Bootstrapping Course: Welcome

Nowadays, startups can be built while a founder is still fully employed. Many entrepreneurs start as solo founders and achieve great progress until they need a team. Virtual teams are common these days and easily affordable.

At 1Mby1M, we support employed entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who are at the very beginning of their journeys. They might not even know what to build or how to build it.

We encourage entrepreneurs not to quit their day job until their business becomes fundable or sustainable. 

Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs get rejected by investors and accelerators every year. Y Combinator rejects over 95% of their applicants. Andreessen Horowitz rejects 99% of theirs. 

In this mind-boggling stream of rejections, there are numerous high potential companies that need to bootstrap their way to fundability or sustainability.

We accelerate their learning with the 1Mby1M Curriculum and over 1000 case studies of real-life success stories. 

We support their fund-raising efforts through personal introductions to investors.

If you enjoy this course, check out 1Mby1M Basic, our curriculum-only option.

If you’re trying to assess why you’re getting rejections, use the 1Mby1M Self-Assessment.

Featured Videos

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping an Education Company

Tod Browndorf, CEO of Coggno, has built an interesting online education company focused on specific niche course types. Read on to learn more.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Tod Browndorf: Wow! We’re really going way back. I’m originally from the east coast. I was born in South Carolina but was raised in New York and New Jersey for most of my life. I lost my father when I was 10 and a half years old. I started working very early in life. He was in the manufacturing business. I started working early through school. I travelled the world pretty extensively. I lived in Australia for quite a while. I lived in the Middle East and eventually started my career in Finance. I started off as a trader on Wall Street, then later here in San Francisco.

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Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Blackbird.ai CEO Wasim Khaled (Part 5)

Wasim Khaled: If you look back to the era of the Soviet Union, they weaponized propaganda and disinformation. They recently wielded it using these new tools. Again, it’s self-subscribing to propaganda. It’s the perfect system when you have polarized groups to drill in on that.

I want to think about this and consider where that might be going. Today, it’s pretty bad. We can see this week, in particular, how many opposing narratives are coming out on the same topic.

Video FAQs

Cornerstone OnDemand Expands Product Line-up

According to a  360 Market Updates report, the global talent management software market is estimated to grow by $5.4 billion, at 11% CAGR through 2020-2024. The current pandemic has accelerated the adoption of mobile technologies within the industry. Players like Cornerstone OnDemand (Nasdaq: CSOD) are delivering new products and learning modules to help gain market share.

Thought Leaders in Financial Technology: Karthik Manimozhi, CEO of RentMoola (Part 5)

Karthik Manimozhi: In many cases, the whole framework is working as designed. The problem is, it leaves too many people outside of the framework. We are looking at our range of landlord portfolios going to affordable housing where we expect a lot more support from local counties.

They also have a responsibility to protect the renters from falling prey to predatory lending practices. Oftentimes, these lenders may blur the line between principal and interest and might set up a no-win situation for these already hurting families.

January 21 – 516th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 516th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, January 21, 2021, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 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 interested. All are welcome!

Roundtable Recap: January 14 – Entrepreneurs from Smaller Cities

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Mark Achler, MATH Venture Partners. The discussion focused on B-to-B selling as a key factor in startup success.

Makerspad.ai

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Pavan Gourisetty from Campbell, California, pitching Makerspad.ai, an e-commerce analytics venture.

E-Panipuri Cart

Next, Harish Neotia from Ranchi, India, pitched E-Panipuri Cart, a machine for auto-dispensing the famous Indian street food, Panipuri.

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Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Blackbird.ai CEO Wasim Khaled (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I think the parallel is that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. The whole tobacco industry has agreed to it and gradually society has come to understand that. There were fewer and fewer public places that you can smoke and so on and so forth.

An equivalent understanding and rejection of this kind of addiction needs to happen, but I guess it’s too young of an industry. The smartphone came out in 2007. Facebook came in 2004. It hasn’t been long. It’s only been a decade worth of real addiction that we have seen.

Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founder Bootstrapped with a Paycheck from Indiana

One Click Ventures Co-founder Angie Stocklin and her husband built a portfolio of e-commerce businesses using a very unusual strategy. I had a lot of fun learning about their journey, and hope you will as well.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Angie Stocklin: I was born in a small town called Paisley in Indiana. It’s a town of about 2,500. My mom was a teacher and my dad is a farmer and somewhat of an entrepreneur in the fact that farming is a self-employed type of business. My dad and his brothers owned an implement dealership. They sold tractors. I grew up with a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. I went to college at the University of Evansville and started studying Psychology. I went on to get my Masters and my educational specialist degree in School Psychology. I worked as a school psychologist for three years before starting One Click.

Sramana Mitra: What year are we talking about when you started One Click?

Angie Stocklin: My husband and I started the business together in 2005.

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