1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Domain Knowledge

At 1Mby1M, we believe in learning from case studies of successful entrepreneurs. These case studies involve discussions on opportunities and challenges specific to the domain such as Generative AI, E-Commerce, Digital Health, Cyber Security, and FinTech. 

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Ethan McAfee, CEO of Amify (Part 1)

E-commerce strategy for small merchants is becoming quite complicated with Amazon becoming a giant player in the space. This interview cuts through a lot of that complexity.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Amify.

Ethan McAfee: I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of Amify. We help brands maximize their opportunity on the Amazon platform.

Featured Videos

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Drura Parrish, President of Xometry (Part 1)

Drura talks about the cutting-edge of American manufacturing and how e-commerce is impacting it. Superb interview.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Xometry.

Drura Parrish: I’m the President of Xometry Supplies. Xometry is a fascinating company that’s working very fast and at scale to solve one of the biggest problems in the world, which is how do we make more things more efficiently and more profitably across the supply chain.

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Rafael Zakinov, CEO of Ruby Has (Part 1)

Amazon is setting the bar very high for e-commerce merchants in terms of delivery. Read how the industry is responding.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Ruby Has.

Rafael Zakinov: I’m the Founder and CEO of Ruby Has Fulfillment. We’re an e-commerce-focused fulfillment company. We’re based out of Long Island, New York. We have locations throughout the United States servicing both coasts. We have come to be a real brand name amongst emerging B2C brands.

Sramana Mitra: What scale are you at? How many customers are using you? What size customers are you particularly suited to? >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: TrueCommerce CEO, Ross Elliott (Part 1)

Very interesting interview on how B2B e-commerce is evolving both disintermediation and empowering of intermediaries to be more effective.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself and Unified Commerce.

Ross Elliott: I am one of the founders and President of a company called TrueCommerce. We are a hundred-million dollar provider of B2B commerce and B2C commerce. We’re headquartered in Cranberry, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Tod Francis of Shasta Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Tod Francis was recorded in September 2014.

Tod Francis, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures, starts with a discussion on the history of retail, all the way from shoe stores, to departmental stores, and back to specialty retail. This is followed by a similar overview of the history of e-commerce ranging from Amazon’s strategy to how specialty retail is translating into niche e-commerce, and how Tod is looking at investments in the category.

Sramana Mitra: I think the best question to start out with would be what do you see has happened to the e-commerce business since the 90’s? >>>

Investors Discuss E-Commerce Startup Trends in Podcasts

Entrepreneurs working on e-commerce startups face unique challenges today. You can learn more about the trends investors specializing in e-commerce startup financing are seeing by listening to the following 30-minute podcast interviews. These VCs and seed investors also discuss the key indicators they look for in the startups they invest in.

Daniel Gulati, Principal and Head of Seed Investment Practice at Comcast Ventures, discusses e-commerce startup trends and what can and cannot be venture financed at this stage, and why.

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Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Daniel Gulati, Comcast Ventures (Part 1)

Excellent discussion on the e-commerce startup trends and what can and cannot be venture financed at this stage, and why.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Comcast Ventures.

Daniel Gulati: I’m currently a Principal of Comcast Ventures based here in San Francisco. I focus 100% of my time on seed and early stage investments in consumer internet companies. About half of my work is in e-commerce and marketplaces. The other half is everything else within consumer Internet – digital media, social media, mobile. Prior to joining Comcast Ventures, I was actually on the operating side. >>>

The Mattress Industry has Woken up to e-Commerce

Till a few years ago, no one would have thought that the hottest trend in e-commerce would be to buy mattresses online. People wanted to be able to feel the comfort of a mattress before they purchased it. But as e-commerce sweeps through our lives, some of these formerly-unthinkable categories are also becoming Internet friendly. The US mattress market is estimated to be a $15 billion industry. Till recently, online sales accounted for a mere 5% of the total sales in the industry, but analysts estimate that this year online mattress sales could account for more than 10% of the market.

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Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Devin Johnson, CEO of FirstMile (Part 1)

Logistics is becoming a key battleground for e-commerce companies, especially with Amazon setting a sky-high bar. Devin discusses the trends and where his company adds value.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to FirstMile and yourself.

Devin Johnson: I’m the Founder and CEO of FirstMile. We’re based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sramana Mitra: What is FirstMile’s business? >>>

Bootstrapping a Niche E-Commerce Brand: Big Barker CEO Eric Shannon (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

We’ve talked about niche, proprietary e-commerce brands and how entrepreneurs are building businesses around different concepts. Eric shares the story of Big Barker, a dog bed for large dogs.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Eric Shannon: I was born in Pennsylvania in a suburb about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I went to Temple University. I was a Finance major. After school, I moved to California and took a job in banking. I hated it and was terrible at it. I had a >>>