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.

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Ephesoft Founder Ike Kavas (Part 1)

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

Ike has bootstrapped Ephesoft and turned a relatively small $3.2 million investment into $12 million in 2016 revenue. Excellent execution.

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?

Ike Kavas: I was born and raised in Turkey. I’m from a very small village. My dad was a math teacher at the same school that I went to. Right after high school, I left to study Electronics Engineering. After graduating, I worked for a few companies and I got introduced >>>

Featured Videos

Navigating Through Multiple Pivots: Convercent CEO Patrick Quinlan (Part 1)

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

You learn from successes. You learn a lot more from mistakes and failures. Patrick freely discusses various missteps in his journey and how he managed to pivot out of various corners. Excellent discussion.

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?

Patrick Quinlan: I was born in Germany to a German mother and an American father. I spent most of my formative years in Germany and growing up very much in a German family. I moved to the States in my junior high years. I ended >>>

Building a Fast-growth SaaS HR Technology Company: Justworks CEO Isaac Oates (Part 1)

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

Justworks is a fast-growth VC-funded startup in New York in the Human Capital Management space, catering to small businesses.

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?

Isaac Oates: I grew up in New Jersey. I was actually born in California and moved around a lot with my mom. I grew up with a single mom. We moved around the country as she went to different jobs, but I spent most of my childhood in central New Jersey >>>

An Animal Lover’s Beautiful Journey: Elephant Pants CEO Nathan Coleman (Part 1)

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

Nathan is a true animal lover, and has built a wonderful niche e-commerce company with the mission of helping elephants. Beautiful story.

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

Nathan Coleman: I grew up in Westchester County, which is right outside New York City. I am 29 years >>>

Bootstrapping from the UK to Over $10 Million: Roger Hale, Co-Founder of Linguamatics (Part 1)

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

Cambridge, England is a great place for high-end technical talent. This story traces the journey of a group of such talented people with core expertise in Natural Language Processing, and how they turned their expertise into a robust, profitable business.

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?

Roger Hale: I think I had quite a normal upbringing. I grew up in Yorkshire in the northeast of England. My mother came from >>>

Bootstrap to $25 Million from Utah, Raise Money Later to Scale to $100 Million: John Pope, CEO of Jive (Part 1)

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

John and Jive have executed steadily over the last decade and have built a kick-ass company. Read on!

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?

John Pope: That’s a good place to start because where we come from, how we’re raised, and the early environment really shapes the way that we look at things and determines what type of an entrepreneur we’re going to be. I am from the Tacoma, Washington area. My family moved around a bit. I was the oldest child. >>>

Bootstrap First from Belarus, Raise Money Later from Silicon Valley: PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado (Part 1)

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

As you know, I love stories of entrepreneurs in different parts of the world finding success through grit and creativity. Mikita’s story gives us an insight into what’s happening in Belarus, and how he has navigated his way to Silicon Valley. And our Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later mantra holds!

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?

Mikita Mikado: I’m from Belarus, which is a small, former Soviet Union state on the western border of Russia. I was born in >>>

Bootstrapping from Finland: Vainu CEO Mikko Honkanen (Part 1)

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

Mikko has steadily built an excellent SaaS company from Finland and is now expanding into the US as well. Read on for 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?

Mikko Honkanen: I was born in a small town in Finland 20 miles up north from Helsinki. I studied at Helsinki School of Economics. I also studied at Oxford. Then I spent the last 10 years in the SaaS business. I spent almost seven years at a Norwegian company called Meltwater. >>>

Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapping to $10M from Colorado: AdCellerant Co-Founders Brock Berry and Shelby Carlson (Part 1)

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

Love and startups go hand in hand for Brock and Shelby who are helping media companies generate seven-figure revenue streams.

Sramana Mitra: Whoever wants to start, 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?

Brock Berry: Thanks for having us. I’m the Founder and CEO of AdCellerant. I’m from Indiana >>>

Bootstrapping to $80 Million from Canada: Rob Purdy, CEO of Power2Motivate (Part 1)

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

Adding to our incredible roster of stories of entrepreneurs who have bootstrapped decisively, Rob’s is an incredible journey of a precise execution.

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

Rob Purdy: I was born in Ontario, Canada. Our family is very blue collar. I grew up in an environment centered around a steady 7 in the morning and home at 3:30 kind of routine. We were in an area of the city where General Motors dominated the local >>>