1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What happens to the rest of the companies that don’t get the follow-on? Elizabeth Yin: They continue just like everybody else. We help our companies regardless of how much we are investing. The natural question in people’s mind is, “If you don’t follow on, does that mean it’s a bad company?” The answer

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Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later: Criteria CEO Josh Millet (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Here’s a synthesizing question. What can your technology do that an AI-based approach cannot do? Josh Millet: In an objective and transparent way, our technology measures key competencies, abilities, and behavior traits that we know are predictive of job success and business outcomes.

Cloud Stocks and PaaS: Platform vs. API Ecosystems

Last month, I wrote Cloud Stocks and PaaS: Which SaaS Players Will Win in PaaS, articulating a vision for a large number of SaaS players evolving into PaaS ecosystems. I’m going to double click down today on the trend and explore two aspects of the ecosystems we currently see: Platforms and APIs. The Salesforce PaaS

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Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing People vs. Market with Jon Staenberg, Staenberg Venture Partners

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Jon Staenberg. Jon Staenberg, Managing Partner at Staenberg Venture Partners, has

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: When you are writing a $25,000 check for these companies, is that a convertible note or an equity investment? What terms do you apply? Elizabeth Yin: If we are the first ones to the table, we will do that on a safe. If we are not the first ones on the table and

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Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later: Criteria CEO Josh Millet (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What is the customer acquisition strategy?  Josh Millet: When we were bootstrapping, we built our business on the back of Google. A lot of customers came in through the web. We did spend quite a bit of money on Google with paid ads. Over time, we built a great content strategy.

Catching Up On Readings: Micro VC Funds in India

This feature from VCCircle highlights the rise in Micro VC funds in India from 29 in 2014 to 88 in 2020. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You are saying that you focus on customer acquisition more than technology. You are worried about how quickly a company can get into revenue and what its customer acquisition strategy is. Can you elaborate on that? What are some nuggets that you are learning from the market of effective customer acquisition strategy?