger content taxonomy for both questions and answeres.
Interesting to compare your approach to http://answers.onstartups.com/ I guess we’ll see if your top-down, subject-matter-expert approach beats the crowdsourced model.
Still would like to see you guys add some gamification/loyalty features.
[...] the site which helps foster growth within the startup community,
Love the re-design, cannot wait for what’s in store at Sprouter.
Thanks Jon! We appreciate how supportive you always are
Hope you had a great birthday!
Thanks Joallore! We really appreciate your support over the past couple years!
Thanks Vinny, appreciate it! Would love to get the ball rolling on our conversation after SXSW – sorry, it’s been so crazy lately. Hope all is well with you!
Congrats, Erin (and Sarah). Sounds like a good plan and a great decision.
I am proud to be associated with Sprouter, and I’m delighted with your success.
I’d better get to those unanswered questions now….
Congrats on the relaunch. The theme and design are attractive, and I hope the simplicity pays off.
That said, I agree with Trevor (http://sprouter.com/blog/sprouter-re-design-focus/comment-page-1/#comment-1682).
To clarify my agreement about Taxonomy, I think you should allow the questioner and respondent (at least) to tag the question/answer with keywords. Then create a tag cloud, maybe even in your site header. I agree with Trevor re: gamification also.
I also believe you should offer a link in your footer (at least) on how new experts can apply to answer questions. Finally, when you find that the volume of questions is overwhelming the experts, you’ll want to look at a system where users can pick up questions and answer them. ONE user could answer the question, and the answer would be tagged to show that the person was not an expert. If an expert eventually answered, then move his/her answer above the non-expert answer.
Best of luck.
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