The Accelerator Conundrum: Navigating Your Path to Startup Success

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

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 Amir Banifatemi of K5 Ventures (Part 1)

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

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Amir Banifatemi was recorded in October 2017.

Amir Banifatemi is the Founder and Managing Partner of K5 Ventures, a fund focused on pre-seed, seed, post-seed, and early-stage investments from Southern California. Amir is also a Board Member and former President of Tech Coast Angels, a group of 340 angel investors from Southern California.

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Featured Videos

379th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With John Frankel, ff Venture Capital

John Frankel, Partner at ff Venture Capital, discusses the firm’s investment thesis as well as key trends in the industry.

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253rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Mohit Gulati, ITI Growth Ventures

Mohit Gulati, Founder and CIO of Altius Ventures, which recently changed their name to ITI Growth Ventures, discusses the Indian startup eco-system.

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243rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Alastair Mitchell, EQT Ventures

Alastair Mitchell, Partner at EQT Ventures, talks about the European Startup Funding trends.

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261st 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Eva Ho, Fika Ventures

Eva Ho, General Partner at Fika Ventures, discusses their investment thesis.

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Roundtable Recap: December 21, 2017 – What do Seed Investors Want with John Frankel, ff Ventures

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest John Frankel, Partner at ff Venture Capital, and we discussed that firm’s investment thesis as well as key trends in the industry.

Genneve
As for the pitches, first, Jill Angelo from Seattle, Washington, pitched Genneve, a well thought-through Web 3.0 concept for middle-aged women and their healthcare needs. It has elements of Content, Community, Commerce, and Personalization. The company is already in revenue.

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Seed Investors Discuss Ventures That Match Their Focus In Podcasts

If you are an entrepreneur looking for capital to fund your startup venture, you can start by prioritizing a list of qualities you are looking for in an investor as you search for your perfect match (or matches). Over the past few months, I’ve asked dozens of VCs and Angel investors the questions entrepreneurs should be considering while researching investors: What types of ventures are you focusing on? Industry sector? B-to-B/B-to-C? Stage? How big is your fund? What size investments do you make? Geography preferences? Current portfolio? Since investors are also looking for their perfect matches, you will find they are quite candid and specific in answering these questions as you listen to my most recent investor conversations, shared below as 30-minute podcast interviews. Follow along carefully to the conversations to first determine whether or not your venture is in fact ready for financing.

Ken Elefant, Managing Director, Sorenson Capital, discusses at length the investment thesis of his firm.

Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Director, Costanoa Ventures, shares his investment focus.

Raj Singh, Founder and Executive Director, Singh Ventures, offers a window into his firm’s investment thesis.

Anirudh Suri, Founding Partner, India Internet Fund, about the funding trends in the Indian startup market.

Photo credit: www.SeniorLiving.Org/Ken Teegardin/Flickr.com.

378th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Ken Elefant, Sorenson Capital

Ken Elefant, Managing Director at Sorenson Capital, discusses at length the investment thesis of his firm.

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268th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Raj Singh, Singh Ventures

Raj Singh, Founder and Executive Director at Singh Ventures, offers a window into his firm’s investment thesis.

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273rd 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Guy Resheff, Grove Ventures

Guy Resheff, former Partner at Grove Ventures, focuses the spotlight on Israel.

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378th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording On December 14, 2017: With Ken Elefant, Sorenson Capital

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

277th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Greg Sands, Costanoa Ventures

Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Director at Costanoa Ventures shares his investment focus.

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377th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Anirudh Suri, India Internet Fund

Anirudh Suri, Founding Partner at India Internet Fund, about the funding trends in the Indian startup market.

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Roundtable Recap: December 14 – Please Do NOT Assume Concepts Can Be Funded

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Ken Elefant, Managing Director at Sorenson Capital, who discussed at length the investment thesis of his firm.

OkiDoki
First, Elena Avramenko from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pitched OkiDoki, a Slack-like app for family collaboration.

Aponia Data
Next, Jason Wisdom, New York, New York, pitched Aponia Data, a risk management application for enterprise and mid-market clients in Financial Services.

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Seed Investor Podcasts On Which Startups They Invest In

If you are an entrepreneur in the market for raising financing, you need to understand your segment and the investors that align with it. As I keep pointing out, the early stage investment process has segmented significantly into Pre-Seed, Seed, Post-Seed, Pre-Series A, Small Series A, Large Series A, and firms and individual investors have started to specialize in a subset of these various stages. This Fall, I’ve asked many seed investors, VCs and Angels, how they decide which founders and startups they will invest in. Please have a listen to these 30-minute podcast interviews to learn which might be a good fit for you.

Amir Banifatemi, Founder and Managing Partner of K5 Ventures, a fund focused on pre-seed, seed, post-seed and early-stage investments from Southern California. Amir is also a Board Member and former President of Tech Coast Angels, a group of 340 angel investors from Southern California.

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