1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Laurel Touby, Managing Director at Supernode Ventures 2021 (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: One of the big successes of Latin America is Mercado Libre. They were my clients when I was consulting many years ago. I have known them for a long time. That company was a team from Stanford, so they knew how to raise venture capital.

In the early stages, Mercado Libre was rather difficult because the market was not developing. It took much longer to develop. They managed to survive that early-stage period without going under because of their expertise in navigating the venture capital universe.

527th Roundtable Recording on April 22, 2021: With Michael Smerklo, Next Coast Ventures

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

Roundtable Recap: April 22 – Investors Should Take Solo Founders More Seriously

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Michael Smerklo, Co-founder and Managing Director at Next Coast Ventures. We had a terrific conversation about a range of issues including solo founders and their ill treatment by VCs.

We also had a conversation with entrepreneurs Jill and Rick Howard, who have just joined the 1Mby1M Premium program.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Tim Guleri, Managing Director at Sierra Ventures 2021 (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Would you invest in concepts?

Tim Guleri: Yes, we do and we have. The bar for the experience of the team in that particular pain point that they are going after is extremely high for those investment bets. You are betting on the future based on the experiences that they might have had, so that is why the bar is high.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Laurel Touby, Managing Director at Supernode Ventures 2021 (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: When I look back to when I started in the technology industry, it was the mid-90’s which was the beginning of the internet. There was still stuff like dial-up internet. Today, a lot of founders have not experienced a non-internet life. These are young people who are digital natives and many of them have not experienced adult life without a smartphone. It is a different demographic.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Tim Guleri, Managing Director at Sierra Ventures 2021 (Part 1)

Tim Guleri is Managing Director at Sierra Ventures. We have a terrific discussion on Business Model Innovation and Distribution Innovation that Tim believes trumps technology innovation. We go through some excellent examples. Do check it out!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s welcome Tim Guleri from Sierra Ventures. I have known him for a very long time. I am a big fan of Sierra Ventures and all the work that the firm does. I have a personal story with Sierra Ventures which I will tell you about in a moment. Thank you for coming.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Laurel Touby, Managing Director at Supernode Ventures 2021 (Part 1)

Laurel Touby, Managing Director of Supernode Ventures, talks about pre-seed investing in Latin America.

Sramana Mitra: How has COVID been? How have you been? How has the business environment for you been?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With John Frankel, Partner at ff Venture Capital 2021 (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What check sizes are you writing in the seed stage?

John Frankel: Our check sizes are from $300,000 to $700,000 for 10% of the company. 

Sramana Mitra: What are the secrets of your higher hit rate? What are some of the nuggets that you have learned? What are the best practices?