590th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Sramana Mitra, The Future of Capitalism

When I gave this talk in 2016, I spoke on the Future of Capitalism. I discussed how mass-scale automation engineered by Artificial Intelligence stands to render human beings useless. With nothing to do. With no mechanism to earn a livelihood. The Economic impact of AI on society was my primary concern. My general conclusion was that we need Universal Basic Income – a form of economic redistribution – to keep society from spinning out of control. This conclusion is now, by and large, an accepted remedy in a world that is about to go through extensive automation. However, it is likely to take a couple of decades to fully infiltrate society. So we’re not quite going to a post-work world immediately.

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Featured Videos

A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey into FinTech: Felix Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of finally (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: When you raised the credit capital, you got four term sheets from the credit capital side. How many customers or SMBs were on your platform?

Felix Rodriguez: A little over 500.

Sramana Mitra: And what was the total amount of transactions that you were seeing on that?

Felix Rodriguez: Half a billion a year in transactions.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped a Niche E-commerce Venture

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

I’ve always been bullish about niche e-commerce. Here’s the story from 2016 of an entrepreneur who had successfully bootstrapped a company in high-end light fixtures, Elite Fixtures CEO Steven Annese.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Steven Annese: I’m a child of an Italian immigrant. I was born in New Jersey. It was in the 70s when most of the Italians migrated.

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Video FAQs

A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey into FinTech: Felix Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of finally (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Did you raise the seed round through your own network or through a startup network?

Felix Rodriguez: We had a process to raise funding, and they certainly made introductions. But I had taken matters into my own hands. I was inviting investors to Demo Day. I sent out a cold email to Pat Matthews, the founder of Active Capital. He ended up leading our round.

A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey into FinTech: Felix Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of finally (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What you’re talking about is there are certain categories of businesses that are not bootstrappable.

Felix Rodriguez: That’s right.

Sramana Mitra: Being a FinTech company as a lender is not necessarily a bootstrappable business.

A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey into FinTech: Felix Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of finally (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: And in those four months, what kind of metrics did you have to show to be able to raise the series?

Felix Rodriguez: I’ll never forget how the numbers went. In the first month, our revenue was $4K. Then it was $16K, $40K, and then $80K. It was really a driver of if I spend more on ads, I’d get more customers. I was building a partner network to be able to convert those bookings into actual customers that actually use the service.

May 9 – 639th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 639th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

638th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

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