MEET OUR CEO

Mike Trotzke likes to build things. He’s built companies, websites, partnerships, and a legacy. 

As the CEO of Cheddar, Mike Trotzke overseas all aspects of the company. Made up of a small team of 5-8 people, with none being full-time workers, Mike is the real star of the show. He has expertise in all parts of the Cheddar interface, from answering developer questions, to hiring new employees. Not only is he the CEO of Cheddar, but he is also the Co-Founder of Cheddar’s parent company SproutBox, a portfolio of entrepreneurial companies focused on growth. Along with this he is an executive committee member of the Dimension Mill, a 19,000 square feet of co-working and business incubator space located in the Trades District in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, which he helped in funding their renovation. In addition, Mike helped start Combine, an annual Midwest tech entrepreneurship conference, in Bloomington in the mid-20oo’s.

Mike met Brad Wisler, his SproutBox Co-Founder, at Indiana University-Bloomington as they were both involved in politics and student government. For fun, they would work on web building and design projects. This eventually led them to create the first project they sold in 2007. Which then led to SproutBox. Since then they have built, funded, and sold a numerous amount of businesses, all right here in Bloomington. 

Mike is a trailblazer in the Bloomington tech world. With over 20 years of leadership and innovation so far, it is exciting to imagine what will come next.