RoboToaster recently had the chance to sync up with Justyn Howard for what is our first official interview with a Chicago based startup! Justyn, who started Sprout Social back in 2009, has continued to grow his involvement in both the startup community and the social media space, which has made him one of the top people to know in Chicago’s Tech world. Sprout Social, which started as a four person squad has grown considerably since their partnership with VC firm LightBank. As time goes by, we are looking forward to seeing what Sprout Social has to offer and the tools they build for the social media industry.

Here’s the interview, enjoy:

Q) Justyn, most know you as the CEO of Sprout Social, recently some may know you as one of Crain’s Tech 25. How are you adapting to all the fame?

    A) Haha, yeah – a lot of great people on that list. I was honored to be included. Not sure what the criteria was, but I’ll take it. My team has really built an amazing company from nothing in 2 years time – it’s nice to be recognized for that.

Q) The start-up scene in Chicago is going HAM right now. What is going on that has influenced all these VC firms and incubation companies to spend all this cash?

     A) Chicago has definitely made it’s own strides toward becoming a force in the technology scene. We’re seeing more successes, more organized efforts in building that community and more resources being invested, but I think there is a more universal trend at work too. Companies cost less to build, less to capitalize and investors are realizing that great technology isn’t just being built in Silicon Valley and NYC anymore. Nobody wants to miss the next Groupon – wherever it may be.

    Chicago has also become a self-feeding ecosystem. As more companies find success here, more tech-focused investors are coming to town for board meetings (and why not meet with a couple startups while you’re in town?). More would-be founders are inspired to mimic the success they see around them and more people will take that experience and start their next thing. It’s all pretty exciting for Chicago as a whole.

Q) Since you started Sprout Social you have received over $11M in funding. What is making Sprout Social a company to look up to in the start-up market?

    A) The thing I am most proud of in terms of the success we’ve had so far is how hard we’ve fought for it. There have been no easy wins. We fought hard in what turned into a very crowded space to become a leader. We’ve grown responsibly and intelligently. We’ve always stuck to our vision and our commitment to put the customer first, even when it might not be the quickest path to success. We focused on building an exceptional product when it might take a little longer, and we’ve stuck to our guns when people may not have quite understood our approach. So far, it’s worked. Someday it might not, but we’ll never lose what we’ve learned along the way. I don’t know if people should look up to us, but if they do, it should be for our hustle.

Q) In your words, what is Sprout Social and why should people use it? 

    A) Sprout Social is a Social Media Management platform that companies use to manage their social media efforts more efficiently/effectively and create meaningful relationships with their audience.

    It was the first tool to take the platform approach of putting Social Media Monitoring, Engagement, Measurement and Administration tools in one easy-to-use package.

    We work with some of the most successful companies across the globe, who manage their social channels brilliantly. If you want to be like them – we can help. Easy right?

Q) You have been in business for about two years. Can you give me a short run down of the time before getting your initial $1M in venture capital, until after walking into your start-up space at 600 W Chicago for the first time?

    A) When we started we were a team of 4 with a hypothesis of what we thought could be a substantial business. We spent about 9 months working to prove that before we pursued funding. We rebuilt the software a few times, begged people to test the product for us and let our ideas mature and develop a bit.

    Our first round of funding, from Lightbank, gave us the resources to execute what we needed to do in order to have a fighting chance - and some additional pressure to do it, but the act and finality of raising our initial funding didn’t ever really sink in or change our approach.

    The “seed” funding stage is really a funny time for a startup. You still haven’t proven anything, you’ve just convinced some people with money that you might. It’s the worst time to get cocky and start making bad decisions, but it happens.

Q) What inspired you to turn from an eleven year stint in corporate sales, to starting a software company?

    A) Entrepreneurs all have this permanent itch. They want to do something bigger than working for someone else’s company. They want to change the world in their own way as only they can. You can ignore the itch for only so long – eventually you get the right idea at the right time and you have no choice but to build it.

