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.

570th Roundtable Recording with Anupam Rastogi, Emergent Ventures

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

Featured Videos

Roundtable Recap: April 7 – Spotlight on Pre-seed Funding

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest, Anupam Rastogi, General Partner at Emergent Ventures, a firm focused on B-to-B tech investments.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures (Part 1)

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

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner at Hourglass Venture Partners (Part 1)

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

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner and Founder at Ideaspring Capital (Part 1)

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

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by having you introduce yourself as well as Ideaspring.

Naganand Doraswamy: I grew up in Bangalore. I did my undergrad there and then came to the US in 1999 to do my Masters in Virginia Tech. After my Master’s, I moved up to Boston. I joined FTP Software where I wrote the first implementation of IP security of Windows 95.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Christopher Mirabile, Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group (Part 1)

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

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about your background as well as Launchpad.

Christopher Mirabile: I was actually an English major. I started my career in strategy consulting. I ended up getting a law degree and worked in a very tech-focused corporate firm. I ended up taking one of my clients public. I went in-house and became an executive and ultimately the CFO.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With BV Jagadeesh, Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures (Part 1)

BV Jagadeesh, Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures, and a super accomplished serial entrepreneur, discusses funding Bootstrapping with Services ventures.

Sramana Mitra: BV is a very well-known and accomplished entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and I’ve known him for a very long time. It’s great to have you here.

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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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

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