Probability of Raising Funding

I run One Million by One Million (1Mby1M) – a global virtual accelerator for startups. 2017 is our seventh year. And one particular trend keeps me awake at night. Thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs have approached us for help with their funding at a stage where their chances of getting funding is ZERO. We can’t help them, regardless of how powerful our investor connections are. We can’t help a startup get funding before they become fundable. It pains me to see how many entrepreneurs have no idea what makes a startup fundable.

So, my humble advice to all entrepreneurs: please learn to assess your own probability of getting funded. Watching this 2 minutes 53 second video would be a very good start if you need a crash course in fundability.

Want introductions to Angels and VCs? A fundable and validated business is a must. >>>

Featured Videos

Bootstrapping Using Services: Bay Dynamics Co-Founders Feris Rifai and Ryan Stolte (Part 1)

Feris and Ryan wanted to work together on a new venture. They first built a services company, then introduced an OEM product, and eventually bootstrapped a product under their own brand. The company has recently raised its first venture money after many years of being in business as a profitable, growing entity.

Sramana Mitra: One of you should probably get started. I want to go back to the very beginning of your journey, and learn about your pre-Bay Dynamics story. Where were you born, raised and, in what kind of background?

Feris Rifai: I was born in Beirut, Lebanon. That’s where I was raised till I was 18 years old. I then came to the United States to go to college. I went to school at Indiana University. It was a great experience for me. Throughout my journey when I was much younger in Lebanon, it was a bit of a difficult upbringing because we couldn’t find a way to get safety to be a part of our lives. I think it’s taught me a lot. It has helped me be, believe it or not, very optimistic. >>>

278th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording with Modernizing Medicine CEO Daniel Cane

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

Video FAQs

Roundtable Recap: January 16 – Investors Fund Businesses, Not Concepts

During today’s roundtable, we had a couple of formal slide presentations, and a number of shorter dialogues.

Direct Dialect
First, Thelson Richardson from Miami, Florida, pitched Direct Dialect, a language teaching application. Thelson started off by saying that he wants to build 700 products that covers English to Spanish, Dutch to French and every other permutation under the sun.

I spent the allotted time explaining to Thelson, this is not how companies are built. He needs to build ONE product and figure out how to bring it to market at the face of serious competition from players like Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur.
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Scaling a SaaS Company in a Competitive Space: Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta (Part 1)

Nick Mehta is the CEO of Gainsight, a B2B company that offers customer success management for SaaS companies with a goal of reducing churn. Prior to Gainsight, Nick was the CEO of leading SaaS e-discovery provider LiveOffice through its acquisition by Symantec. Prior to that was a vice president at VERITAS Software and Symantec Corporation. He has been an entrepreneur-in-residence at Trinity Ventures and an executive-in-residence at Accel Partners. He is a graduate of Harvard, from which he has a bachelor’s in biochemistry and a master’s in computer science.

Sramana: Nick, let’s start this story by getting your personal story. Where do you come from? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial career?

Nick Mehta: I was born in Massachusetts but spent most of my childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to school at Harvard and came out to California after college. I have been living in the Bay Area for around 15 years now. >>>

Equity Financing from Customers: Modernizing Medicine CEO Daniel Cane, Boca Raton, Florida (Part 1)

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

Daniel is president and CEO of south Florida–based Modernizing Medicine, Inc., a healthcare company that aims to change the way medical information is created, consumed, and used to increase efficiency, lower costs, and improve outcomes. Daniel has a BS from Cornell University where, as an undergraduate, he co-founded Blackboard Inc. Daniel serves as the vice-chairman of the board at the South Florida Science Museum and is a member of the Foundation Board at Florida Atlantic University. He is an active member of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, the Boca Chamber of Commerce, and several local advisory boards.

Sramana: Daniel, let’s start with your personal background in order to set the context for your entrepreneurial journey. Where are you from?

Daniel Cane: I grew up in south Florida. I had an entrepreneurial youth with the usual sets of lemonade stands and other endeavors to make a few bucks here and there. The beginning of my modern entrepreneurial experience happened during my sophomore year at Cornell University. I founded a company called CourseInfo with a very simple premise. >>>

Roundtable Recap: April 19 – Tyranny Of The TAM

During today’s roundtable, I found myself discussing Total Available Market (TAM) issues with three of the five presenters. So let me start off by providing some guidance on the topic for all of them as well as others who are facing similar challenges.

Folks, there can be no financing without a thorough articulation of market sizing. And market sizing, in our book, means a well-formulated Bottom-up TAM analysis with clear business model and pricing model assumptions. If you do not have this analysis, please put it together.

Once you have it, you need it to determine your fundability. Thumb rule: A small TAM means you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT raise financing. A large TAM means you may be able to raise money, provided the other requirements of fundability are met.
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Roundtable Recap: February 9 – Are You Fundable?

Today’s roundtable had a couple of interesting businesses, but before I get to them, I want to underscore that entrepreneurs MUST gauge fundability before assuming that they can build their businesses by raising money. We’re getting this question constantly: Can 1M/1M help us raise money? This short video addresses that question:

Now, let’s get to the entrepreneur pitches.
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