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 Shripriya Mahesh, Founding Partner at Spero Ventures (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 Shripriya Mahesh was recorded in August 2020.

Shripriya Mahesh, Founding Partner at Spero Ventures, talks about mission-driven investing.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a little about your background as well as Spero Ventures. 

Featured Videos

509th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording on November 12, 2020: With Ashmeet Sidana, Engineering Capital

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

509th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Ashmeet Sidana, Engineering Capital

Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital, is the founder of a small venture firm that we have a great deal of respect for, and a personal friend. This is a wonderful conversation.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

Roundtable Recap: November 12 – Great Discussion on How to Build Platform Startups

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital. Ashmeet is the founder of a small venture firm that we have a great deal of respect for, and a personal friend. It’s a wonderful conversation.

DeepBrainz AI

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Arunkumar Venkataramanan from Bangalore, India, pitch DeepBrainz AI, an enterprise AI platform idea. The discussion offers valuable insights for those entrepreneurs trying to build platform companies.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

508th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Keith Bank, KB Partners

Keith Bank is Founder CEO at KB Partners, a venture firm focused on sports technology.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

508th Roundtable Recording on November 5, 2020: With Keith Bank, KB Partners

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

Roundtable Recap: November 5 – Spotlight on Indian Startups, as America Counts Votes

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Keith Bank, Founder CEO at KB Partners, a venture firm focused on sports technology.

SafeNet

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Joginder Singh from Haryana, India, pitched SafeNet – an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the Indian market. The company is already in revenue.

>>>

505th Roundtable Recording on October 15, 2020: With Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund

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

505th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

Roundtable Recap: October 15 – Brainstorming Post Covid Startup Ideas

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Elizabeth Yin, General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed investment firm.

Relefant

As for our entrepreneur pitch, this week we had Marko Lauhiala from Helsinki, Finland, pitching Relefant.

In addition, we had a great brainstorming session around one of my ideas from 8 Startup Ideas for the Post-Covid World around travel:

Facilitating Travel Experiences

There are two major trends that the world will need to take in stride in the Covid era: air travel will become expensive and people will be working remotely. The startup idea addressing these trends as explained here would be a $5-$10 Billion market cap company, a Unicorn.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mike Edelhart of Social Starts and Joyance Partners (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 Mike Edelhart was recorded in August 2020.

Mike Edelhart, Managing Partner at Social Starts and Joyance Partners, shares some fascinating developments from their portfolio, especially a healthcare startup that is thriving in the COVID-era.

504th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Suman Talukdar, AiSprouts.VC

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

504th Roundtable Recording on October 8, 2020: With Suman Talukdar, AiSprouts.VC

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

Best of Bootstrapping: What Should Startups Do To Raise Seed Capital in 2021?

In general, Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later is the best strategy. You need to be ready to raise money.

If you decide to raise money, I strongly suggest you read the 1Mby1M Seed Capital series of interviews on our blog ASAP. We’ve profiled investor after investor to understand their investment thesis. You need to get in their heads and get a sense of what they’re looking for, especially if you’ve never raised money before.

Remember, Investors are looking to multiply the money that they put into startups.

>>>

Roundtable Recap: October 8 – Find Your Segment Within Large Markets

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Suman Talukdar, Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC.

Examd

As for entrepreneur pitches, this week we had Shantanu Dev from Plainsboro, New Jersey, pitch Examd, an online exam proctoring solution.

>>>