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.

Right Technology, Right Time: Opportunistic Ocarina CEO Murli Thirumale (Part 1)

Timing is an essential aspect of any successful venture. Attempt to launch the venture too soon and the market may not exist or be mature enough to sustain your venture. Enter the market too late and you are bound to be fighting competition. Murli Thirumale has repeatedly brought high technology to the market, and recounts his successes and failures with market timing with some invaluable lessons. Here we review his portfolio of ventures and discuss his current startup, Ocarina Networks.

SM: Murli, let’s start with your background. Tell us where you come from, a bit about your background and what brought you to where you are now.

MT: My hometown is Bangalore, the city of traffic jams! I traveled up north and went to school up north in Benares. From there I went right to Chicago to go to business school at Northwestern. After Northwestern I came out here and worked for HP for the next 15 years. >>>

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Pioneering Change in the Memory Market: MetaRam Visionary Fred Weber (Part 1)

One trend occurring over the past decade is a reduction in the overall innovation by entrepreneurs in the semiconductor space. With the roll out of multi-core processors it is obvious that chokepoints in processing speed are going to lie in places like the bus and memory. That is where MetaRam comes into play. A small team like the one at MetaRam, developing next generation memory, promising dramatic performance increases (8GB Dimms and 8GB DDR2 RDIM are just appetizers), is just the type of venture the Valley needs more of. Aside from impressive technology there is a vetted strategic roll-out in place, orchestrated by Fred Weber, former CTO of AMD. >>>

Catching Up on Readings: Bootstrap Yourself!

Amidst the ocean of content that is coming at you, readers, I am sure you find yourselves overwhelmed. Here’s a recap of some articles from this site which you may have missed, but may be worth your time: >>>

Mashing Together A Job Search Engine: SimplyHired CEO Gautam Godhwani (Part 1)

There are plenty of job search engines out there. So what makes this one an interesting story? It’s their innovation (the first to use the new LinkedIn API), their ability to reach localized job markets (over 30,000 cities), and all while delivering a customized user experience. This is the direction that successful vertical search engines will (and must) go to truly deliver a value added experience. Here SimplyHired CEO Gautam Godhwani discusses his past ventures, his current venture and his vision for the future.

SM: Let’s begin by discussing your pre-SimplyHired story. What can you share to inspire potential entrepreneurs?

GG: I am not sure what others will consider inspirational! I have been in this area for 26 years. I grew up in Delhi and spent the first 9 years of my life there. My dad worked for the government so he moved around a lot. I went to various places in north and south India and spent a year in Kabul, Afghanistan. I spent a year in Houston when I first came to the US in 1981, and I have been in California since then. >>>

Your Virtual Travel Concierge Has Arrived : Mobissimo CEO Beatrice Tarka (Part 1)

Since its launch in October of 2003, travel search engine Mobissimo.com has created a staunch following of “MobiFans”. With a sweet spot in international travel it has been very successful catering to a niche other travel sites have largely neglected. There are over 300,000 travel properties in the world yet online travel agents (OTAs) focus on approximately 42,000. Aside from re-defining the standards for comprehensive travel search engines, Mobissimo has set new standards for the overal user experience – it’s like having your own personal concierge service. Mobissimo co-founder and CEO Beatrice Tarka takes us through the Mobissimo journey. >>>

OpenSource Thought Leader and CollabNet Founder Brian Behlendorf (Part 1)

When I think OpenSource, I think about a certain well-known figure from my grad student days at MIT, who never showered, slept in his office, and believed that software should be free. Today, I bring you a different sort of OpenSource pioneer: one with a business sense! Brian Behlendorf, as you will get to know him through this series, has successfully melded his passion
for OpenSource with a rather astute set of moves to found CollabNet. >>>

Education & Technology: Now Is the Time – HotChalk CEO Edward Fields (Part 1)

Technology has long been a tool in the classroom but hasn’t always been the most effective one. Edward Fields, founder & CEO of HotChalk, an online learning resource for pre K-12 teachers, is looking to change that. >>>

Shutterfly’s Strategy: A Conversation with CEO Jeff Housenbold (Part 1)

SM: Jeff, let’s start with your personal background. JH: I grew up in Brooklyn NY, lived in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and now out here in San Francisco.

SM: Why so many locations? JH: Mostly in New York and New Jersey as a child. I was a strategy consultant and my wife worked at Bain as well, so we switched cities frequently. Then the Internet boom started and I graduated Harvard Business School. I went into strategy consulting in the entertainment and media space. I co-founded the media strategy practice at Accenture. >>>

Lars Dalgaard and his Success Factors (Part 1)

If you think you need to have Silicon Valley DNA to become a successful technology entrepreneur, Lars Dalgaard proves that it ain’t so. Lars is the CEO of SuccessFactors (Nasdaq: SFSF), a SaaS company which recently went public.

SM: Lars, I want to start with your personal background – tell me who you are. LD: You don’t have that much time! I was born in Denmark – I have a Danish passport. I lived in Denmark until I was 18, with a brief break when I lived in England from 13 to 16. >>>

Building a New Venture Firm: Brian Jacobs of Emergence Capital (Part 1)

Most Venture Capitalists that entrepreneurs work with these days have never been entrepreneurs themselves. They have not had to take substantial personal risks. They are used to cushy lifestyles, fat paychecks, and existing brands that their firms have built long before they came on board. >>>