Grow Your Startup With a Paycheck

Are you still employed but dreaming of starting a company? I’m going to give you some contrarian advice: Do NOT quit your job. In 1Mby1M, we support entrepreneurs Bootstrapping with a Paycheck. There is no good reason to quit your job before validating your startup idea.

Bootstrapping versus Blitzscaling

There are many controversial topics swirling at the moment: Bootstrapping vs. Blitzscaling, Concept Financing, Applying to Y Combinator, and Bootstrapping with a Paycheck. In this article, please find links to specific discussions on each of those topics. You are most welcome to weigh in. Remember, Entrepreneurship = Customers + Revenues + Profits; Financing and Exit

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June 12 – 689th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 689th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST. If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to Pitch and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps,

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Roundtable Recap: June 5 – Why You Should Avoid 3-Month Accelerators

During this week’s roundtable, I spoke about the changing landscape in the startup ecosystem. Among other things, it is becoming increasingly evident that the 3-month accelerator is broken except in very specific cases. You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

688th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 10 Minutes

Today’s 688th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 10 minutes, on Thursday, June 5, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Best of Bootstrapping: Co-founders Bootstrapped First, Scaled to $16M

This is a textbook case study of founders with deep domain knowledge in starting with services and then productizing, eventually raising institutional capital. EZOPS Co-Founders Sarva Srinivasan and Dutt Chintalapati told us all about their journey in 2021. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where were you born? Where does

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Chase Customers Instead of Concept Financing

First time entrepreneurs, for the most part, do not qualify for Concept Financing. If you are hitting up pre-seed VCs in search of Concept Financing, you are wasting your time.

Are You Chasing Investors Ahead of Customers?

Startups are trying to blitzscale and become Unicorns while the market around is falling apart. In the last 18 months, numerous erstwhile Unicorns have stopped growing and started failing.Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later is a MUCH better strategy than Blitzscaling with ridiculous amounts of capital. In 1Mby1M, we prefer Bootstrapping early, then raising small amounts

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