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.

Legendary Entrepreneur and Author Judy Estrin (Part 1)

Estrin has been named three times to Fortune Magazine’s list of the 50 most powerful women in American business. She sits on the boards of directors of The Walt Disney Company and FedEx Corporation as well as two private company boards – Packet Design, Inc. and Arch Rock. For more background review her bio.

SM: Judy, you are a legend in Silicon Valley. Take us back to where your story begins. Where are you from, where did you grow up, and what is in your DNA that got you into all of this?

JE: The part that is in my DNA is a love for science and technology. The part that was a surprise was my being an entrepreneur and a leader. >>>

Featured Videos

Enabling Ecological Data Centers: Rackable Systems CEO Mark Barrenchea (Part 1)

Mark Barrenechea is president and CEO of Rackable Systems. Before joining Rackable he served as executive vice president and CTO for Computer Associates. Prior to CA, he was senior vice president of Applications Development at Oracle and reported directly to Larry Ellison. Earlier, he served as vice president of Development at Tesseract, which was purchased by Scopus, where he maintained the same role.

SM: Tell us where your story starts.

MB: I was raised in New York City. I lived in New York for most of my childhood. I then moved to Stamford, Connecticut where I went to middle and high school. My father was in metals trading, and we definitely had a New York mentality in my family. >>>

Engineering Algae-based Bio Fuel: Valcent CEO Glen Kertz (Part 1)

Glen Kertz is a serial entrepreneur and an inventor who holds over 20 US and foreign patents in various fields. He started his first company at the age of 12 and has continued to create new business ventures based on scientific innovation. He has an extensive background in the development of a wide range of other technologies and business in general.

SM: Let’s start this conversation by reviewing your background. Where did you grow up?

GK:I grew up in a small town in eastern Texas called Orange. I had a fairly normal background but always had an interest in greenhouse plants. >>>

Innovating Web 2.0 Storage: Fabrik CEO Mike Cordano (Part 1)

Mike Cordano is the CEO and co-founder of Fabrik. Prior to Fabrik he served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Maxtor Corporation, where he was responsible for the formation and management of the Branded Products business unit. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado.

SM: Mike, take us back to your origins. Where are you from?

MC: I was born in Silicon Valley. My dad was a engineer at IBM and an early member of the storage team. >>>

Building An Indian Outsourcing Leader: MindTree CEO KK Natarajan (Part 1)

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

Krishnakumar Natarajan (KK) is the CEO of MindTree. Prior to co-founding MindTree, KK was chief executive of the Electronic Commerce & Financial Solutions Division at Wipro. KK has been elected to the Executive Council of NASSCOM for three consecutive terms and works towards strengthening India’s position in IT through strategic global initiatives. KK earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Madras and an MBA from the Xavier Institute, Jamshedpur. >>>

Still Innovating in Networking: A10 CEO Lee Chen (Part 1)

Lee Chen is the CEO of A10 Networks, which he founded in 2004 with a focus on innovation, networking and security. He previously held senior positions at Apple, Convergent, and InSync. Additionally, he was a co-founder at Foundry Networks and Centillion Networks. He has a BS in Electrophysics from National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan and a M.S.E.E. from San Jose State.

SM: Take us back to where you come from. Where did you grow up, what was your family environment, where does your story begin?

LC: I came from Taiwan about 29 years ago. I am from a fairly big family by today’s standards. >>>

Opportunities At The Cusps: FireEye CEO Ashar Aziz (Part 1)

Ashar Aziz is the CEO of FireEye and a highly technical engineer with extensive knowledge of networking, network security, and datacenter virtualization. Prior to FireEye, Ashar founded Terraspring, a company focused on datacenter automation and virtualization that was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2002. Ashar spent twelve years at Sun as a distinguished engineer. He has a EE from MIT and a CS degree from Berkeley.

SM: To start, take us back to where your story begins.

AA: My story begins in Pakistan where I was born and grew up. >>>

Anatomy of Innovation: Exodus Founder B.V. Jagadeesh (Part 1)

B.V. Jagadeesh is a successful entrepreneur and a proven leader. He was also the co-founder of Exodus Communications, a leader in the web co-location market that enjoyed a highly successful IPO. Prior to joining 3Leaf Systems as CEO, he served as group vice president and general manager of Citrix Systems’ Application Networking Group and as president and CEO of NetScaler.

SM: Jagdeesh, take us back to where your journey begins. Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where did you study?

BVJ: I was born in a small village on the outskirts of Bangalore, which is the so-called Silicon Valley of India. >>>

Conserving Cash: Veodia CEO Guillaume Cohen (Part 1)

Guillaume Cohen is the founder and CEO of Veodia, an SaaS streaming video service. Before founding Veodia, Guillaume was head of enterprise business at Envivio. He led the founding of the Enterprise Work Group at the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) and is a regular speaker at conferences. Here he shares his entrepreneurial journey with us.

SM: Where do you come from? What is your background?

GC: I was born in Bordeaux, France. I grew up in the southwest of France, where my family still lives. I moved to Paris to study and lived there for about 10 years before moving to the States. >>>

Hydro Energy Entrepreneur Wayne Krouse (Part 1)

Wayne F. Krouse is the chairman, chief executive officer, and founder of Hydro Green Energy. He founded the company in 2002 after a short but distinguished career with Nalco/Exxon Energy Chemicals. He was the Research & Development chairperson of the National Hydropower Association in 2007.

SM: Wayne, where do you come from?

WK: I am originally from Natchez, Mississippi. My family moved around a lot. We also lived in Houston and Memphis for periods of time, but we always came back to Mississippi. My senior year of high school we were in Memphis. I then went to Tulane University [in New Orleans] and got a degree in chemical engineering. >>>