Roundtable Recap: March 7 – Do Not Reinvent the Wheel

During this week’s roundtable, we had four different discussions on startup strategy. In multiple cases, I see new entrepreneurs trying to ‘wing’ a startup process. Well, startup methodology exists. Please learn how to apply existing methodology. Do not reinvent the wheel.

TeammateMe

First Daniel Armani from Fremont, California, pitched TeammateMe. This is a classic chicken and egg situation. I don’t believe the strategy that was pitched will work.

Laztwordz

Next, Arun SP from Bengaluru, India, pitched Laztwordz. The idea needs a validation strategy and a GTM with velocity. I recommended two of my newly released Udemy courses:

Validation for Tech Startups by Sramana Mitra

B2B Sales Strategy for Tech Startups by Sramana Mitra

Unihub

Then, Rajmund Stolarczyk from Stettin, Poland, pitched Unihub. Here too, those two courses on Validation and B2B Sales Strategy would offer invaluable structure.

Beunik

From Envigado, Colombia, Andres Dominguez pitched Beunik. I recommended a switch in mindset from B-to-C to B-to-B.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Featured Videos

634th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 634th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, March 7, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9: 30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!       

634th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 30 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 634th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, March 7, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Video FAQs

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to Exit, Bootstrapped Again, then Raised VC Funds

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

Stephanie Leffler, Founder of OneSpace, had bootstrapped her first company to $20 million in revenue from St. Louis when we spoke in 2016. Her second company, also from St. Louis, was venture-funded and had crossed $10 million in revenue. Ascential acquired OneSpace in 2021. Awesome entrepreneur, inspiring woman! You can also listen to our conversation as a podcast here.

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

Stephanie Leffler: I am from Northern Virginia in Fairfax. I was actually born and raised there. Ultimately, I went to school at Washington and Lee University. I found my way to St. Louis as part of my entrepreneurial journey. I’ve lived here ever since.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Using Affiliate Marketing

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

Affiliate Marketing is at the heart of many wonderful bootstrapping stories. It’s inexpensive to get going and profitable quickly, and if managed well, can scale substantially. Zeeto Founder CEO Stephan Goss had bootstrapped a traffic arbitrage business to $42 million in 2015 revenue when we spoke in 2016. If you are working on an affiliate marketing / lead generation type of business, this is a useful conversation. You can listen to our entire interview [2:10 – 33:50] from our 1Mby1M YouTube channel:

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?

Stephan Goss: I was born in Switzerland, pretty close to Zurich. I came to the US in 2007.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrap, Pivot, Liquidity, Scale to $100M+

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

Fascinating story of MediaAlpha, beautifully told by Co-founder CEO Steve Yi in 2016. He relates how the team navigated through various experiments to over $100 million in revenue.

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?

Steve Yi: I was born in Seoul, Korea. When I was seven, my family immigrated to Minneapolis, which is where I consider myself to have grown up. I went to high school in a small town. I went to Harvard College and majored in East Asian Studies. I had no idea what I wanted to do afterwards. I gravitated towards professional services. I worked at a company called Mercer Management Consulting, which is my first introduction to the business world. I opened my first spreadsheet working in management consulting.

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Catching Up On Readings: Top Cybersecurity Trends 2024

This report from Gartner identifies the top cybersecurity trends for 2024. These include Generative AI (GenAI), unsecure employee behavior, third-party risks, and continuous threat exposure. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

New Positioning Course and March Tech Startup Course Coupons

This month we are introducing a new course, Positioning for Tech Startups by Sramana Mitra [Coupon Code: TRY1MBY1MMAR2024POS]. Whether you’re launching a new venture or revitalizing an existing one, this course teaches how to navigate the intricacies of positioning, showcasing its pivotal role in achieving product-market fit. With insightful lectures and real-world examples, this course unveils the keys to strategic positioning, from segmentation to competitive analysis, empowering entrepreneurs to captivate markets and drive demand.

We have packaged our proven 1Mby1M methodology for building technology startups into many short courses on Udemy as part of our aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally.

For the month of March we are offering you up to 85% off the following courses as well.

All of these coupons will expire on March 31, 2024, so enroll today!

Bootstrapping:

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later with Sramana Mitra: TRY1MBY1MMAR2024BTS

Bootstrapping a Startup with a Paycheck with Sramana Mitra: TRY1MBY1MMAR2024PAY

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