1Mby1M Founder Sramana Mitra wants entrepreneurs to not waste their time and money.
The waste stems from a widespread misunderstanding of how investors think.
Over 99% of founders chase funding before they are fundable.
Here, Sramana teaches how to build with customer money (otherwise known as revenue) until a startup reaches that fundable stage.
Once fundable, a startup can go to investors like a king, not a beggar.
I have been running 1Mby1M since 2010. I find myself saying to entrepreneurs ad nauseam that VCs want to invest in startups that can go from zero to $100 million in revenue in 5 to 7 years.
Startups that do not have what it takes to achieve velocity should not be venture funded.
Experienced VCs, over time, have developed heuristics to gauge what constitutes a high growth venture investment thesis.
>>>Earlier last week, ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) reported its first quarter results that continued to outpace market expectations. The better than expected guidance helped the stock climb 15% in the after-hours trading session.
>>>Sramana Mitra: I think the distribution is going to be an interesting point, which is one of the reasons why I find the Agentforce announcement exciting. The same way that a lot of SaaS companies were able to distribute through app exchange, a lot of agent companies will be able to distribute through Agentexchange, and that is going to be invaluable.
>>>The people who understand those enterprise systems the best are in the best position to build those agents. Is there going to be a big opportunity to build agents that are from entrepreneurs?
How do you think about it?
>>>I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Janla IV
Janla IV | Sramana Mitra, 2019 | Watercolor, Ink | 16 x 20, On Paper
Sramana Mitra: Yes. In all our discussions last year on AI, human centric AI was front and center. AI is in enterprises, AI is in small businesses, but it’s either a human using AI as whether it’s a co-pilot or an assistant, whatever; but it’s the human making the decisions. It’s the human using the AI to do his or her job faster, more efficiently, et cetera.
>>>I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Janla III
Janla III | Sramana Mitra, 2019 | Watercolor, Ink | 16 x 20, On Paper
Entrepreneurs are invited to the 683rd FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST.
If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to Pitch and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to Attend to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.
You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be
Piyush Kharbanda, General Partner at Vertex Ventures, discusses his firm’s AI investment thesis.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS