sproutkin
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Sproutkin was a San Francisco startup founded in spring 2013 by former lawyer Raelyn Bleharski alongside ex-Airtime colleagues Alda Dennis and Mark Jem. It offered a 'Netflix for children's books' subscription: parents paid monthly to receive shipments of about ten curated children's books, which they could return by mail for a fresh batch at any time. The company raised about $1 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, the TechFellow Fund, and other angels. But parents were not interested at scale - Sproutkin's customer count was roughly 5% of a 1,000-subscriber acquirer's base. In November 2014 it sold its physical book rental service to online toy rental company Sparkbox Toys in an all-cash deal and pivoted to digital subscriptions.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Service launched
Sproutkin launched its 'Netflix for children's books' rental subscription in spring 2013, raising about $1 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, the TechFellow Fund, and other angels.
- Rental service sold to Sparkbox
In November 2014 Sproutkin sold its physical book rental service - books and customer base, but not the team or technology - to Sparkbox Toys in an all-cash deal, pivoting to digital subscriptions ($4.99/month iTunes app).
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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