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.

Scaling a Fat Startup: MongoDB CEO Max Schireson (Part 1)

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

The technology startup market is red hot in 2014, and private company valuations have sky-rocketed. MongoDB has raised over $200 million, and is trying to disrupt the Database market. The company they see most often in deals is Oracle. A very interesting case study of a company with huge ambition.

Sramana: Max, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and what were the circumstances of your upbringing?

Max Schireson: I was born and raised in Canada until I was 7. My parents were hippies living in a commune and I spent the first year of my life in a tent. I lived in Boston from the time I was 7 until I was 12. Since then, I have been in the Bay area most of the time although I did spend a second stint in Boston while my wife was finishing medical school. >>>

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Ray Martinez, Chancellor of WGU Texas (Part 1)

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

Adult education is becoming more of an issue. Competency-based learning that ties into employment directly is necessary to mitigate the unemployment problems in America and elsewhere. WGU has an interesting model.

Sramana Mitra: Ray, let’s start by giving our audience a little bit of background about you as well as your institution.

Ray Martinez: My name is Ray Martinez. I’m the Chancellor of Western Governors University (WGU) Texas. We go by WGU Texas. I have worked primarily in higher education policy over the last seven years. I’ve worked in various aspects of public policy either at the federal or state level for most of my career over the last 25 years or so. >>>

Bootstrapping to $20 Million in Charleston, South Carolina: eGroup CEO Mike Carter (Part 1)

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

Continuing our coverage of entrepreneurship far away from Silicon Valley, we bring you a conversation with Mike Carter, CEO of eGroup in Charleston, South Carolina. Typically, these environments have bred bootstrapped companies, and bootstrapping using services continues to be a popular method. Of late, incubators and accelerators are also cropping up, and building a more sophisticated ecosystem.

Sramana Mitra: Mike, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of circumstances leads up to the entrepreneurial story? >>>

Canadian Real Time Big Data Company’s Excellent Thought Leadership: Terapeak CEO Kevin North (Part 1)

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

We cover Big Data at length, both on Thought Leaders in Big Data and Entrepreneur Journeys. This story relates the tale of robust execution on a very insightful concept, delivering a real-time Big Data solution to merchants transacting on marketplaces like eBay.

Sramana: Kevin, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and what kind of backstory leads up to Terapeak?

Kevin North: I was born and raised in Toronto and had a typical middle class upbringing. My father worked for the railroad. In high school, I became interested in computers. I was 14 and 15 years old when I started taking apart computers and rebuilding them. I learned how to program. >>>

Ultra-Light Startup to $20 Million in Revenue: WatchUWant CEO OJ Whatley (Part 1)

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

OJ Whatley did $6 million in revenue in 2006 from his home, with ‘me, myself, and I.’ Further elaborating on the ultra-light startup trend, we bring you his story of approaching $20 million with 20 employees.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where did you grow up and in what kind of background?

OJ Whatley: I was raised in Chicago. My father was a commodities trader. That’s where I got in my blood the idea of buying low and selling high – the idea of speculation and entrepreneurship.

Sramana Mitra: Entrepreneurship and speculation are not the same things.

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Building a Fat SaaS Venture: Rob Hull, Founder and President of Adaptive Insights (Part 1)

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

We continue our coverage of fat startups, how they get funded, built, and scaled in this series with Adaptive Insights. Lean startups get a lot of attention now, but I have been covering fat startups as well with stories like Adaptive Insights.

Sramana: Rob, let’s start by reviewing your background. Where do you come from? What are the roots to your entrepreneurial journey?

Rob Hull: I was born in Austin, Texas. I spent most of my early years in southern California before heading north to attend Stanford. I was an economics major but did some dabbling in computer science classes. I graduated form Stanford in 1988. I decided that since I had spent most of my life in California, it was time to live somewhere different. So, I moved to the east coast. >>>

Bootstrapping a Big Data Company Using Services: DataSong CEO John Wallace (Part 1)

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

We maintain that one of the best ways to identify complex problems worth solving inside enterprises is by offering services to them, thereby gaining exposure to the domain. Datasong is yet another case in point. Related reading: Bootstrapping Using Services.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning. Where are you from? What kind of a backstory leads up to the entrepreneurial story?

John Wallace: I grew up in the South from a pretty modest background.

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Student Entrepreneur to $10M+ in Revenue Without Dropping Out: Course Hero CEO Andrew Grauer (Part 1)

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

We love student entrepreneurs who have managed to not only build successful businesses but have done so without dropping out of school. We also love entrepreneurs who have the discipline to get to a strong and sustainable monetization model early on in their evolution. Andrew Grauer scores on all fronts, and there is much to learn from this entrepreneur’s journey.

Sramana Mitra: Andrew, let’s start with your personal beginning. Tell us where you were born, raised, and in what circumstances. What’s the back story of Course Hero?

Andrew Grauer: I’m from the Bay Area of California. I grew up there my whole life. I went to college in Ithaca, New York at Cornell University. After graduating at Cornell, I came back to the Bay Area and continued working on Course Hero here.

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Ultra-light Startup with $6 Million Revenue: Car Part Kings CEO Michael Dash (Part 1)

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

We’re seeing the trend everywhere – companies building significant revenue and market reach with very few employees. Car Part Kings is approaching $10 million in revenue with 14 employees. Of course, WhatsApp’s $19 billion valuation with 32 employees is an extreme example of this trend.

Sramana: Michael, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from? What kind of circumstances were you raised in?

Michael Dash: I was born in New York. I was raised in New York for half of my life before moving to the suburbs in Long Island. I went to high school in Long Island and then went to College at Tulane in New Orleans. I finished college in 2004 and then I got into real estate. I did real estate for 5 years and worked in financing, construction, project management, and all the phases of real estate you can imagine. >>>

Identifying Customer Pain Through Consulting Services: Tealium Co-Founder & President, Ali Behnam (Part 1)

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

Three years of web analytics consulting led Ali and his co-founder to identify a core customer need around which he is now building a high-growth, venture-funded company.

Sramana Mitra: Ali, let’s start with your own personal journey. Where were you born and raised? What kind of story leads up to Tealium?

Ali Behnam: I was born in Iran. Our family migrated outside Iran after the revolution. We actually ended up finding ourselves in France, which is where I got my high school degree. Later on, I came to San Diego for my college education at UC San Diego. I just fell in love with San Diego. Following my graduation, I decided that San Diego is where I want to spend the rest of my life.

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