Sproutback: a Canberra crowdfunding platform helping ideas to soar

Posted on 3 April, 2014

I’ve always been inspired by the story of Steve Jobs and Steve Wasniak tinkering away in their garage with a fab idea that could only go so far without some external backing.

That backing came in the form of angel investor Mike Markkula, who provided the early funding that Apple needed to get off the ground.

It intrigues me to imagine all of the other ‘backyard’ innovations – designs, art, books, music, inventions – that are being created right now in garages and studies and studios, while people work day jobs to support themselves and rely on pure passion (and caffeine) to bring their ‘midnight oil’ projects to fruition.

No matter how viable an idea might be, there’s a limit to how far we can take it without support from other people, and that’s where new Canberra-based crowd funding platform Sproutback comes in.

What I love about Sproutback (itself only a couple of months old as a concept) is that, unlike some of the larger crowd-funding platforms, these guys don’t just provide an avenue for people to chip in and help financially with a project – they provide mentoring from local entrepreneurs and business owners, who give up their time for free to assist budding artists, musicians, authors and innovators to move their projects to the next stage.

Sproutback have also developed partnerships with recording studios, manufacturers, printers and others and even have some co-working space available in other capital cities to assist in bringing these ideas to life.

There are already a few projects up on the website for backing (as varied as a country rock album, a community garden of Aboriginal native bush food and medicine, a gluten-free bread project and more…) but what we’re wondering is this:

Who are the Jobs/Wasniaks of the HerCanberra community?

Are you out there, after the kids are in bed, sacrificing TV time, beavering away trying to create something wonderful? And how can we help you?

We’d love to know what your projects are, whether you’re creating jewellery or fashion, writing books or songs, inventing something, painting or sculpting or whatever it is that occupies the creative space in your heart. Share your projects with us here, and if you’d like to formalise some support from the Canberra community, jump onto Sproutback and create a project (it’s a simple online set-up).

Oh, and if you feel a bit ‘icky’ about asking people to help fund your idea, read on! You set rewards that are dependent on the donation amounts, and these can range from a simple ‘thank you’ through to signed copies or first editions – or even a full day hanging out with you in a music studio recording your album! It’s about the experience for backers as much as it is for the project creators, and you’re able to share your progress with your backers and seek advice from them along the way.

We might not have a bundle of cash to invest like Mike Markkula was able to throw Apple’s way, but we do have a talented and supportive community – and dibs writing the follow-up article when one of our Canberra innovations makes it big – perhaps because someone read this article and thought, ‘what have I got to lose?’…

Image of girl with jetpack from Shutterstock.com