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.

100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 1)

Jamin Arvig is a serial entrepreneur who is a founder of WaterFilters.Net. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering as well as a law degree. After practicing patent law for a period, he decided to maintain a focus on business which led to increased effort being place on WaterFilters.Net, a business he started in 2002 while still in school.

Sramana: Jamin, let’s go back to the beginning of your story. Where did you grow up?

Jamin Arvig: I grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota, which is just west of the Twin Cities. I went to the University of Minnesota for an electrical engineering degree, and then I went to William Mitchell for my law degree. >>>

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Building A 10 Million Dollar Search Engine Marketing Business: WPromote CEO Mike Mothner (Part 1)

Michael Mothner is the founder and CEO of search engine marketing firm Wpromote. The company has maintained over 2,700% growth from 2003 through 2007. Michael has a degree in economics and computer science from Dartmouth College.

Sramana: Mike, what is your story leading up to Wpromote? Where are you from?

Mike Mothner: I am 29 now. I was born in Manhattan Beach, California. My parents were both teachers. I got into computers and the Internet when I was pretty young. >>>

From 0 To 31 Million Dollars With Search Engine Marketing & Inventory Financing: Kim Pedersen, CEO of 1000 Bulbs (Part 1)

Kim Pederson is the CEO and founder of 1000 Bulbs, an award-winning business of more than 100 employees which offers everything from simple household light bulbs to cutting-edge specialty lighting systems. He launched 1000Bulbs.com in 1996 after working as regional and national recruiter for two national lighting distributors. Today, 1000Bulbs.com enjoys double-digit sales growth, and Kim was recognized in June 2010 as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in the Dallas–Ft. Worth region.

Sramana: Kim, let’s start by talking some about your background. Where did you grow up, and what were the circumstances that laid the foundation for your entrepreneurial endeavors?

Kim Pedersen: I was born in Iowa in 1954 as one of five children. My parents moved to Omaha, Nebraska, when I was four. >>>

Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 1)

Sramana: Zalmi, let’s start with your personal story. Where are you from?

Zalmi Duchman: I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1980. My parents moved to Miami Beach before I turned a year old, so I pretty much grew up there. I went to an Orthodox Jewish high school in L.A. at 14. I was in a dorm from ninth grade on and my roommate there, Yosef Schwartz, is actually my business partner and the executive chef of Fresh Diet. >>>

Building The Largest Online Bus Ticketing Company in India: redBus.in Co-founder and CEO Phanindra Sama (Part 1)

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

Phanindra Sama, otherwise known as Phani, is the co-founder and CEO of redBus. redBus is India’s largest bus ticketing company and a Forbes Top 5 Startup in 2010. Phani has a BE in electrical engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science. Prior to founding redBus, he worked as a design engineer at ST Microelectronics and as a senior design engineer at Texas Instruments in Bangalore.

Sramana: Phani, let’s start with your personal story.

Phanindra Sama: I was always good with technical studies and was especially good mechanically. I got into BITS Pilani (Birla Institute of Technology and Science), and I studied electronics because I always wanted to be an electronics engineer. I was always fascinated with electrons flowing through a wire and making a light glow or a fan turn. It was fascinating to me. I used to have a tool kit and repair small electronics. >>>

Building A Niche E-Commerce Powerhouse: Coastal Contacts CEO Roger Hardy (Part 1)

Roger Hardy is the founder and CEO of Coastal Contacts Inc, the world’s largest online retailer of contact lenses and eyeglasses. While working for a contact lens manufacturer, he became aware of the optical store mark-ups on contact lenses and eyeglasses and recognized an opportunity to serve customers better. As a result he founded Coastal Contacts Inc. in 2000. Roger has been honored with many awards over his years as Coastal Contacts’ leader, including Business in Vancouver’s Top Forty Under Forty in 2002, and The Pacific Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Business-to-Consumer) in 2006.

Sramana: Roger, let’s go back to the beginning of your story. Where are you from?

Roger Hardy I grew up in a small town outside of Ottawa, Canada. It was a small commuting community. I was fortunate to have been exposed to Terry Matthews, a great entrepreneur, at a very young age. >>>

Morphing a Consulting Business to a Cloud Computing Product Company: Bill Loumpouridis, CEO of EDL (Part 1)

Bill Loumpouridis is the CEO and founder of EDL Consulting. Prior to EDL he served as vice president of CRM at iXL, regional customer relationship management (CRM) practice leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, founder of Strategic Technology Resources (STR), founded Strategic Technology Resources, and served as an executive manager at Lante Corporation. He studied math and computer science at the University of Illinois.

Sramana: Bill, let’s start with a review your background. What is your personal story?

Bill Loumpouridis: I am the son of Greek immigrants. My parents got here in the late 1950s and did not know the language and were unskilled. All they had was a burning desire to be successful and make it in the land of opportunity. >>>

Bringing Together Content And Commerce In Men’s Fashion: JackThreads Founder Jason Ross (Part 1)

Jason Ross founded JackThreads in Columbus, Ohio. Ross graduated from Ohio State in 2003 with a BSBA in finance. The idea for the July 2008 launch of JackThreads.com came from Ross’s interest in street wear and men’s contemporary fashion, plus his appreciation of a good deal. Ross saw the company as a more discreet way for men to buy premium brands on sale, without sacrificing the top-tier images they worked to build. JackThreads was acquired by Thrillist.com in May 2010, but Ross continues to lead the company’s daily operations.

Sramana: Jason, let’s start by reviewing your background. Where do you come from?

Jason Ross: I am from Cleveland, Ohio. My father was in the military so we traveled a lot, but we settled in Ohio and I went to Ohio State. >>>

Accelerating Global E-Commerce: Adyen Cofounder Peter Caparso (Part 1)

Peter Caparso is a cofounder of Adyen, a global e-commerce company which provides outsourced Internet payment services. Prior to cofounding Adyen, Peter worked at various companies ranging from Fortune 500 firms to startups before becoming a key figure at Bibit. In 2004, Bibit was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland, where Peter then headed the global e-commerce sales and account management teams for the United States. Peter received his MBA with a concentration in finance and strategic management from Boston College and holds a BA in economics from Villanova University.

Sramana: Peter, let’s begin by reviewing your background to explore the genesis of your company.

Peter Caparso: I started right out of college working for New England Telephone. I had received my undergraduate degree from Villanova University. After working for one year, I went to Boston College at night and earned my MBA. >>>

Building India’s Amazon: Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal (Part 1)

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

[Also check out my Entrepreneur Journeys book, Seed India – How To Navigate The Seed Capital Gap in India]

I first learned about Flipkart when I discovered that Flipkart is the only e-commerce company in India that is selling my books online. Subsequently, they became the only company in India to sell all five of my books, since I have chosen not to sell the publishing rights to Vision India 2020, Entrepreneur Journeys Volume Three: How To Test, Validate and Bring Your Idea to Market, and Entrepreneur Journeys Volume Four: Innovation, Need Of The Hour to my original publisher, Hachette India, because they offered me horrible terms.

Today, it is my pleasure to bring you our next Entrepreneur Journeys story, a conversation with Sachin Bansal, one of the pioneers in e-commerce. Sachin and his partner Binny are working on building India’s Amazon.

Sramana: Sachin, let’s begin by exploring the genesis of your story. What is your background?

Sachin Bansal: I am originally from Chandigarh, which is the capital of Punjab. My business partner, Binny, is also from Chandigarh. We are not related in any way, it just happens to be a coincidence that we are now working on Flipkart together. We both grew up in Chandigarh and went to the same schools yet did not know each other well. >>>