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.

Building Fat Startups: Delphix CEO Jedidiah Yueh (Part 1)

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

Jed has built two fat startups. This discussion delves into the nuances.

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?

Jedidiah Yueh: The funny thing is, I never wanted to an entrepreneur. I started out as an English major in college. When I was in grade school, high school, and college, I was never interested in technology. I was the guy who always asked my friend to help me set up my computer. >>>

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Bootstrapping a Niche e-Commerce Company to $20 Million: iHeartRaves CEO Brian Lim (Part 1)

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

Niche e-commerce still produces compelling success stories. Read on to see how Brian built iHeartRaves.

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?

Brian Lim: I was born in LA County. My parents immigrated here to escape communism in China and Cambodia. I grew up very poor. We bootstrapped our company back in 2010 with $100 and turned it into a $20 million a year company. >>>

Scaling to $10M ARR with a Virtual Company: Fred Plais, CEO of Platform.sh (Part 1)

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

Fred has built a wonderful company with a virtual architecture. Read on to see how.

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

Fred Plais: I was born in the western part of France. I’ve worked at three different companies. I’ve got three kids and a wife, and I now live in San Francisco.

Sramana Mitra: What is your education? What did you study? >>>

Turning Philanthropy into a Double Bottomline Business: Ram Palaniappan, CEO of Earnin (Part 1)

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

When people have to live paycheck to paycheck, life can easily get unbearable. Earnin offers loans against paychecks as collateral to alleviate this incessant pressure to low income families at affordable rates.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of an early journey have you had?

Ram Palaniappan: I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved back to India when I was five. I did most of my schooling there. I did my undergraduate studies there. Then I came to the US to do my MBA at Purdue. That was in 1998. I was there for two years. I ended up >>>

Scaling to Over $10 Million From Delaware: Ye Zhang, CEO of Katabat (Part 1)

The state of Delaware has been working with 1Mby1M to stimulate entrepreneurship. Here is a wonderful success story from the region.

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?

Ye Zhang: I was born in China. I came to the United States in 1998 to pursue my Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence.

Sramana Mitra: Where was that? >>>

Bootstrap First in Europe, Raise Money Later and Go Global in the US: Martin Verwijmeren, CEO of MP Objects (Part 1)

We’re seeing some excellent European companies make successful transitions into becoming global software companies. This is an excellent and inspiring story for European startups to emulate.

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?

Martin Verwijmeren: I’m from the Netherlands but living in Boston these days. Before moving to Boston, I lived in Amsterdam. I was working for our European headquarters in Rotterdam. Nowadays, I’m working from our US headquarters in Boston. >>>

Bootstrapping to $13 Million from the UK: David Lloyd, CEO of The Intern Group (Part 1)

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

I am very bullish about market opportunities that are large enough to build sizable businesses but not large enough such that VCs end up funding numerous competing companies. This case study shows you how a niche player with a $150 million TAM is growing nicely without outside financing.

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?

David Lloyd: I’m from the UK. I was born in London. I spent the first 22 years of my life in London before spending >>>

Bootstrapping from Indiana: Passageways CEO Paroon Chadha (Part 1)

Paroon has bootstrapped Passageways from Indiana and wants to help other Indiana entrepreneurs succeed.

Along the way, he has pivoted from licensed software to cloud software, and made other strategic decision that helped his company become more successful.

Read on to learn more on his moves.

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

Bootstrap First with Services, Raise Money Later: John Stewart, CEO of MapAnything (Part 1)

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

John and his co-founder have built MapAnything from Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. They have now raised over $40 million in funding, proving that you can build sizable VC-funded SaaS businesses from anywhere.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Give us some early story.

John Stewart: I’m from upstate New York. I’m from a middle class background. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My father was in >>>

Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 1)

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

Olivia has built a powerful B2B e-commerce business that connects wholesalers and retailers in categories like fashion and home furnishings.

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?

Olivia Skuza: I was born in Adelaide, Australia. It’s a little town that has only about a million people. My parents were Polish immigrants who moved to Australia in their early 20’s. They moved to Australia with absolutely nothing. My father worked any job that he could get including places like Pizza Hut to try and support the family while my mother took care of me and my sister. >>>