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. 

1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Bootstrapping

Over the course of two years, we have released over 70 courses on Udemy with the aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally. This series of posts aims to help you find the one you need easily and provide you with discount coupons.

Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapping an E-Commerce Business Using a Paycheck and Crowdfunding: Nomad Lane Co-Founders Kish Vasnani and Vanessa Jeswani (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Kish and Vanessa bootstrapped to multi-million dollars in revenue selling a private label product before quitting their job. In this story, you also get to see the nuances of running successful (and not so successful) crowdfunding campaigns. Very interesting journey and insights.

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Putting the Freshworks IPO in Context (Part 1)

On Nov 13, 2009, I wrote an article in my Forbes column titled India’s Next Celebrities. It was a year after the financial crisis.

Never mind the recession. In India, entrepreneurial energy has continued to grow. It still exists only in small pockets. And the sophistication of the entrepreneurial ecosystem has a long way to go before it can resemble anything like Silicon Valley–or even Israel. In this evolution, the Indian media has an important role to play.

At the time, I was busy trying to turn Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho, into a celebrity. Hardly anyone had heard of HIM until my 2007 profile.

I had not yet launched 1Mby1M.

Girish Mathrubootham, avid fan of celebrity Tamil film star Rajnikant, had not yet launched Freshdesk (now Freshworks). He was still working at Zoho, under Sridhar’s tutelage.

Both of those events happened in 2010.

12 Udemy Courses on How to Come Up With New Tech Startup Business Ideas

You want to do a startup. So, you need an idea to build around. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumer behavior in a major way. As we move through the virus-era, much more will likely change. With this realization, we ran a poll asking which topics readers would like me to cover and discuss. The overwhelming winner was startup ideas. So, after much thought, here are eight of my most recent startup ideas. My hope is to stimulate and help my fellow entrepreneurs catalyze these ideas into profitable businesses.

Building a Fintech Company from Luxembourg: STOKR CEO Tobias Seidl (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Much is happening by way of innovation in fund raising exchanges in the field of FinTech. Here is a story from Europe.

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

Bootstrapping Using Services to $10M: Zimit CEO James Cramer (Part 1)

Among the biases of the Venture Capital industry that need to be categorically ignored, Bootstrapping Using Services happens to be on the top of the list. Read on for yet another fantastic textbook case study.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Building a Unicorn and Establishing the Customer Success Category: Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight (Part 1)

I spoke with Nick back when Gainsight was very young. Much has happened since. This conversation catches us up on the interim years since 2013.

Gainsight recently raised money from Vista Equity at a $1.1 billion valuation.

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later: Ben Hodson, CEO of JobNimbus (Part 1)

Ben is a serial entrepreneur with a long experience in bootstrapping and fundraising. Read on to see how he has navigated his journey.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Navigating Multiple Product Pivots: Jebbit CEO Tom Coburn (Part 1)

Tom discusses a very important aspect of building a product company: pivots.

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

Tom Coburn: I was born in a suburb outside of Boston, Massachusetts. It’s where the Boston Marathon starts. I grew up there and lived there all my life. I went to high school there at a local public high school. I ended up going to Boston College. I went there to study Biology and become a doctor. I ended up dropping out. I’d also picked up Theology as a double major. I was studying science and religion and ended up doing a marketing technology and data company instead.

Building HubSpot to a Unicorn: Dharmesh Shah’s Amazing Entrepreneurial Journey (Part 1)

Dharmesh discussed his entrepreneurial journey with candor, humility, and generosity. Wonderful conversation.

If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page.

Sramana Mitra: We will start at the very beginning of your journey. Where did you grow up? What kind of upbringing and what kind of circumstances were you raised in? I know you come from a part of India that is particularly entrepreneurial.

Bootstrapping for 30 Years: Dean Guida, CEO of Infragistics (Part 1)

Dean has a real passion for the elegance, simplicity, and beauty of software development. He has built a company celebrating these values.

Sramana Mitra: We will start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised?

Dean Guida: When I was six years old, my mom and dad got divorced. I moved to Miami, Florida. I saw how much my mom struggled to make money for us, When I was eight years old, I just wanted to work. I convinced the maintenance man in the apartment that I was living in to let me do his work. He would pay me off the books.