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.

Learn How Angels Think: Take The 1M/1M Self-Assessment Test

Angels often tell us that 99% of entrepreneurs who come to them are unfundable. Are you one of them? >>>

Featured Videos

Strategy Consulting For Startups: $1,000 A Year vs. $5,000 A Day

We are proud of the entrepreneurs who are currently in our 1M/1M Premium Program.

We call them early adopters. They understood the value of the 1M/1M right away. So far, everyone is working hard, advancing at their own pace and not giving up.

Most paid the $1,000 fee out of their own pocket and, understandably, they want to get the most out of their investment. >>>

How Not To Get Rejected By Business Accelerators

Did you know that 99% of the entrepreneurs who apply to Y Combinator or any other hot business accelerator are rejected? I am saying this in case you are thinking of applying.

Let’s face it, rejections hurt.

But if you want to get into your favorite business accelerator, we can help. Join the 1M/1M Program today, and let’s take one step a day toward that specific goal.

At 1M/1M we accept entrepreneurs as they come, warts and all. (You would never hear an investor say that.) >>>

Pre-Incubation For Sustained Deal Flow

By guest author Irina Patterson

Last week we talked about private investors – the so-called friends, family, and fools. Known as the 3 Fs, they usually invest a few thousands here and there. But as scrappy as we are, we still recommend the 1M/1M education  first and any capital injection second, even if the investment is only $5,000. >>>

Free vs. Paid Help For Entrepreneurs

By guest author Irina Patterson

Let’s talk about the $1,000 annual membership fee for the 1M/1M Program. If you are thinking about joining the 1M/1M, I am sure you are pondering that fee question … so, let’s talk about it.

The 1M/1M Program is a business. It’s built on the same principles that we teach entrepreneurs at 1M/1M, which are: to offer a solution to a true problem and to make sure that your product or service adds real value so that our customers are willing to pay for it. >>>

How To Get FREE Feedback On Your Business Strategy

By guest author Irina Patterson

Working on a business? Have you pitched it at the 1M/1M Free Strategy Roundtable yet?

It’s a great way to get some early feedback on your business from a Silicon Valley veteran like Sramana Mitra. This kind of expert feedback is not easy to obtain even if you can afford to fly to California. >>>

How To Turn Fool’s Gold Into The Real Thing

I recently read a book called Fool’s Gold? The Truth Behind Angel Investing in America by Scott Shaine. Scott is an angel investor himself and is a professor of entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University. >>>

How To Access Silicon Valley’s Tribal Knowledge

By guest author Irina Patterson

Let’s be pragmatic. Sramana labored over six years to assemble over 500+ case studies of successful entrepreneurs. She collected nuggets of entrepreneurial wisdom. A lot of it came from Silicon Valley where she’s based — Silicon Valley’s tribal knowledge — as she calls it.

She synthesized this tribal knowledge into the 1M/1M Curriculum, so that you could zip through it in 50 hours straight, or take it in slowly, at your own pace, no matter where in the world you are based.

Entrepreneurs who are currently in the program tell me that they recouped the $1,000 program fee as soon as they went through the 1M/1M Curriculum and that’s after they’ve been in the program only for a few days.

The Curriculum alone helped them to avoid many costly mistakes, they said.

I can only imagine what they will gain in a year of practicing 1M/1M methodology, taking advantage of 1M/1M PR channels and using 1M/1M introductions to key customers and financing sources.

So, be pragmatic, don’t work alone, leverage resources of others.

Note: If you are considering becoming a 1M/1M premium member and would like to join our mailing list to receive ongoing information, please sign up here:

How To Become An Agent Of Change In Your Region

By guest author Irina Patterson

MAD Incubator is a government supported business incubator in Malaysia. MAD is one of 1M/1M strategic partners in Asia. Andrew Wong, managing director of MAD, reached out to 1M/1M, after he read Sramana’s Entrepreneur Journeys book series.

After grasping what 1M/1M could do for his region, Andrew rallied his local ecosystem from government officials to VCs, and together they are working on sponsoring a group of entrepreneurs to go through the 1M/1M program starting this fall. >>>

How to Become a Fundable Entrepreneur

By guest author Irina Patterson

As we talked to VCs and angels, we discovered that less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who apply for their funding get funded.

Think about it, less than 1%.

One of the Silicon Valley’s super angels, Mike Maples, told us that he gets 7,000 deals a year and invests in 12 to 15. That’s a 0.21% hit rate. The flip side: a 99.79% rejection rate.

With those odds clearly stacked against you, what are you doing to become fundable? >>>

Is Your Region Full Of Savvy Entrepreneurs?

By guest author Irina Patterson

Unless you’re based in Silicon Valley, I don’t think so. Many economic development organizations and incubators spend considerable time and money to attract savvy entrepreneurs to their regions.

Sometimes, they manage to get entrepreneurs from another state or even another country to move to one of their regional incubators. But all the while, their local entrepreneurial potential remains an untapped resource.

Who are those unrealized entrepreneurs that exist in great numbers in every region? Well, they come in different flavors.

