Marketing podcast with Sarah Prevette (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Sarah Prevette, the CEO and Founder of Sprouter and professional collaboration community for start-ups and entrepreneurs. Like so many successful ventures Sprouter was created to address a frustration that the founder had, in this case it was trying to create a community surrounding her existing business.

Sprouter got its start by being called “Twitter for business people,” but as Twitter has become much more business friendly, Sprouter has benefited more from Twitter and other social network integration than by replacement.

The primary vibe of Sprouter is the notion of helping each other. Entrepreneurs find and give advice and answer the question, in 140 characters or less, what are you working on. As the community grows Sprouter is taking a geographic in an attempt to build local community in strong entrepreneurial towns. Sprouter has started bringing local groups together in event called Sproutups and links them with other Sprouters.

Sprouter’s value proposition in one of connection and making it easy for entrepreneurs help each other and give visibility to start-ups. Check out the Sprouter Weekly newsletter and connect with a community manager to learn how to find people that make sense for you to connect your start-up with.

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Fairfield Inn & Suites Small Business Road-to-Success Challenge