Catching Up On Readings: Startups Failure Post-Mortem

This feature from CBInsights provides a compilation of the analysis of 463 startup failures since 2014. Funding, the lifeblood of startups, has dropped 34% from 2021 to 2022. Halfway through 2023, funding only sat at $130.2B, less than a third of 2022’s year-end total. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

Featured Videos

Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How much money did you make this way – from advertising?

Ankush Sabharwal: It’s more money than we would have made through subscription.

Sramana Mitra: Really?

Ankush Sabharwal: There are four million users on the website and more in the app every day.

Sramana Mitra: Traffic volume was very large. You just created a way to monetize that traffic for both of you.

Roundtable Recap: August 31 – Many Common Mistakes CAN Be Avoided with Good Strategy

During this week’s roundtable, we discussed a lot of issues around Positioning, Unit Economics, Business Models and TAM.

Designs Crunch

First up, we had Ali Rehman Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan, pitching Designs Crunch, a design service.

Skori

Then Charles Davey from England pitched Skori, an EdTech concept.

Laika

Next, Charlene Putney from Copenhagen, Denmark, pitch Laika, a Generative AI writing assistant for fiction writers.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Video FAQs

Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You were working at Ultisource when you negotiated with Indian Railways?

Ankush Sabharwal: Yes. In the appraisal cycle when I was about to quit the company, I got the highest rating. I was Group Manager that time. When you’re the manager’s manager, you hardly get the highest rating in appraisals.

September Udemy Coupons for Tech Startup Courses

Our time-tested 1Mby1M methodology for building technology startups has been packaged into short courses on Udemy as a part of our aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally.

We are offering you up to 85% off of the following Udemy courses this month, spotlighting our most informative and inspirational case studies of noteworthy technology startups.

These coupons will expire on September 30, 2023, so be sure to enroll today!

Bootstrapping:

Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later with Sramana Mitra: TRY1MBY1MSEP2023BTS

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Bootstrapping an AI Chatbot Startup with a Paycheck: Ankush Sabharwal, CEO of CoRover (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Going back to 2016, there were these platform providers but there were also these other startups that had full applications. Where was the gap? What is the justification of starting CoRover at that point?

Ankush Sabharwal: There were two sets of companies. One was the platform companies and the other is the implementation companies.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Employee Engagement Platform from Guwahati, India

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

I am always thrilled to do stories of pioneering entrepreneurs building technology startups in remote locations. Anjan Pathak, Co-founder and CTO of Vantage Circle, brings us into the nascent scene in Guwahati, in the northeast Indian state of Assam.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Anjan Pathak: I was born in a small town in North East India. It’s about 50 kilometers from Guwahati. I spent my childhood there. I studied in a very small school.

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616th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 616th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, August 31, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!