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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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