    For me that happened when I started to believe that social media was going to change the way companies interact with consumers. Initially I just wanted to find the tools to do my job better – but they didn’t exist. It’s a common story of solving your own problem, but in this case I truly believed it was going to be everybody’s problem before long.

    When we started, Twitter had less employees than Sprout Social does now. People were still calling social media a “fad”, and no one was sure what impact it would have on business. We bet it would, and in hindsight, we look pretty smart. We could have been totally wrong.

Q) Tell me a little bit about the two books you wrote, “Sell Smarter: Embrace the Sales 2.0 Movement to Increase Sales” and “Outsmart Your Competition”?

   A) I’ve always been a technology geek. In my sales career I took every opportunity to use technology to be more effective at my job. Originally I just wrote up a few tutorials for some co-workers to help them use LinkedIn, blogs and email marketing more effectively. Eventually a book took shape that I self-published and gave away online.

    Sales is the second oldest profession on the planet and it’s not typically known for adopting the latest technologies. I saw the web as something that was going to transform how people conduct business, much like how Sprout Social started, so I wrote about it. It was sort of a precursor to what has become known as Sales 2.0 today.

Q) I would assume that you have always been pretty big into technology, when was the first time you realized the importance of businesses implementing modern technology to dramatically impact their operations?

    A) I’ve looked for ways to incorporate technology into just about every job I’ve ever had. I started programming on a Commodore 64 when I was probably 11 or 12. When you fundamentally realize how technology can change things, you start to see everything through a different lens. You start to think about ways to apply it everywhere. Occasionally something like the Internet or Social Media comes along that creates radical change – many exceptional companies have been built just ahead of those trends.

Q) What do you think was the major turning point in the “outbreak” and “acceptance” of social media throughout the business world in the past few years?

    A) Thinking back, it’s hard to identify a specific turning point. It’s really been something that’s been driven by consumer adoption of the social networks over time. Consumers are active on social networks to the tune of more than a billion globally – and they want to be communicated with and engage with companies through that medium. If a business wants to stay relevant and competitive there’s really no choice anymore. Your customers expect and demand it.

Q) From what you see, what do you think people/companies are doing right with Social Media and how are people/companies doing things wrong?

    A) A lot of companies still see social media as just another form of marketing/advertising. It is, but not until you’ve earned that right. You earn that right by adding value to your audience and having human conversations with your customers. Too many companies are missing that piece. Social Media is the most effective marketing medium in history, but not until we stop treating it like advertising.

Q) What has been the hardest task you have come across while growing your business?

    A) For me personally it’s always been delegation and focus. When you touch every part of a business it’s hard to give each aspect the attention it needs. You have to hire exceptional people and let them take charge. We’ve been fortunate to build an amazing team.

Q) I understand you recently moved into a new space?

    A) Yeah, we moved downstairs from our friends at 37Signals in the West Loop and are currently building out a second addition. It’s funny how much a work environment can change the productivity of a team, but it absolutely can. We love our new spot.

Q)With a new location and an additional $10M in Series B funding earlier this year, what can we expect for staff development and growth for Sprout Social in 2012 and what will be the main focus?

    A) We’re still laser focused on building the best product on the planet. We’re growing our sales and operations teams and increasing efficiency across the organization, but the minute we stop focusing on delivering an amazing product to our customers, we lose.

Q) I’m looking forward for new things to come, last year you launched the Sprout Social iPhone app and Sprout Social 2.0 which has a fresh new look and additional features. What can users expect on the development side for Sprout Social and do you have any other projects coming up which both users and the tech community will be excited about for 2012?

    A) We tend to be pretty quiet about our bigger developments, but expect to see a lot more exciting stuff from us this year. We’ve never let our customers down in terms of building things that make their lives better – this year will be even more of the same. There are several things coming that we’ve planned with help from our customers, and others that will seemingly come out of nowhere. People are going to absolutely love them!

Thanks a ton for the time and we’re really looking forward to seeing what is next for Sprout Social in 2012.