From $100k to $1 Million: Tyranny Of The TAM

You’ve got customers.

You’ve got some level of validation.

You’ve got, perhaps, a reasonable degree of product market fit.

Now should you charge to the VCs for funding?

Wait a minute. There’s a major issue that needs assessment first and foremost.

Market Size.

What is TAM? Perhaps, the biggest factor in whether a VC funds you or not. TAM = Total Available Market.
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Featured Videos

299th Roundtable Recording On March 24, 2016: With DFJ Venture’s Heidi Roizen

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

March 31: Sramana Mitra Speaking To “Women Who Code Silicon Valley”

On March 31^st, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PDT, Sramana Mitra will be giving an interactive talk entitled, “Women Entrepreneurs: The Myth, The Minefield, The Movement,” for Women Who Code Silicon Valley at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California. She will discuss why talented women should not quit, how her fellow engineers and others can become entrepreneurs, take risks and not lose their sense-of-self. Beforehand, please check out some of Sramana’s writings on the topic here.

REGISTER HERE

Location:
Hacker Dojo, Large Event Room
599 Fairchild Drive
Mountain Vew, CA 94043
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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Norm Wu, CEO of i-Human Patients (Part 1)

There will be an acute need for trained medical professionals as healthcare becomes democratised around the world. Norm discusses what his company is doing in this very important realm using online education principles.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to i-Human Patients. What do you do? What trends are you working with?

Norm Wu: I’m a serial entrepreneur. Even in high school, I had a little bit of entrepreneurial experience. I was one of the co-founders of the campus radio station. I became very interested in technology. I started working in Silicon Valley after getting my BS and MS at Stanford. I worked on reconnaissance systems for the defense industry. This was during the Cold War when we really needed to understand what the bad guys were doing with respect to radars and missiles. >>>

From $100k to $1 Million: How to Choose a Business Mentor

These days, everyone seems to be a startup mentor. Whether they have ever done a startup or not, whether they have ever raised money or not, they are ready to advise entrepreneurs.

To those entrepreneurs looking for a mentor who can help you accelerate your business, please keep the above points in mind.

You need someone who is willing to tell you what you NEED to hear, not what you WANT to hear.
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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Jon Mott, Chief Learning Officer, Learning Objects (Part 1)

Some thoughts on learning objectives driven instructional design.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Learning Objects.

Jon Mott: I’m the Chief Learning Officer at Learning Objects. My responsibility at the company is to bring a learning science, higher education, and learning design perspective to both our product development and to implementations with clients. My background is both in academia and instructional design, as well as corporate education, adult learning, and corporate training.

Throughout my career, I’ve really had this focus on, “How do we help individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need at any given point in time to pursue goals related to the next things they’re trying to achieve in their lives?” >>>

Scaling an Educational Services Business to $50 Million: Todd Zipper, CEO of Learning House (Part 1)

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

The white-labeled education services business is scaling rapidly, and institutions of all sizes are building online programs. Learning House operates in the small, regional college and university segment, and has built a nice business.

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?

Todd Zipper: I was born in New York. I went to University of Pennsylvania for my undergraduate and studied History and Economics. Like many people from Penn in the mid 90s, I made my way to Wall Street – to the Equity Research Department of Solomon Brothers, which eventually became Citi Group. >>>

Bootstrapping an Education Company: Tod Browndorf, CEO of Coggno (Part 1)

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

Tod has built an interesting online education company focused on specific niche course types. Read on to learn more.

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?

Tod Browndorf: Wow! We’re really going way back. I’m originally from the east coast. I was born in South Carolina but was raised in New York and New Jersey for most of my life. I lost my father when I was 10 and a half years old. I started working very early in life. He was in the manufacturing business. I started working early through school. I travelled the world pretty extensively. I lived in Australia for quite a while. I lived in the Middle East and eventually started my career in Finance. I started off as a trader on Wall Street, then later here in San Francisco.

Sramana Mitra: What did you do for school? >>>

10 Women Leaders Running Bootstrapped Companies

As I was writing the previous post, 10 Women Leaders Of VC-Funded Companies, I noticed that six out of the 10 companies I included on the list followed aBootstrap First, Raise Money Later strategy.

My point of view is that as long as you follow this strategy, your chances of raising money is always going to be higher, whether you are a man or a woman.
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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Ron Olsen, CEO of Remote Learner (Part 1)

What kinds of technologies are missing from the portfolios of learning management systems that customers looking to launch online learning programs need? This is the subject of my conversation with Ron Olsen.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with some background about yourself as well as Remote Learner.

Ron Olsen: I’m the CEO of Remote Learner. Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve worked in a wide variety of industries and businesses. I’ve actually worked in the venture capital industry directly with a couple of VCs back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In general, I find myself having a deep appreciation for anybody who has actually started their own business regardless of how it got funded. I’ve actually started a few service-based companies myself.

In terms of my background, I’ve always had a passion for education and I taught entrepreneurship. I’m on the Board of an education-focused non-profit here in Colorado. When an opportunity to get involved with Remote Learner came up, it seemed to be a good blend of taking a company that has been around for a little while and growing it in new directions in an area which I’m passionate about.

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