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 Using Services From Sweden: Dapresy Founder Tobi Andersson and CEO Rudy Nadilo (Part 1)

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

European entrepreneurs often successfully bootstrap using services. The chasing investor from the get go disease is less prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic, although the virus from Silicon Valley has been traveling now to all corners of the world. Dapresy has crossed $7 million in annual revenue with minimum outside financing.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. It sounds like, Tobi, you’re the founder. Maybe, we’ll start with you and 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?

Tobi Andersson: I was born in Sweden, in the Swedish countryside. Very early on in my life, I decided that one day I would like to earn the money to have the opportunity to buy a really big farm. That has always been my vision – to create something that, on one hand, can give me money but on the other >>>

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Bootstrapping with Services from London: Gurman Hundal, CEO of Media IQ (Part 1)

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

Gurman has bootstrapped a fast growth company using services. Read about his impressive 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?

Gurman Hundal: I was born in England in a town about 30 miles from London. My family is from the northern state of Punjab in India. Even though I was born in England, I couldn’t speak English till I was about six years old. I have a British-Indian upbringing. My parents owned their own shoe shop in a shopping mall near where we live. I got an early exposure to family-run organizations. I went through the educational system within England. I went to University of Kingston where I studied Business. It was there where I started my career. >>>

Cross Border E-Commerce in Africa: Mall For Africa CEO Chris Folayan (Part 1)

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

We covered Mall for Africa some time back in TLEC. Here we trace their entrepreneurial journey.

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

Chris Folayan: I’m from Nigeria. I was born and raised in Nigeria. I came to the United States for college. Everything prior to college was done in Nigeria.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you come to the US for college?

Chris Folayan: I came to San Jose State University. >>>

Getting to Velocity: TeePublic Founder Adam Schwartz (Part 1)

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

In building a business, savvy entrepreneurs always look for that moment when the  business hits an inflection point, and you actually understand what levers are driving that growth. Adam’s story captures his long search for this coveted point and his eventual discovery.

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

Adam Schwartz: I’m from Massachusetts. I grew up about 30 miles northwest of Boston right along the 128 tech route there. I was raised in a small town. Actually, the technology in the Boston area is what brought my family there. My father was in semiconductors. That always had an influence on me, but I grew up in a serene forest-like place.

Sramana Mitra: I’ve lived in that area. I went to Smith College for undergraduate. >>>

Bootstrapping Using Services to $12 Million: Square Root CEO Chris Taylor (Part 1)

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

You know that we believe in the Bootstrapping Using Services methodology quite firmly. Here’s yet another story of how and why it works.

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?

Chris Taylor: I grew up in rural West Virginia. You won’t meet a lot of entrepreneurs out of West Virginia. When I was four, my father passed away, so my brother and I were raised by our mother. She did a fantastic job. My brother is also another entrepreneur. In college, I went to Carnegie-Mellon and studied Computer Science, Psychology, and Mathematics. >>>

A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey: Wowza CEO David Stubenvoll (Part 1)

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

Ups and downs, successes and failures, experiments and pivots – the stuff that make up a serial entrepreneur’s 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?

David Stubenvoll: I was born and raised in Levittown, New York. Levittown has the great distinction of being one of the first mass-produced communities. I’m the youngest of four. My brothers and sisters were quite a bit older than I was. My dad was a World War 2 veteran and bought his four-room house on the GI Bill. Since then, they’ve expanded that. I’ve lived there with my family and my grandmother until I went to college. I was the only one in my family to go to college.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you go to college? >>>

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Philippe d’Offay, CEO of PMD (Part 1)

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

Philippe has turned ~$300k of friends and family investment into a $6.5 million ARR business. Read on to learn how.

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?

Philippe d’Offay: I’m from the Seychelles Island. I was born in South Africa when my dad was going to veterinary school. My grandfather was the only private physician in Seychelles. My story goes way back to the conversations he had with my father about how medicine is changing and that it might not be a good thing for him to get into. He suggested that my dad become a veterinarian. >>>

Bootstrap First to Exit, Bootstrap Again, Then Raise VC Money ALL from St. Louis: Stephanie Leffler, CEO of OneSpace (Part 1)

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

Stephanie bootstrapped her first company to $20 million in revenue from St. Louis. Her second, also from St. Louis, is venture-funded and crossed $10 million in revenue last year. Awesome entrepreneur, inspiring woman!

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

Stephanie Leffler: I am from Northern Virginia in Fairfax. I was actually born and raised there. Ultimately, I went to school at Washington and Lee University. I found my way to St. Louis as part of my entrepreneurial journey. I’ve lived here ever since. >>>

Building a Fat Startup in Corporate Training: Karl Mehta, CEO of EdCast (Part 1)

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

Serial entrepreneur Karl Mehta is applying consumer education models from MOOCs and such to the world of corporate training. Very interesting spin on online learning.

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

Karl Mehta: My background is in engineering. I did my undergrad in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Sramana Mitra: First and foremost, where were you born and raised?

Karl Mehta: I was born in Mumbai, India. After getting my undergrad degree, I came here in 1994. It’s been about 20 years in the US. >>>

Bootstrapping an Ad Tech Company from Paris: Daniel Nathan, CEO of BidMotion (Part 1)

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

Europe is imploding. Entrepreneurs are its only hope. Daniel Nathan is building a really cool company based in Paris.

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?

Daniel Nathan: I was born very close to Paris. I was born in 1988. My parents were not entrepreneurs, but I always wanted to create my own business. I started my first company when I was pretty young. Our city was not such a great city to live in. To go to Paris, you had to take a train. It was pretty dangerous to take that train. >>>