Bootstrapping Course: Welcome

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Featured Videos

The Startup Velocity Question: What Hinders Acceleration in VC Funded Companies?

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. 

The Accelerator Conundrum: Navigating Your Path to Startup Success

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

Alright, let’s cut through the noise and get to the brutal truth of the startup accelerator world. Many entrepreneurs, starry-eyed and naive, leap headfirst into 3-month accelerator programs without truly understanding the long-term implications. It’s time for an incisive commentary, a necessary dissection.

An Overview of Top Startup Accelerators in Tunisia

This article is an overview of a series of articles summarizing the top startup accelerators in Tunisia for bootstrapped and solo founders, comparing them to 1Mby1M.

By Guest Author Cecelia Kirchner | Reviewed by Sramana Mitra

Throughout these 10 blogs for The Accelerator Conundrum blog series focused upon the top accelerator programs for Tunisian startups, we have journeyed in comparing programs’ various features and facets to 1Mby1M – the world’s first global virtual accelerator. From the angles of solo-founder friendliness, availability of personalized investor introductions, validation pedagogies and beyond, my research in this series has spanned across a variety of areas. Primarily, my research intends to dissect the models and promises of accelerator options available to Tunisian entrepreneurs so that founders can truly examine how accelerators could benefit their startups. 

Featured Videos

Top Accelerators for Entrepreneurs Who Want to Focus on Validation in Tunisia

This article summarizes the top accelerators for entrepreneurs who want to focus on validation in Tunisia and compares them to 1Mby1M across key dimensions.

By Guest Author Cecelia Kirchner | Reviewed by Sramana Mitra

The notion of ‘validity’ has been diffused throughout the startup industry. From acceptance into a competitive incubation program to performing well at ‘Demo-Day,’ ‘validation’ has become a label widely used in the accelerator industry which obliqely stands as some measure of success. Yet proliferated usage of this term has diluted the fundamental meaning of ‘validation’ in scaling a successful business: validation refers to the process of testing if a market exists for it and if it would respond positively to the product developed by a startup. When accelerator programs truly center rigorous validation practices in their curricula, growth can be premised upon nurturing a concept that can translate to real traction in the market.    

Overview of Top Startup Accelerators in New Mexico

This article is an overview of a series of articles summarizing the top startup accelerators in New Mexico for bootstrapped and solo founders, comparing them to 1Mby1M.

By Guest Author Ruth Munyoki | Reviewed by Sramana Mitra

New Mexico is developing an increasingly diverse startup ecosystem shaped by technology, science, research commercialization, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. For founders, choosing the right accelerator can determine whether a startup receives practical mentoring, customer-development support, access to capital, or simply another short-term program.

Video FAQs

Top Startup Accelerators for Validation-Focused Founders in New Mexico

This article examines startup accelerators for validation-focused founders in New Mexico that emphasize customer discovery, market validation, and commercialization, and compares them with 1Mby1M.

By Guest Author Ruth Munyoki | Reviewed by Sramana Mitra

The Accelerator Conundrum: Why Validation Comes First

One of the most expensive startup mistakes is assuming that a technically impressive product will automatically find a market. A startup can have a strong product and still fail because customers do not have a sufficiently urgent problem, will not pay for the solution, or are difficult to reach through a repeatable sales process.

Top Startup Accelerators for Entrepreneurs Focused on Building REAL Unicorns in New Mexico

This article summarizes the top startup accelerators for entrepreneurs focused on building REAL unicorns in New Mexico and compares them with 1Mby1M.

By Guest Author Ruth Munyoki | Reviewed by Sramana Mitra

Within the startup ecosystem, the word “unicorn” often represents the ultimate success story: a privately held company valued at more than $1 billion. The pursuit of that milestone has helped shape the modern accelerator industry, where founders are frequently encouraged to move quickly from an idea to fundraising, hiring, and aggressive expansion.

September 17 – 742nd 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 742nd FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, September 17, 2026, 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 from Sramana Mitra, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to Attend to watch and learn.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be Interested.

742nd 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

Roundtable Recap: September 10 – Should You Raise Pre-Seed Funding Just Because You Can?

The modern technology ecosystem suffers from a pervasive and dangerous myth that entrepreneurship is synonymous with financing. When founders build an idea and realize they have access to venture capital, the temptation to take the money simply because it is available is immense. This is a critical mistake. Raising pre-seed funding just because you can is one of the fastest ways to distort your business model, surrender your autonomy, and walk straight into a statistical trap.

Venture capital is not a generic badge of validation. It is a hyper-specific, high-stakes financial instrument designed for a very narrow category of companies. When you accept pre-seed or seed money, you are not just taking cash. You are signing a contract that demands hyper-growth at all costs. The data surrounding this path is sobering. Roughly 9 out of 10 venture-backed startups ultimately become zombies or go bankrupt. Of those that manage to secure pre-seed or seed capital, 65% to 85% fail to reach Series A.