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. 

Do You HAVE to Raise Venture Capital to Build a Large Company and a Big Fortune?

There’s a GIGANTIC myth in the startup ecosystem.

Go BIG Or Go HOME!

Raise GOBS of Venture Capital.

Otherwise, you can’t build anything big.

It’s GIGANTIC Bullshit!

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 09 second video and learn how the Turakhia brothers have created over a billion dollars of personal wealth through significant exits without raising any venture capital:

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Featured Videos

Man and Superman: The Environmental Time Bomb

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

Parallel to the forthcoming disruption due to automation, there is another growing threat to humanity: the Environment.

In China, every year, a million people die of pollution related illnesses.

New Delhi, with a population of 18.6 million people, is the most polluted city in the world as of 2016.
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How Can You Raise Lots of Venture Capital and Then End Up Making No Money?

Are you good at Math?

Simple Math, nothing complicated.

Arithmetic, really.

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 04 second video and work through some simple math:

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Man and Superman: How Long Does Democracy Survive?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species, What CAN Be Controlled?, and Rationalizing Populations. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

The basic principle of Democracy is rooted in Humanism. Every life is equally precious and worth preserving.

It seems though that with the Man and Superman bifurcation, this sense of equality is no longer sacrosanct.

If these two segments of the population need to work within the same social structure, with the assumption that each person has one vote, then Man can pretty much steamroll Superman’s interests.
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Do NOT Dilute Your Equity Too Soon

We see lots of first-time entrepreneurs getting screwed by investors.

50% equity for $100,000 investment is a LOUSY deal.

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 06 second video of how Venky Balasubramanian kept his equity pie more or less intact:

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Man and Superman: Rationalizing Populations

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species, Man and Superman: What CAN Be Controlled? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

World population has been ballooning for years. As of August 2016, it was 7.4 billion, projected to increase to 8 billion in 2024, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

If the Man and Superman bifurcation happens, and a very small population of very rich, highly enhanced human beings segregate from the mainstream, the world will be in a deep funk.

Providing welfare services – universal basic income, food, healthcare – for 10 billion people will be an impossible task.
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Do Women Entrepreneurs Build Unicorns?

There is a myth in the startup eco-system that women entrepreneurs do not build billion dollar companies.

This is a MYTH.

Watch this inspiring 1 minute 33 second video of how Therese Tucker did build one:

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Man and Superman: What CAN Be Controlled?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous article in this series: Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going

It has been 500 years since the Scientific Revolution.

It has been a mere 200 years since the Industrial Revolution.

The pace of change humanity has experienced in the last 500 years, especially in the last 200 years, is immense. Science, coupled with the force of Capitalism, has created an intoxicating pace of change.

We call this change Progress.

Now, humanity faces the critical question: Will relentless Progress eventually lead to the extinction of humankind?
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Can Solopreneurs Succeed?

There is a myth in the startup eco-system that solopreneurs do not succeed.

This is a MYTH.

Watch this inspiring 1 minute 6 second video of how Sean Broihier navigated his journey:

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Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going. 

In the first segment of this series, I said that human history is about to bifurcate into two distinct classes: the wealthy, powerful, highly educated class that will come to dominate the future; and the useless zombie class that will be the planet’s majority.

Let’s explore this in some detail.
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