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 Suresh Shanmugham of Saama Capital (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 Suresh Shanmugham was recorded in May 2018.

Suresh Shanmugham, Managing Partner at Saama Capital, talks about the Indian venture capital eco-system, trends, exits, and his firm’s investment strategy.

Sramana Mitra: What we’re going to do is get to know you and help our entrepreneurs, in particular, get to know how you think about investments. Tell us about your fund. Tell us about what your investment focus is. >>>

Featured Videos

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Steve Beck of Serra 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 Steve Beck was recorded in May 2018.

Steve Beck, Managing Partner at Serra Ventures, discusses his firm’s non-Unicorn investment thesis. Refreshing to hear.

Sramana Mitra: Let us introduce you to the audience. Tell us about the fund. How big is it? What kind of investments do you like to make? What is the focus? >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Curtis Feeny of Silicon Valley Data Capital (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 Curtis Feeny was recorded in April 2018.

Curtis Feeny, Managing Director at Silicon Valley Data Capital, talks about his firm’s investment thesis around Big Data and Machine Learning.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get our audience introduced to you. Tell us about your fund, investing focus, a bit about your background. Let’s get the audience to know you. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vivek Ladsariya of SineWave 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 Vivek Ladsariya was recorded in April 2018.

Vivek Ladsariya, Partner at SineWave Ventures, talks about the firm’s investment thesis, as well as trends in the industry.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to you as well as SineWave. What is your investment focus? How big is the fund? >>>

396th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Milos Sochor, Y Soft Ventures

Milos Sochor is Managing Partner at Y Soft Ventures, a firm in the Czech Republic. Fascinating conversation about how a small region is gradually becoming a powerhouse of innovation and entrepreneurship.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nilanjana Bhowmik of Converge (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 Nilanjana Bhowmik was recorded in March 2018.

Nilanjana Bhowmik, Co-Founder and General Partner at Converge, a new fund started after serving as the long-time General Partner at Longworth Capital. Their focus is B-to-B tech on the East Coast.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get to know you and your venture capital associations. What is your background. Let’s help our audience of entrepreneurs get to know you. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Tim Guleri of Sierra 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 Tim Guleri was recorded in April 2018.

Tim Guleri, Managing Director at Sierra Ventures, discusses at length his firm’s investment thesis, unique relationships with CIOs, and some of the industry trends he sees.

Sramana Mitra: We should start with you introducing yourself as well as Sierra to our audience. What is your investing focus today? How big is the fund? What are the things that you want to position the fund as that our audience should know about? >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Patricia Nakache of Trinity 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 Patricia Nakache was recorded in March 2018.

Patricia Nakache, General Partner at Trinity Ventures, discusses the firm’s investment thesis and some issues encountered by women in technology.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Trinity. Tell us about the fund and what you guys have been doing. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Clint Chao of Moment 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 Clint Chao of Moment Ventures was recorded in March 2018.

Clint Chao, Co-Founder and General Partner at Moment Ventures, discusses the vertical niche opportunities in the tech industry.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about yourself as well as the firm. Let’s get you introduced to our audience and get to know one another.

Clint Chao: Absolutely. I’ve been investing in venture capital since 2005. I had an opportunity to be part of a venture capital firm before starting >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ben Mathias of Vertex 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 Ben Mathias of Vertex Ventures was recorded in March 2018.

Ben Mathias, Managing Partner at Vertex Ventures, India, discusses the trends and dynamics of the Indian startup ecosystem, including exits. India needs exits at this point, even if they’re relatively small exits.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing you to our audience. Give us some background about yourself and some background about Vertex Ventures. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Anshu Sharma (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 Anshu Sharma was recorded in March 2018.

Anshu Sharma is an active angel investor who invests in Silicon Valley and India. Anshu has deep experience in the enterprise software space, and a thoughtful, sophisticated perspective. He is one of the early investors in Nutanix, which currently has a market cap of over $8.5 billion in the public market.

Sramana Mitra: Before we get into your investment activities, why don’t you tell our audience a bit about your professional >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Dennis Joyce of Alliance of Angels (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 Dennis Joyce of Alliance of Angels was recorded in March 2018.

Dennis Joyce, Investor and Member of Alliance of Angels, talks about the largest angel group in the Pacific Northwest.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about your investing focus. How does the Alliance work? What is the focus? What sized investment do you like to make?

Dennis Joyce: The Alliance of Angels is the largest angel investment network in the Pacific Northwest. We have a rotating membership of roughly >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Jeremy Schneider and Jonathan Pines of Webb Investment Network (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 Jeremy Schneider and Jonathan Pines of Webb Investment Network was recorded in March 2018.

Jeremy Schneider and Jonathan Pines, both Directors at the Webb Investment Network, discuss their firm’s investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: One of you take the lead in introducing the Webb Investment Network. I know you have a very particular model. I’ve known Maynard Webb for a long time actually. Tell us about the program. >>>

10 Seed Investors Discuss Startups in Their Portfolios via the Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum

During my many conversations with seed investors, I’ve asked everyone to talk about their current investment portfolios to help inform early-stage entrepreneurs interested in financing. Here are ten investors who generously share details on what they have invested in, the notable exits, and how they decide which startups to invest in.

Mackey Craven, Partner at OpenView Venture Partners, discusses what Series A VCs are looking for in the realm of software investments. We talk at length about the Series A gap from the perspective of a fund that focuses on Series A and beyond.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yipeng Zhao of Embark 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 Yipeng Zhao of Embark Ventures was recorded in March 2018.

Yipeng Zhao, Managing Partner at Embark Ventures, talks about the firm’s investment thesis, as well as broader industry trends and what should and should not be funded.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by helping our audience get to know you. What is your background? What is the focus of Embark Ventures? >>>