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.

560th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with BV Jagadeesh, KAAJ Ventures

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

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Featured Videos

564th Roundtable Recording with Rahul Chandra, Arkam Ventures

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

Roundtable Recap: February 17 – Spotlight on Indian Venture Capital

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. The discussion spanned historical context to current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!

Lumenasia

As for our entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Ashwini Padiyar from Mumbai, India, pitch Lumenasia, a firm assembling manufacturing reps for the lighting industry.

Hyberconnect

Then we had Rajiv Kumar Singh from Asansol, India, pitch Hyperconnect, an electric vehicle charger company.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deepak Gupta, Founding Partner at WEH Ventures (Part 1)

Deepak Gupta, Founding Partner at WEH Ventures, discusses his fund’s pre-seed and seed funding strategy for Indian startups.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about yourself as well as WEH Ventures.

Deepak Gupta: I had been part of the venture ecosystem over the last 20 years off and on. In the last six or seven years, I have been running a fund called WEH Ventures. We are now on our second fund. We do pre-seed to seed investments which are primarily focused on the Indian market. We have a few companies that are facing overseas. We are fairly sector-agnostic.

Roundtable Recap: February 10 – Discussion on Pre-Seed Funding

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner at Hourglass Venture Partners, and a former 1Mby1M Premium member who has now formed his own venture fund.

Homeroots

As for our entrepreneur pitch, we had Gil Bar-Lev from Fairfield, New Jersey, pitch Homeroots, a company already beyond $5M in annual revenue, looking to raise a Series A.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Eva Yazhari, General Partner at Beyond Capital Ventures (Part 1)

Eva Yazhari, General Partner at Beyond Capital Ventures, discusses Impact Investing in Africa and India.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself and Beyond Capital Ventures. Tell us a bit about your background and what you’re trying to do with Beyond Capital.

11 Udemy Courses On How To Raise Seed Funding in Latin America

If you are building a startup in Latin America, this course may enhance your understanding of Latin American startup financing. You’ll get knowledge from real-world Latin American investors as if you had a chance to have a mentor advice session with them. To apply current discount coupons, click on the courses found HERE.

562nd Roundtable Recording with Naganand Doraswamy, Ideaspring Capital

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

Roundtable Recap: February 3 – More Discussion on Non-Unicorn Chasing Investor Philosophy

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner and Founder at Ideaspring Capital. Naganand added to our thesis on great investment opportunities within the sub $100 million exit space.

Tonic Audio

As for our entrepreneur pitch, we had Eithan Clift from Reno, Nevada, pitching Tonic Audio, a platform for musicians to create songs.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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557th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Eva Yazhari, Beyond Capital Ventures

Eva Yazhari, General Partner at Beyond Capital Ventures, discusses Impact Investing in Africa and India.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, Founder of Malpani Ventures (Part 1)

Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, Founder of Malpani Ventures, is an active angel investor in Indian startups for the past decade. Wonderful conversation.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s catch up a bit on what has been going on in our collective universe and how you see the world based on all these years of observing the ecosystem. How do you see the Indian startup ecosystem evolving?

Roundtable Recap: January 27 – Non-Unicorn Chasing Investment Philosophy

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Christopher Mirabile, Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group. We had an awesome conversation about a non-Unicorn chasing investment philosophy. If the topic interests you, please check out my Udemy course Alternatives to Unicorn Chasing VCs with Sramana Mitra.

Das Infomedia

1Mby1M Premium member Dhaval Patel from Ahmedabad, India, pitched Das Infomedia. We discussed positioning for a new product.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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11 Udemy Courses On How To Raise Seed Funding in the US Midwest

While the broader trends are similar throughout the United States, I find Midwestern investors to be very pragmatic. They’re usually more interested in capital-efficient startups and more accepting of early exits at modest multiples.

Roundtable Recap: January 20 – Discussion on Funding Bootstrapping with Services Ventures with BV Jagdeesh

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest BV Jagadeesh, Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures, and a super accomplished serial entrepreneur.

Dataplant

Nilay Khadepau from Mumbai, India, pitched Dataplant a company focused on giving consumers better control over their data.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc. (Part 1)

Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development for Chegg Inc. discusses exit strategy within EdTech.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with a little bit of introduction. What path have you pursued in the industry? Then we’ll get into some specific topics.

Seong Kim: I’ve been working in Corporate Strategy & Development for the past six and a half years. To me, it’s important to articulate my role in that way because the strategy part must lead the development part. The characteristic that most differentiates what I do now versus what I did prior is the strategy part.