Roundtable Recap: February 28 – Pay Attention to Physical Experiences, Not Just Digital

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Rebecca Kaden, General Partner at Union Square Ventures. We discussed her firm’s capital efficient investment thesis and debated the pros and cons of blitzscaling.

Wellnesys
As for entrepreneur pitches, up first Muralidhar Somisetty from Bangalore, India, pitched Wellnesys, a digital powered yoga mat to help corporations offer personalized wellness services to their employees. We discussed business model and pricing model as it pertains to validation.

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Roundtable Recap: February 20 – Think Through Your Working Capital Needs

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Swapna Gupta, Senior Investment Manager, Qualcomm Ventures, who explained the firm’s investment strategy.

Zodhya
As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Rohith Pallerla from Hyderabad, India, pitching Zodhya, a hardware device that optimizes energy consumption in commercial air-conditioning systems. Zodhya already has paying customers. However, the company needs to address flaws in its working capital strategy that stems from the current pricing model. Very interesting and instructive discussion that entrepreneurs should listen to and learn from.

Qlicket
Next, Vivek Kumar from San Francisco, California, pitched Qlicket, a blue collar workforce retention solution, also with paying customers.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrap First and Raise Money Later

I wrote a book called Billion Dollar Unicorns a few years back. Writing this book took me through the extensive process of talking to entrepreneurs who have built tech companies with valuations above a billion dollars. While there is a tremendous amount of serendipity involved in any extraordinary success story, one recurring theme comes up in these case studies. I am particularly excited to share this nugget because it applies broadly to all classes of entrepreneurial ventures.

Bootstrap first, raise money later.

That’s what Fred Luddy did when he founded ServiceNow back in 2005. Leveraging his domain knowledge and expertise in IT ServiceDesk software, he rapidly acquired 12 customers before raising funding. Initially, he started charging $25 per seat and the 12 customers paid up. He raised $2.5 million in venture capital WITH 12 customers, and ample validation.

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Roundtable Recap: February 14 – A Discussion on the Indian B-to-B SaaS Opportunity with Yash Hemeraj of Arka Labs

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Yash Hemaraj, Founding Partner at Arka Venture Labs and Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV). Arka has recently partnered with 1Mby1M to accelerate Indian B-to-B SaaS companies.

SnapSupport
We then had Madhu Augustine, a 1Mby1M Premium member from the San Francisco Bay Area, pitch SnapSupport, a revenue generating B-to-B SaaS company.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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Roundtable Recap: January 31 – Perspective From Mumbai Angels Network

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Nandini Mansinghka, CEO and Managing Director at Mumbai Angels Network, one of the oldest angel networks in India.

Ownkicks
For pitches, first up, we had Lance Troh, from Avon, Connecticut, pitch OwnKicks, a marketplace for shoes and sneakers.

Emerge Co-Lab
Next, we had Kemo A’akhutera from Dayton, Ohio, pitch Emerge Co-Lab, a co-working space for under served entrepreneurs.

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Roundtable Recap: January 24 – The Changing Dynamics of Seed Investing

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Preeti Rathi, Partner at Ignition Partners. We discussed the changing dynamics of Seed Investing.

Kitchens On Rent
As for pitches, first up, we had Mohit Walia, from Noida, India, pitch Kitchens On Rent, an innovative concept for leveraging spare capacity in restaurant kitchens. Mohit is a Zomato alum and has just launched his business.

T2India
Next, we had Sutanu Banerjee from New Delhi, India, pitch T2India, a BPO service catering to tour operators. The company is doing over a million dollars in annual revenue, and is looking for growth strategies.

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Roundtable Recap: January 16 – Spotlight on Entrepreneurship in Central Europe

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Ondrej Bartos, General Partner at Credo Ventures based in Prague, focused on investing in Central European startups. Their major success story is UiPath in robotics process automation that has raised $265 million at a $3 billion valuation. UiPath has over 2,100 customers and claims to have annual revenues of $150 million. We discuss the Romanian company in some detail.

WellWrap
As for the pitches, first up, we had Abi Kariguiddaiah, a 1Mby1M Premium member from Danville, California, pitch WellWrap.

SharesInside
Next, we had Dave Hannam from Zurich, Switzerland, pitch SharesInside, a company that is currently at a $1M ARR level.

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Roundtable Recap: January 10 – Spotlight on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Vienna

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Founder and General Partner at SpeedInvest, a venture firm based in Vienna. It’s great to see exciting energy and activity in Vienna, one of my favorite cities.

Luvvul
As for entrepreneur pitches, first up, we had Nedra Fabito from Encinitas, California, pitch Luvvul, an app that allows stylists to shop effectively from across the Internet for fashion.

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