Do Not Chase Investors Before Chasing Customers

Sridhar Vembu built Zoho with zero outside funding to a billion-dollar ARR SaaS company. I wrote the first piece ever written on him in 2007 in my Forbes column. No one had yet heard of Zoho. But VCs were already salivating. Sridhar validated my philosophy of how I advise startups when he came to see

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697th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 30 Minutes

Today’s 697th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, August 7, 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: Bootstrapped Art.com First, Raised $30 Million Later

Art.com Co-founder Josh Chodniewicz bootstrapped for 10 years before raising a $30 million first round of funding. He shared his journey with me in 2022. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raise, and in what kind of background? Josh Chodniewicz: I was born

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July 24 – 695th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 695th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, July 24, 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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692nd 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording

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

Build Your Company Before Chasing Venture Capital

Are you trying to get into Y Combinator? Beware, they have a 98% rejection rate. They need to see that you are building something that can be blitzscaled with gobs of venture capital. Blitzscaling, however, is NOT the only way to build a successful company. Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later is a MUCH better strategy

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