1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Suman Talukdar, Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: For the entrepreneurs who are listening, you cannot fit a square peg in a round hole. Just like when you were looking for the product-market fit, you are going to have to find an investor entrepreneur fit.

An investor who is looking for one type of exit is not going to invest in the other style. You have to bang against the wall if you are going after investors who are not interested in your style of investment opportunity. Keep that in mind.

Roundtable Recap: February 18 – Seed-stage Deep Tech Investing with Rajeev Madhavan, Clear Ventures

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Rajeev Madhavan, Founder and General Partner at Clear Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage deep tech investing.

Live MOMO

As for our entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Filip Todd pitching Live MOMO, a travel concept that leverages the remote work trend. Within 1Mby1M, we have an experienced entrepreneur pursuing my idea Startup Ideas for the Post Covid World: Facilitating Travel Experiences. Filip may benefit from connecting with this effort.

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Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing the Silicon Valley – India Corridor with Naren Gupta of Nexus Venture Partners

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Then start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today I introduce you to Naren Gupta.

Naren Gupta is Co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, a firm with an excellent track record of investing in the Silicon Valley – India corridor, but with a global market point of view. He is a veteran investor who is also strikingly polite and humble while sharing his insights, nuggets, and interesting wisdom. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners 2021 (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Is the fund strategy chasing unicorns? Are all your companies looking to become unicorns?

Mark Achler: No, I’m from Chicago. We are from the Midwest. I like to roll my sleeves and build real companies solving real problems. If they turn into a unicorn, then that’s great. The odds of that happening is slim. We are not building our portfolio predicated upon the expectation that every company turns into a unicorn. 

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Suman Talukdar, Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You have a relatively small fund at the moment. What are your thoughts about chasing unicorns versus chasing the 2x to 5x companies?

Suman Talukdar: I’m relatively new on the investing side, but I have had experience working with venture-backed companies. All the work and effort pays off when things work. When they work, they tend to work amazingly well.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners 2021 (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: If you look at the public market, the tech stocks have done well. Their earnings have been good. It’s not like they are missing a lot of their numbers. Many are overshooting their numbers. It’s striking how well people have adjusted to buying technology without human interaction in person even in large sales.

Mark Achler: It’s interesting to see how that happens. One of the things that I’m working on is business continuity. There are a couple of concepts here.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Suman Talukdar, Founder and Managing Partner at AiSprouts.VC (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s dig down to AI and your thesis around AI a little bit. We do a series called Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence. It’s a popular series. We have been doing it for a long time. We bring entrepreneurs as well as people in large companies to talk about what they are doing and seeing.

We have a comprehensive thesis on AI. Here are some of the nuggets of what I have observed. I want to hear what you have to say on these conclusions that I have arrived at.

Best of Bootstrapping: Discussing Seed Rounds with Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures

If you have been bootstrapping and think you are ready for investors, you need to learn how investors think. First, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Then, start looking for entrepreneur – investor fit. Today, I introduce you to Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures.

Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, discusses a topic that we’ve been highlighting recently: the need for multiple seed rounds as a way to bridge the Series A gap. You can listen to a podcast of our conversation here or watch the roundtable video below:

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about Illuminate Ventures. What is the focus of the firm? How big is the fund? What sized investments do you make?

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