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 Vikas Choudhury of Pivot Ventures (2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s talk about some of the things you’ve invested in. We’ll talk about Pivot Ventures investments in a moment. You said you’re one of the first angel investors in the Indian ecosystem.

Talk a little bit about what you invested in 2005. How has that landscape changed? How has your investment evolved through that period?

Featured Videos

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot 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 Vikas Choudhury was recorded in May 2019.

Vikas Choudhury is Managing Partner at Pivot Ventures and President at Reliance Jio. He is one of the earliest Angel investors in India and invested in early successes like InMobi and Myntra. We discuss the evolution of the Indian startup and venture capital industry.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to both your activities.

447th Roundtable Recording on June 20, 2019: With Victoire Laurenty, Kerala Ventures

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

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar 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 Cristobal Perdomo was recorded in May 2019.

Cristobal Perdomo is Co-Founder and General Partner at Jaguar Ventures, a venture fund that invests in Latin America.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get to know you. Tell us about yourself as well as Jaguar Ventures. What do you like to invest in? What sized funds are you working with?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Shripati Acharya of Prime Venture 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 Shripati Acharya was recorded in April 2019.

Shripati Acharya is Managing Partner at Priven Advisors, advising Prime Venture Partners, a firm focused on core technology ventures in India. Unlike most VCs, Prime does do concept-stage investments.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get acquainted. Let’s get our audience introduced to you as well as to Prime.

448th Roundtable Recording on June 27, 2019: With Nnamdi Okike, 645 Ventures

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

Roundtable Recap: June 27 – Startup Trends Discussion with Nnamdi Okike, 645 Ventures

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Nnamdi Okike, Co-founder and Managing Partner at 645 Ventures. Excellent conversation about trends and his firm’s investment thesis.

Rigava Solar

As for the entrepreneur pitch session, we first had Arun Joshi from Haryana, India, pitch Rigava Solar, a solar systems integration firm.

Serve Community

Then Matt Turner from Alameda, California, pitched Serve Community, a gamified app for volunteering for non profits. Great concept!

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Michael Smerklo of Next Coast 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 Michael Smerklo was recorded in April 2019.

Michael Smerklo, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Next Coast Ventures, talks about some of the ventures his firm has invested in and the philosophy in general.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by getting to know you and introducing you to our audience. Tell us a bit about yourself as well as about Next Coast. 

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Sarbvir Singh of WaterBridge 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 Sarbvir Singh was recorded in April 2019.

Sarbvir Singh, Managing Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, talks about the firm’s India-focused investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about WaterBridge Ventures. What are your activities? Where are you positioning this fund? How big is this fund?

Roundtable Recap: June 20 – Startups, Prune Your Grapes

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest, Victoire Laurenty, Associate at Kerala Ventures in Paris who discussed the French eco-system.

Probus Sense

As for the entrepreneur pitch session, we first had Ankit Vaish from New Delhi, India, pitch Probus Sense, an IoT company that is focusing on the energy sector and is already generating revenues.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Taylor Greene of Collaborative 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 Taylor Greene was recorded in April 2019.

Taylor Greene, Managing Director at Collaborative Fund, shares his firms’ investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to you and to Collaborative Fund. Tell us about the fund. What is the fund size? What size checks do you like to write? Let’s get to know one another.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Daniel Ibri of Mindset 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 Daniel Ibri was recorded in April 2019.

Daniel Ibri, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Mindset Ventures, talks about his firm’s investment thesis in enabling US and Israeli companies to enter Brazil.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about yourself and about Mindset Ventures. Let’s get you introduced to our entrepreneur audience.

446th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Francis Simisim, Original Pitch Venture Capital

Francis Simisim is Partner at Original Pitch Venture Capital based in the Philippines. We had a very good discussion on how that ecosystem is developing.

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446th Roundtable Recording on June 13, 2019: With Francis Simisim, Original Pitch Venture Capital

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

Roundtable Recap: June 13 – Spotlight on The Philippines

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest, Francis Simisim, Partner at Original Pitch Venture Capital based in the Philippines. We had a very good discussion on how that eco-system is developing.

Asets-Lux

As for the entrepreneur pitch session, we first had Ashwini Oke from Dalheim, Luxembourg, pitch Asets-Lux, an enterprise software solution focused on the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, and a few other segments.

Sukhi

Next we had Rahul Kulkarni from Washington, DC, pitch Sukhi, a mental health solution.

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