The Accelerator Conundrum: Navigating Your Path to Startup Success

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.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ken Elefant, Partner and Co-Founder at Sorenson Ventures 2021 (Part 1)

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

Ken Elefant, Partner and Co-founder at Sorenson Ventures, talks about trends and his investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about your funds. I know you have been working with your fund one and you are in the middle of raising your fund two. Fund one was about $100 million, right?

Featured Videos

523rd Roundtable Recording on March 18, 2021: With Tim Guleri, Sierra Ventures

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

Roundtable Recap: March 18 – Business Model Innovation

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Tim Guleri, Managing Director at Sierra Ventures. We had a terrific discussion on Business Model Innovation and Distribution Innovation that Tim believes trumps technology innovation. We went through some excellent examples. Do give this a listen!

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing the Evolution of the Indian Startup Industry with Sasha Mirchandani, Kae Capital

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

Sasha Mirchandani is Founder and Managing Director of Kae Capital, an early stage fund focused on India. I’ve known Sasha for over a decade, and we discuss the evolution of the Indian startup industry at length. You can listen to the podcast interview here and the roundtable recording here:

>>>

522nd Roundtable Recording on March 11, 2021: With Laurel Touby, Supernode Ventures

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

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Seed Rounds with Bruce Cleveland, Wildcat Venture Partners

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Bruce Cleveland.

Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners, is one of the early employees at Oracle, as well as a co-founder of Siebel Systems. His book, The Traction Gap, shares the framework that his firm uses in its venture capital practice. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here and watch the roundtable video below:

>>>

Roundtable Recap: March 11 – Tough Love

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Laurel Touby, Managing Director of Supernode Ventures, who spoke about pre-seed investing in Latin America.

EBuzzSpace.com

As for our entrepreneur pitch, we had George Kajaia from Tbilisi, Georgia, pitch EBuzzSpace.com. a very large, nebulous concept that he is trying to raise money for, but I think is unfundable.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Open Opportunities with Hemant Mohapatra, Lightspeed Venture Partners

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Hemant Mohapatra.

Hemant Mohapatra, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, India, talks about some of the large, open opportunities in the Indian market that are of interest to him. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here and watch the roundtable video below:

>>>

521st 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With John Frankel, ff Venture Capital

John Frankel is Partner at ff Venture Capital. We had an extensive discussion about Covid’s impact on the startup ecosystem, the changes we notice, so forth.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

521st Roundtable Recording on March 4, 2021: With John Frankel, ff Venture Capital

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

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Investing Across Sectors in India with Swapna Gupta, Qualcomm Ventures

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Swapna Gupta.

Swapna Gupta, Senior Investment Manager at Qualcomm Ventures, explains the firm’s investment strategy. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

>>>

Roundtable Recap: March 4 – Covid’s Impact on Startups

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest John Frankel, Partner at ff Venture Capital. We had an extensive discussion about Covid’s impact on the startup ecosystem, the changes we notice, so forth.

IBEDx

As for our entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Kaustubh Kashyap and Ismail Umar from Dubai, UAE, pitch IBEDx, an EdTech venture.

Digial Sound Catcher

Next, Manuel Mionl from Las Vegas, NV, pitched Digital Sound Catcher, a chip venture.

Safe Deal

Then, Chen Osipov from Fremont, California, pitched Safe Deal, a browser extension for safe shopping.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Investment Strategy With Deepak Jeevankumar, Dell Technologies Capital

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Deepak Jeevankumar.

Deepak Jeevankumar, Managing Director at Dell Technologies Capital, discusses his fund’s focus and preferences. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Investing in Concept Stage Startups with Matt Holleran, Cloud Apps Capital Partners

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Matt Holleran.

Matt Holleran, General Partner at Cloud Apps Capital Partners, talks about his firm’s investment thesis in what he calls Series A. His is one of the rare firms that invest at the concept stage. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about yourself,a bit of your background, and about Cloud Apps.

Matt Holleran: The most interesting market in the world and business problems to work on are business software problems. I’ve been in the business software industry for 25 plus years in leading customer support companies in the enterprise software world like Salesforce.com, Clarify, and Datasweep. I started my career at Morgan Stanley. Then I was at another firm called Emergence Capital Partners for six years prior to starting Cloud Apps Capital Partners in 2014.

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Startups in Africa with Osayi Igharo, Ripple VC

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Osayi Igharo.

Osayi Igharo, Managing Partner at Ripple VC discusses startups and venture capital in Africa. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

>>>