The Accelerator Conundrum: Navigating Your Path to Startup Success

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

Alright, let’s cut through the noise and get to the brutal truth of the startup accelerator world. Many entrepreneurs, starry-eyed and naive, leap headfirst into 3-month accelerator programs without truly understanding the long-term implications. It’s time for an incisive commentary, a necessary dissection.

1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Financing

Raising money to build a startup is a huge challenge. To be able to raise any money at all, you must first understand how investors think. We have developed the following courses catering to entrepreneurs in different stages of their entrepreneurial journey.

567th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Zain Jaffer, Blue Field Capital

Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital, discusses trends in PropTech.

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Featured Videos

567th Roundtable Recording with Zain Jaffer, Blue Field Capital

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

Roundtable Recap: March 10 – Spotlight on PropTech

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital, discussing trends in PropTech.

Pathaway

As for entrepreneur pitch today, we had Crystal Williams from Cleveland, Ohio, pitch Pathaway. She has an interesting decision ahead: to build a business or do a non-profit with her concept.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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566th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Julie Lein, Urban Innovation Fund

Julie Lein, Managing Partner at Urban Innovation Fund, discusses pre-seed and seed funding in companies focused on the betterment of cities.

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566th Roundtable Recording with Julie Lein, Urban Innovation Fund

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

Roundtable Recap: March 3 – Discussion on Pre-Seed Financing

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Julie Lein, Managing Partner at Urban Innovation Fund discussing Pre-Seed and Seed funding in companies focused on the betterment of cities.

IdeaMySpace

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Sidhartha Domathoti from Hyderabad, India, pitch IdeaMySpace, a vertically integrated business for designing and building homes.

Nriway

Next we had Chintesh Chopkar from Nagpur, India, pitch Nriway, a 2-sided marketplace for NRIs to get tasks done in India.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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565th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Krishnakumar Natarajan, Mela Ventures

Krishnakumar Natarajan, Co-founder of Mela Ventures, and former CEO of MindTree, discusses the Indian Venture ecosystem.

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565th Roundtable Recording with Krishnakumar Natarajan, Mela Ventures

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Roundtable Recap: February 24 – Further Discussions on Indian Venture Capital

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Krishnakumar Natarajan, Co-founder of Mela Ventures, and former CEO of MindTree, discussing the Indian Venture ecosystem.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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564th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Rahul Chandra, Arkam Ventures

Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, is a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. This discussion spans historical context to current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!

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563rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Gans Subramanian, Hourglass Venture Partners

Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner at Hourglass Venture Partners, and a former 1Mby1M Premium member who has now formed his own venture fund.

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562nd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Naganand Doraswamy, Ideaspring Capital

Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner and Founder at Ideaspring Capital, adds to our thesis on great investment opportunities within the sub $100 million exit space.

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561st 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Christopher Mirabile, Launchpad Venture Group

Christopher Mirabile is Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group. We have an awesome conversation about a non-Unicorn chasing investment philosophy.

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561st Roundtable Recording with Christopher Mirabile, Launchpad Venture Group

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

563rd Roundtable Recording with Gans Subramanian, Hourglass Venture Partners

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