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HOT TOPICS
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Bootstrapping a $25 Million E-Commerce Company: Saatva Co-Founder Ricky Joshi (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: Absolutely. Tell me more about the business itself. First and foremost, who were the people involved when you got this off the ground? You mentioned your co-founder. Where did he come from? How did you meet him? Where do you know him from? Ricky Joshi: There are basically three co-founders of the company—myself,
Building an Internet of Things Platform Company from Zaragoza, Spain: Alicia Asin, CEO of Libelium (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: This is not unusual. First time entrepreneurs start with very vague ideas with what they’re going to do. When I started my first company, I was a graduate student at MIT and I wanted to be an entrepreneur but I didn’t have a good idea about what I was going to do. Can
Serial Entrepreneur Building a Luxury Business: Trevor Traina, CEO of IfOnly (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: You were doing lead generation for online stores, but the revenue models changed. Trevor Traina: Correct. Instead of expecting the brands to pay us for consumer choice data, we let the retailers pay us for qualified leads. Sramana Mitra: That has become the standard business model for that part of the ecosystem—comparison shopping.
Bootstrapping a $25 Million E-Commerce Company: Saatva Co-Founder Ricky Joshi (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Talk to me about the dysfunctions of the industry? Why does that industry warrant starting a new company? Ricky Joshi: You basically had four manufacturers who controlled 81% of the market. Majority of them were public companies. The average margins of manufacturers is around 40%. On top of that, you have distribution companies that
Building an Internet of Things Platform Company from Zaragoza, Spain: Alicia Asin, CEO of Libelium (Part 1)
Spain, as you know, is in a terrible economic mess. Entrepreneurs like Alicia are vital to the country’s economic future. She has built a steady, cutting edge technology company with 60+ people from Zaragoza. Impressive! Sramana Mitra: Tell us about your beginning. Where were you born? Where did you grow up and in what kind
Serial Entrepreneur Building a Luxury Business: Trevor Traina, CEO of IfOnly (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: What was the business idea that you were playing with at that point? Trevor Traina: The business became Compare.net. Sramana Mitra: Comparative shopping online? Trevor Traina: Exactly. Sramana Mitra: What year are we talking about now? Trevor Traina: 1996. Sramana Mitra: What happened? How did that go? Trevor Traina: At that time, all
Bootstrapping a $25 Million E-Commerce Company: Saatva Co-Founder Ricky Joshi (Part 1)
I have spoken with many VCs who are looking or e-commerce companies that can scale at venture pace, which is hard to achieve. On the other side of the spectrum, however, the bootstrapped e-commerce companies are going gangbusters! Saatva is one such and a terrific company. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with your personal back story.
Unicorn in The Making: Ross Mason, Founder of MuleSoft (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: Can you talk about what made that a successful transition? What did you do as a founder? What did your new CEO do as the incoming CEO? Obviously, it has been a successful transition since you’re working with this person for a while. Ross Mason: A few things. Bringing someone new in is