The Startup Velocity Question: What Hinders Acceleration in VC Funded Companies?

I have been running 1Mby1M since 2010. I find myself saying to entrepreneurs ad nauseam that VCs want to invest in startups that can go from zero to $100 million in revenue in 5 to 7 years.

Startups that do not have what it takes to achieve velocity should not be venture funded.

Experienced VCs, over time, have developed heuristics to gauge what constitutes a high growth venture investment thesis. 

1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Bootstrapping

Over the course of two years, we have released over 70 courses on Udemy with the aim to democratize entrepreneurship education at scale globally. This series of posts aims to help you find the one you need easily and provide you with discount coupons.

Bootstrapping to $8 Million: Sina Khanifar, CEO of Waveform (Part 1)

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

Sina started tinkering with bootstrapped entrepreneurship way back in college. It has paid off.

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?

Featured Videos

Serial Entrepreneurship in Ad and Content Networks: inPowered CEO Peyman Nilforoush (Part 1)

Peyman has done two startups in the ad network and content network field, and this discussion takes us through that journey.

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?

Bootstrapping a Perishable Meat Business To Significant Scale: ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero (Part 1)

This is a fascinating story of a subscription service for high-quality meat being delivered to consumer homes.

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

Bootstrapping with Services from Poland to a US SaaS Company: Stefan Batory, CEO of Booksy (Part 1)

Stefan started a software development company in Poland with a few other partners. Today, he’s running a high-growth, VC-funded SaaS + marketplace business in the US.

Awesome journey!

Bootstrapped Entrepreneurship from Estonia: Lauri Kinkar, CEO of Messente (Part 1)

Lauri takes us into a country that has done amazingly well in developing a technology and startup culture. Fascinating!

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

Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 1)

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

Entrepreneurs seldom discuss the emotional and spiritual trauma of things going wrong.

Joel’s story is a deeply felt and authentically told one where he shares how he survived immense setbacks and found the courage to keep going in his Stratos Jets journey.

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

A Serial “Data” Entrepreneur’s Journey: Bassel Ojjeh, CEO of LigaData (Part 1)

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

Bassel is a serial entrepreneur in the data world and talks about his exciting startup journey.

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?

Climbing Out of Despair Through Entrepreneurship: Ferren Rajput, CEO of Book A Jet (Part 1)

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

Ferren Rajput had hit rock bottom at one point of his life. This is his story of how he climbed out of that hole.

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?

Bootstrapping by Services from Wisconsin: SignalWire CEO Anthony Minessale (Part 1)

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

Anthony is building a very interesting programmable communication platform company that has its roots in Wisconsin.

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?

Scaling to a $700M Exit: Zain Jaffer, CEO of Vungle (Part 1)

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

This is a delightful story of a young entrepreneur duo’s goofy journey to a huge exit!

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?