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.

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Investments in Indian Startups with Anand Daniel, Accel 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 Anand Daniel.

Anand Daniel, Partner with Accel Partners, discusses Accel India’s investment strategy at length. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

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Featured Videos

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sasha Mirchandani, Managing Director at Kae Capital 2020 (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Sasha Mirchandani, Managing Director at Kae Capital, was recorded in December 2020.

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.

520th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Rajeev Madhavan, Clear Ventures

Rajeev Madhavan is Founder and General Partner at Clear Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage deep tech investing.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing People vs. Market with Jon Staenberg, Staenberg 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 the Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Jon Staenberg.

Jon Staenberg, Managing Partner at Staenberg Venture Partners, has been a Seed Investor in over 400 ventures over the last 30 years. Jon draws from his long background and discusses some of what interests him to invest in a startup. He also reflects on the question People or Market: Which takes priority? You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund was recorded in October 2020.

Elizabeth Yin is General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed investment firm.

520th Roundtable Recording on February 18, 2021: With Rajeev Madhavan, Clear Ventures

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

Roundtable Recap: February 18 – Seed-stage Deep Tech Investing with Rajeev Madhavan, Clear Ventures

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Rajeev Madhavan, Founder and General Partner at Clear Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage deep tech investing.

Live MOMO

As for our entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Filip Todd pitching Live MOMO, a travel concept that leverages the remote work trend. Within 1Mby1M, we have an experienced entrepreneur pursuing my idea Startup Ideas for the Post Covid World: Facilitating Travel Experiences. Filip may benefit from connecting with this effort.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing the Silicon Valley – India Corridor with Naren Gupta of Nexus 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 the Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Naren Gupta.

Naren Gupta is Co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, a firm with an excellent track record of investing in the Silicon Valley – India corridor, but with a global market point of view. He is a veteran investor who is also strikingly polite and humble while sharing his insights, nuggets, and interesting wisdom. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

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Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Seed Rounds with Cindy Padnos, Illuminate 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 the Investor Introductions page. Then, start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today, I introduce you to Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures.

Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, discusses a topic that we’ve been highlighting recently: the need for multiple seed rounds as a way to bridge the Series A gap. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about Illuminate Ventures. What is the focus of the firm? How big is the fund? What sized investments do you make?

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners 2021 (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners was recorded in January 2021.

Mark Achler, MATH Venture Partners, focuses on B2B selling as a key factor in startup success.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Suman Talukdar, Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC (Part 1)

Suman Talukdar is Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping to Exit Discussion with David Lambert, Right Side Capital Management

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 the Investor Introductions page. Then, start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today, I introduce you to David Lambert of Right Side Capital Management.

David Lambert is Managing Director at Right Side Capital Management, a firm that invests small chunks of capital in capital efficient ventures. The firm is very much in line with the Bootstrapping to Exit philosophy we’ve been discussing. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about yourself. Tell us about Right Side. Let’s get acquainted.

David Lambert: I have predominantly been a career entrepreneur before starting Right Side Capital. I came out to the San Francisco Bay Area to go to Stanford in the late 80’s. A month after I graduated, I started my first company.

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519th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Eric Benhamou, Benhamou Global Ventures

Eric Benhamou is Founder and General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures.

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Roundtable Recap: February 11 – Early Stage Startups are NOT About Keeping All Options Open

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Eric Benhamou, Founder and General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures.

VRAcademi

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Sonal Ahuja from Dubai, UAE, pitching VRAcademi. The discussion is mainly about tightening the positioning.

WeConortium Limited

Next, we had Moibi Adkunle from Lagos, Nigeria, pitching WeConsortium Limited, and it was also a discussion about tightening the positioning.

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

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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518th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Daniel Cohen, Viola Ventures

Daniel Cohen, General Partner at Viola Ventures, discusses AI, PaaS and Deeptech investments.

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