>>>

How Not To Sell Equity Too Cheap, Too Soon

By guest author Irina Patterson

At our 1M/1M roundtables, we often hear horror stories of entrepreneurs who have sold 25% of their company to investors in exchange for $15,000.

I always find Sramana jumping off her chair when she works with those entrepreneurs.

>>>

How Do You Connect Deeply To Silicon Valley?

By guest author Irina Patterson

Amidst widespread talk of tech bubbles, it is clear that Silicon Valley is back.

Sramana Mitra, the owner of this blog and founder of the 1M/1M Program for entrepreneurs, has been a Silicon Valley insider for more than 15 years.

She can connect the dots and open many Silicon Valley doors for entrepreneurs through the 1M/1M Program, no matter where they are based, as she did for Gioacchino La Vecchia, a 1M/1M entrepreneur from Italy, when she helped him to secure a channel deal for his company, CrowdEngineering, through a strategic partnership.

The sooner entrepreneurs join 1M/1M and demonstrate readiness by following 1M/1M  methodology, the sooner Silicon Valley introductions will start rolling in for them.

We at 1M/1M are open to partnerships with incubators and any other organizations that support entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley.

Note: The 1M/1M team has invested significant resources to engage with and understand the challenges of the incubator industry around the globe. You can sign up for our opt-in mailing list to get this information via email on an ongoing basis.

How Not To Waste Your Money On Useless Things

By guest author Irina Patterson

Entrepreneurs often say to me, “I love 1M/1M. I’d love to join, but I don’t have $1,000.” Then we talk some more and I find out that they spend $15,000 on building their site without validating their idea. Or, they paid someone $2,000 to write their business plan in hope that it will help them to raise money. Now, armed with this business plan for an unproven business idea they are shopping for investors and willing to pay big bucks to anyone who would help them to accomplish this ‘mission impossible’.

Now, let’s imagine that you want to spend only $1,000 at this stage to validate your idea, develop your business strategy and figure out a plan of action. Let’s say you saved it, or borrowed it, or put it on your credit card, whatever. You have budgeted $1,000 and that’s all you have.

I highly recommend to invest this $1,000 into your 1M/1M education before you spend it on any other business expense. Here is why.

Once you join 1M/1M, go straight through 50 hours of the 1M/1M Curriculum.

After that, you’ll see why it wouldn’t be wise to spend $15,000 on building your site, until you fully validate your idea. You’ll learn all about free and almost free tools that will help you to validate your business idea and find your first customers and/or partners. You’d be very glad that you avoided that $15,000 mistake.

At 1M/1M, you also learn the very thought process behind building a business. So, when it will come to writing a business plan, you will be able to do it yourself. Another $2,000 is saved there.

As you build your business at 1M/1M, you don’t have to worry about where your funding will come from. If you focus on validating your idea and executing following its methodology, the support of the 1M/1M network will connect you to funding sources.

Often, with the right idea, your customers will fund your business. All you should be doing is focusing on learning and building.

That’s it. Take that $1,000 and invest it in your 1M/1M education. Start learning. Start building.

It will be some time before you need to put any additional serious money into your business. All you need for now is $1,000 and a few committed hours each day. The sooner you start and the harder your work, the sooner we’ll celebrate your first $1 million in revenue.

Note: If you are considering becoming a 1M/1M premium member and would like to join our mailing list to receive ongoing information, please sign up here:

How To Reduce The Infant Entrepreneur Mortality Rate

By guest author Irina Patterson

Over the past year, we have been talking to various investors – VCs and angels, and incubators and accelerators. What we discovered that the entire startup ecosystem is structured to look for and invest in the less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who are ready and fundable.

For example, Highway 12 Ventures, a $75 million venture fund in Boise, Idaho, gets 500 deals a year. They invest in four. That means that less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who apply succeed in getting financed.

One of the Silicon Valley’s super angels, Mike Maples, told us that he gets 7,000 deals a year and invests in 12 to 15. That’s a 0.21% hit rate. The flip side: a 99.79% rejection rate.

The sad story is that there are way too many non-fundable businesses floating around in each community. Those businesses contribute significantly to what we call high infant entrepreneur mortality rate.

Our 1M/1M Program is designed to help those early stage at-risk-businesses to become strong and sustainable by using thoughtful bootstrapping. And for those ideas that are simply bad business ideas, 1M/1M guides entrepreneurs on how to develop better ones.

We believe that the global economic system will perform significantly better if we can help those 99% of entrepreneurs who are non-fundable for one reason or another. 1M/1M Program is designed to empower entrepreneurs regardless of their potential to attract investment.

If you are working with early-stage entrepreneurs, you can use 1M/1M Program to reduce your local infant entrepreneur mortality rate.

Here is how: 1M/1M supplies the methodology, the curriculum, the connections. Your organization provides your local entrepreneurs with community support. We see this as a powerful synergy of combining resources, without wasteful duplication.

We see it as an example of truly democratic, distributed capitalism 2.0.

Note: The 1M/1M team has invested significant resources to engage with and understand the challenges of the Incubator industry around the globe. You can sign up for our opt-in mailing list to get this information via email on an ongoing basis.