1Mby1M Deal Radar 2013: Finish Line PDS, Hudson, New Hampshire

Finish Line PDS is a product development service company that develops technology products for small companies in the down hole tool and machine-to-machine (M2M) technology markets, including the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Its main value proposition is that without the fixed cost of having a team of engineers, it helps companies develop products faster and at a lower cost.

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1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2013: Fossa LLC, Chicago, Illinois

Fossa LLC is dedicated to delivering the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on IT solution providers. Its database has more than 16,000 North American IT solution providers, and the data is published through its website: Channel Navigator. Launched in February 2012, the company has about 30 active customers and is on track to achieve revenue of $100,000 in 2013. >>>

1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2013: Omninox, Gainesville, Florida

Omninox develops interactive, mobile study guides called Omniguides™ for high level math and science courses. It aims to consolidate the material that students learn for Advanced Placement (AP) STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) classes by offering built-in software tools such as a calculator, quizzes, and sketchpad with social sharing. >>>

Running A Global Virtual Incubator: 10 Lessons We Have Learned

Further to my earlier post, Mentoring Startups: 10 Lessons We Have Learned, I want to also go over our learnings through running, what is today, the world’s only global virtual incubation program.

1. Reach & Scalability: We have successfully created a virtual incubation program that entrepreneurs all over the world are using. The self-service curriculum is quite rich now, which makes the program scalable. Also, the online mentoring roundtables have been extremely productive, as discussed in the earlier post. We’re also running an active content organization that helps our portfolio companies get coverage, as well as distribution for their messages through social media (reach over 100k currently).

2. Inclusive vs. Exclusive: We have successfully reset the definition of entrepreneurship within the program from Entrepreneurship = Financing to Entrepreneurship = (Customers + Revenues + Profits), Financing and Exit are optional. This has enabled us to be inclusive, as opposed to exclusive. Unlike YCombinator that takes pride in how many entrepreneurs they reject, we take pride in the fact that we do not reject anybody. Over 99% of entrepreneurs seeking financing get rejected. We work with ‘The Other 99%’ irrespective of their fundability, helping them grow to become successful businesses, and to raise financing if appropriate. Also, you don’t have to move to Silicon Valley to get incubated with us, which also gives us tremendous flexibility on whom we can work with.

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1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2013: VOZIQ, Washington, D.C.

VOZIQ is a social media analytics company with a special focus on voice-of-the-customer analytics. It leverages large volumes of customer perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes expressed on social media platforms to provide actionable insights. Within two years of its founding, the business is cash-flow positive. It is targeting $1 million in revenue next year.

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Mentoring Startups: 10 Lessons We Have Learned

These days, everyone seems to be a startup mentor. Whether they have ever done a startup or not, whether they have ever raised money or not, they are ready to advise entrepreneurs.

I want to share with you some things we have learned in running the 1M/1M program for three years. Some background and metrics:

• On January 9th, 2014, 1M/1M will be hosting our 200th free online mentoring roundtable.
• We started experimenting with this format of mentoring way back in the fall of 2008. At the time, 1M/1M did not exist, not even in our heads. It wasn’t until my January 2010 New Year Resolution that the concept was born.
• The 1M/1M premium program was launched at the end of 2010. It took us about one year to figure out how to do what we were hoping to do: help entrepreneurs at scale.
• Almost 20,000 people have participated at our free roundtables. At least 1000 have pitched.
• Recordings are made publicly available at our YouTube channel.
• We use the same format in our private roundtables for the premium members, although those recordings are not available except to the members. We’ve done private sessions every week for the last three years.
• We have been able to develop and enrich a curriculum that entrepreneurs use in web self-service mode over the last 3 years. These curriculums, increasingly, are able to address questions from the entrepreneurs without the need for interactive sessions. As such, when we do get into interactive discussions, they are on more sophisticated issues. The basics can be handled by the curriculum.
• Obviously, the feedback is good, or else, we wouldn’t be able to continue with such a consistent, long-running effort.

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1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2013: Techieworks, Gurgaon, India

Techieworks provides remote technical support services to the senior demographic in the U.S. and Canada for issues related to PCs, peripherals, and other devices. Seniors are increasingly flocking to the Internet driven by the need to stay in touch with family and friends through email, video chatting on Skype, and photo sharing on social networking sites like Facebook. A recent Nielsen report says that more than 19 million American senior adults are using the Internet. However, handling technical problems in their computers is often a frustrating experience for senior adults. There are several IT support services in the market, but very few that focus on this demographic. >>>

How Do You Develop Seed Ecosystems Around The World?

In the last five years, there has been a distinct globalization of entrepreneurship. There is a lot more romanticism about startups now, a lot more startup related events, organizations, incubators, so forth and so on.

However, the seed capital eco-system around the world is inadequate. How do we change that?

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