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.

Bootstrapping to $20 Million From London: Guy Mucklow, CEO of PCA Predict (Part 1)

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

Guy has bootstrapped his company to $20 million, and last Christmas, turned down a $100 million acquisition offer. Read how he has navigated his venture.

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?

Guy Mucklow: I set my company up over 16 years ago when I was in my late 30s.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning.

Guy Mucklow: I was born and brought up in the UK. I went to university in the UK. I am a university dropout. I lasted a year and lost interest. A lot of people >>>

Featured Videos

Bootstrapping to $13 Million with Freemium and Free Trials: SurveyGizmo CEO Christian Vanek (Part 1)

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

Christian has bootstrapped SurveyGizmo to $13 million from Boulder, Colorado. He has experimented with both freemium and free trial, and has managed to monetize nicely. Read more about the strategies that have worked for him.

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?

Christian Vanek: I’m from upstate New York originally. I was born in 1977. Honestly, I moved around quite a bit. I never went to the same high school for more than a couple of years. In the end, I ended up in Massachusetts. After high school, I had no idea what to do with my life. I was not the best student ever. The >>>

Building a Global Enterprise Software Company from Belgium: Felix Van de Maele, CEO of Collibra (Part 1)

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

Many entrepreneurs are starting companies elsewhere and then coming to the US to scale. Collibra has scaled to $20 million. Learn how.

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?

Felix Van de Maele: I’m from Belgium. I grew up in Ostend, which is a small town at the seaside. I started studying computer science in Brussels at the University of Brussels where I did a Master’s in Computer Science. That was for four years, which I thought was way too short. I really wanted to study abroad so I did another Master’s in Software Engineering where I studied in France for six months and studied for five months in Argentina. >>>

Bootstrapping, Pivoting, Gaining Liquidity, Scaling to Over $100 Million: MediaAlpha CEO Steve Yi (Part 1)

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

Fascinating story of MediaAlpha, beautifully told by Steve, relates how the team has navigated through various experiments to over $100 million in revenue.

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?

Steve Yi: I was born in Seoul, Korea. When I was seven, my family immigrated to Minneapolis, which is where I consider myself to have grown up. I went to high school in a small town. I went to Harvard College and majored in East Asian Studies. I had no idea what I wanted to do afterwards. I gravitated towards professional services. I worked at a company called Mercer Management Consulting, which is my first introduction to the business world. I opened my first spreadsheet working in management consulting. >>>

Getting to Three Thousand Customers in Legal: iManage CEO Neil Araujo (Part 1)

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

Focusing precisely on designing a product strategy always helps scale. iManage has focused steadfastly on the legal process and the workflow thereof.

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?

Neil Araujo: I was born in Goa. It was a Portuguese colony in India. I was raised there and had a great time. I left Goa to do my undergraduate degree in a different part of India. For the first time, I was exposed to people from 26 states in India. I got my undergraduate in EE and moved to the US to get a Master’s in Computer Science.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you do your EE? >>>

Bootstrapping with Affiliate Marketing: Zeeto CEO Stephan Goss (Part 1)

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

Affiliate Marketing is at the heart of many wonderful bootstrapping stories. It’s inexpensive to get going and profitable quickly, and managed well, can scale substantially.

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?

Stephan Goss: I was born in Switzerland pretty close to Zurich. I came to the US in 2007.

Sramana Mitra: Did you do your education in Switzerland? >>>

Bootstrapping from Ukraine: BPMOnline CEO Katherine Kostereva (Part 1)

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

This is a fascinating story of a Ukrainian entrepreneur bootstrapping her CRM Software company to global scale. We’re thrilled to bring you Katherine Kostereva’s inspiring and super intelligent entrepreneurial journey.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get going. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? Let’s go to the very beginning of your personal journey.

Katherine Kostereva: I was born in Ukraine. Since childhood, I’ve been traveling a lot and visited many countries worldwide. I graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors in Computer Science. Shortly after that, I got my MBA. Even from high school, I was obsessed with technology. I was thinking of the ways to transform business through technology. Technology has always attracted me. >>>

Bootstrapping Using Services From Sweden: Dapresy Founder Tobi Andersson and CEO Rudy Nadilo (Part 1)

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

European entrepreneurs often successfully bootstrap using services. The chasing investor from the get go disease is less prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic, although the virus from Silicon Valley has been traveling now to all corners of the world. Dapresy has crossed $7 million in annual revenue with minimum outside financing.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. It sounds like, Tobi, you’re the founder. Maybe, we’ll start with you and let’s go back to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Tobi Andersson: I was born in Sweden, in the Swedish countryside. Very early on in my life, I decided that one day I would like to earn the money to have the opportunity to buy a really big farm. That has always been my vision – to create something that, on one hand, can give me money but on the other >>>

Bootstrapping with Services from London: Gurman Hundal, CEO of Media IQ (Part 1)

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

Gurman has bootstrapped a fast growth company using services. Read about his impressive journey.

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?

Gurman Hundal: I was born in England in a town about 30 miles from London. My family is from the northern state of Punjab in India. Even though I was born in England, I couldn’t speak English till I was about six years old. I have a British-Indian upbringing. My parents owned their own shoe shop in a shopping mall near where we live. I got an early exposure to family-run organizations. I went through the educational system within England. I went to University of Kingston where I studied Business. It was there where I started my career. >>>

Cross Border E-Commerce in Africa: Mall For Africa CEO Chris Folayan (Part 1)

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

We covered Mall for Africa some time back in TLEC. Here we trace their entrepreneurial journey.

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

Chris Folayan: I’m from Nigeria. I was born and raised in Nigeria. I came to the United States for college. Everything prior to college was done in Nigeria.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you come to the US for college?

Chris Folayan: I came to San Jose State University. >>>