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.

Note: If you are considering becoming a 1M/1M premium member and would like to join our mailing list to receive ongoing information, please sign up here:

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? >>>

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 To Reduce The Infant Entrepreneur Mortality Rate

By guest author Irina Patterson

Over the past year, we have been talking to various investors – VCs and angels, and incubators and accelerators. What we discovered that the entire startup ecosystem is structured to look for and invest in the less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who are ready and fundable.

For example, Highway 12 Ventures, a $75 million venture fund in Boise, Idaho, gets 500 deals a year. They invest in four. That means that less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who apply succeed in getting financed.

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.

The sad story is that there are way too many non-fundable businesses floating around in each community. Those businesses contribute significantly to what we call high infant entrepreneur mortality rate.

Our 1M/1M Program is designed to help those early stage at-risk-businesses to become strong and sustainable by using thoughtful bootstrapping. And for those ideas that are simply bad business ideas, 1M/1M guides entrepreneurs on how to develop better ones.

We believe that the global economic system will perform significantly better if we can help those 99% of entrepreneurs who are non-fundable for one reason or another. 1M/1M Program is designed to empower entrepreneurs regardless of their potential to attract investment.

If you are working with early-stage entrepreneurs, you can use 1M/1M Program to reduce your local infant entrepreneur mortality rate.

Here is how: 1M/1M supplies the methodology, the curriculum, the connections. Your organization provides your local entrepreneurs with community support. We see this as a powerful synergy of combining resources, without wasteful duplication.

We see it as an example of truly democratic, distributed capitalism 2.0.

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.

MBA vs. 1M/1M, Let’s Do The Math

By guest author Irina Patterson

I recently read a book by Philip Delves Broughton called Ahead of the Curve – Two Years at Harvard Business School.

The book is about Philip’s firsthand experience at HBS during 2004-2006. The book is so sarcastic that, reportedly, it made Harvard very unhappy.

I enjoyed the book, but it also made me wonder if getting an MBA is worth the investment.

Philip left a job as a Paris correspondent for The Daily Telegraph (UK) to get his Harvard MBA in 2004. At the time he had a wife and a small son and his second son was born while he was at HBS. His school-related debt for the two years at HBS amounted to over $170,000.

When he graduated, Philip couldn’t get a job related to business. He writes for The Financial Times now. So, he went from being a writer to being … a writer. I am not sure that is what he had in mind when he applied to HBS.

In the book, among other things, Philip tells a story how he and his buddy started a media business while at HBS, how it didn’t go anywhere, and how the HBS entrepreneurship professor wasn’t of much help.

I don’t know if Philip still pursues entrepreneurship. If he does, I think he could appreciate our 1M/1M Premium Program.

After all, one year in 1M/1M  costs $1,000. One year at HBS cost Philip $85,000.

Note: If you are considering becoming a 1M/1M premium member and would like to join our mailing list to receive ongoing information, please sign up here:

How Do You Scale Mentoring?

By guest author Irina Patterson

To date, on this blog, we have interviewed more than 30 incubator managers and more than 40 angel investors, and all of them are looking for solutions to scalable and effective mentoring resources.

Most mentors are active or retired entrepreneurs, senior executives, and incubator managers themselves. Most seek not only emotional satisfaction from mentoring but also a return on their time (and often money) investment.

If you are a senior executive, your time is worth anywhere from $500 an hour and up. Mentors spend anywhere from two to 100 hours a year with each entrepreneur. So, they invest anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 in each entrepreneur in terms of time.

Now, consider an alternative. The 1M/1M Premium Curriculum covers all the core groundwork on bootstrapping, positioning, market sizing, customer validation, financing, customer acquisition, team building, and so on. In addition, we have electives that are specific to industry segments like Web 3.0 and e-commerce, cloud computing, healthcare IT, online education, mobile and social apps, gaming, outsourcing, and more.

At 1M/1M, we ask each entrepreneur to spend at least 50 to 60 hours digesting the curriculum so that by the time they engage with a local, live mentor, they have already mastered the basics.

Once entrepreneurs know the basics, local mentors could do higher caliber coaching. This way, everyone stands to get greater return on their time (and money).

By everyone, we mean the entrepreneurs and their local mentors, the incubators and regional economic development organizations and, of course, the local and global communities at large.

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.

Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: Could you describe an ideal company that would benefit from your program?

Ross: Most people that we bring into our program do not have established businesses. They are people who are seeking out ideas.

I can give you an example. There was a woman [Judy Davids] who had a lot of different ideas. She didn’t know which one to settle on, so we brought her into the program. >>>