Startup Success Comes from Customers Not Speculators

I want to share with you an insight from running the 1Mby1M program since 2008. Over 700 free mentoring roundtables with over 300k entrepreneurs. Thousands of case studies of successful entrepreneurs – the who’s who of tech startups – through interview based methodology development.

It is a complex exercise to give people a message that goes against the grain of media hype. 

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Featured Videos

How Entrepreneurs Learn Through Real Case Studies

I want to share with you some things we have learned in running the 1Mby1M program since 2008. Over 700 free mentoring roundtables with over 300k entrepreneurs. Thousands of case studies of successful entrepreneurs – the who’s who of tech startups – through interview based methodology development.

Our hypothesis about case-study based learning and mentoring is working very well. 

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How Entrepreneurs Learn Through Honest Feedback

I want to share with you some things we have learned in running the 1Mby1M program since 2008. Over 700 free mentoring roundtables. Over 300k entrepreneurs have participated.

It is extremely difficult to give negative feedback to entrepreneurs without triggering a defensive reaction. I was not good at this when we started.

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Bootstrapping an EdTech Venture to $6M, Ready to Scale with AI: Daniel Santos, CEO of Prepory (Part 1)

This story is a great example of an EdTech company that has built a validated, bootstrapped, profitable business that can potentially be scaled using AI.

1Mby1M Introduces Sramana Mitra’s Digital Mind – An AI Mentor for Startups

Dear Entrepreneurs,

We have some exciting news …

We’re ready to offer you a privileged (preview) access to the new AI Mentor product from 1Mby1M: Sramana’s Digital Mind.

You can “talk” to Sramana’s Digital Mind and ask questions about your strategy, your options, your idea, and anything else that is top of mind and needs discussion. Do you need help with Ideation? Validation? Positioning? Market Sizing? Go to Market Strategy? Funding?

Please try it and let us know how you like it.

The product is developed on top of technology from Delphi AI and connects to a large body of my writings, videos, lectures, speeches, mentoring sessions and more.

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Curriculum Flexibility for Rapid Learners

I learn best through fast-paced, hands-on experiences. Are the case studies and curriculum flexible enough for rapid learners?

What We Have Learned from Mentoring Startups Since 2008

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. I want to share with you some things we have learned in running the 1Mby1M program since 2008. Over 680 free mentoring roundtables. Over 300,000 entrepreneurs have participated.

We started experimenting with the roundtable format of online mentoring way back in the fall of 2008. At the time, 1Mby1M did not exist, not even in our heads. It wasn’t until my January 2010 New Year Resolution that the concept was born.

The 1Mby1M Premium program was launched at the end of 2010. It took us about one year to figure out how to do what we were hoping to do: help entrepreneurs at scale.

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New AI Cybersecurity Startup Case Studies Course and Coupons

Cybersecurity is one of the most dynamic sectors in tech, and one of the most challenging for startups to break into. Our new course, AI Cybersecurity Startup Case Studies, is designed to help you navigate this high-stakes industry with real-world examples of startups using AI to solve today’s most urgent security problems. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, technologist or aspiring founder, you’ll learn how others are building trust with hard-to-reach decision-makers like CIOs and CISOs, tackling new threat surfaces and breaking into the opaque buyer ecosystem.

This is your chance to explore how AI-driven startups are identifying critical gaps in cybersecurity, from agentic AI and API sprawl to remote infrastructure vulnerabilities and how they’re choosing the right go-to-market and funding strategies to succeed. Learn what works, what doesn’t and how to make smarter decisions at every stage of the journey.

For the month of August, we’re offering up to 85% off this course and all others listed below.

All coupons expire on August 31, 2025, so don’t miss your chance to enroll today!

Artificial Intelligence:

AI Cybersecurity Startup Case Studies: TRY1MBY1MAUG2025AICS

How to Bootstrap an AI Startup First and Blitzscale Later: TRY1MBY1MAUG2025AIBB

AI FinTech Startup Case Studies: TRY1MBY1MAUG2025AIFT

AI HealthTech Startup Case Studies: TRY1MBY1MAUG2025AIHT

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Building a Venture Scale Two-sided Marketplace for College Prep to 8-Figure Revenue: Empowerly CEO Hanmei Wu (Part 1)

EdTech is notoriously difficult to build at venture scale. Hanmei is doing it.

New Bootstrap an AI Startup First and Blitzscale Later Course + Coupons

If you’re building an AI startup, there’s a smarter, lower-risk path to success – bootstrap first, raise capital later. Our new course, How to Bootstrap an AI Startup First and Blitzscale Later, teaches you exactly how to do that for AI startups, using the powerful case study of a deep learning AI venture bootstrapped to over $5M ARR.

This course offers a masterclass in capital-efficient startup building, revealing how to achieve product-market fit, build real revenue, and attract investor interest after proving traction. You’ll learn from the startup’s six-year journey and gain strategic insights on how to avoid common startup mistakes, master ultralight go-to-market methods, and build fundable B2B AI solutions that scale.

For the month of July, we’re offering up to 85% off this course and all others listed below.

All coupons expire on July 31, 2025, so don’t miss your chance to enroll today!

Artificial Intelligence:

How to Bootstrap an AI Startup First and Blitzscale Later: TRY1MBY1MJUL2025AIBB

AI FinTech Startup Case Studies: TRY1MBY1MJUL2025AIFT

AI HealthTech Startup Case Studies: TRY1MBY1MJUL2025AIHT

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