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.

A Successful Husband-Wife Team: Moonfruit Cofounders Wendy Tan White and Joe White (Part 1)

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

Wendy Tan White is the CEO of Moonfruit, a company she cofounded with Eirik Pettersen and Joe White. Moonfruit is an on-demand website development platform that allows anyone to develop a website for any purpose in a matter of minutes. Prior to Moonfruit, Wendy worked at Arthur Andersen as an IT consultant and helped establish Egg.com. Joe worked as a website developer while finishing college and completed projects for clients such as Disney and Egg.

Sramana: Let’s start by reviewing your personal backgrounds.

Wendy Tan White: I studied computer science at Imperial College in London. It was a great experience and a great college. I used to program really old assembly line systems, which is a far cry from where we are today. >>>

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Optimizing Websites With Machine Learning: BloomReach CEO Raj De Datta (Part 1)

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

Raj De Datta is the CEO and co-founder of BloomReach, the world’s first web relevance engine. Prior to founding BloomReach, Raj was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mohr-Davidow Ventures. Prior to that he was the director of product marketing at Cisco. Prior to Cisco he was part of the founding team at telecom company FirstMark/LambdaNet, which grew to $80 million in run-rate revenues. Raj also worked in technology investment banking at Lazard Frères. He holds a BSE in electrical engineering from Princeton and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sramana: Raj, let’s start with your personal journey. Where are you from?

Raj De Datta: I grew up between India and the Philippines. I lived in the Philippines eight months out of the year and went to school there. I was in India about four months out of the year. I came to the U.S. for college. >>>

Building An Enterprise Software Company From Europe: President Of Neolane North America, Stephan Dietrich (Part 1)

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

Stephan Dietrich is a co-founder and the president of North America for Neolane, a provider of conversational marketing technology. He has 15 years’ experience in enterprise software and marketing expertise in the high-tech field. Previously he was president of Cubicsoft and co-founder of AGDS, which was sold to Peregrine Systems. He holds a master of science from the Ecole Centrale Paris and earned his MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs.

Sramana Mitra: Stephan, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Give us some context about where your story begins.

Stephan Dietrich: I am half-German, half-French. I grew up on the German border in a multicultural environment, a very rich region where the unemployment rate was the lowest in France and the GDP was the highest in the country. >>>

Having Fun At The Cusp Of Technology And Entertainment: Phunware CEO Alan Knitowski (Part 1)

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

Alan Knitowski is the chairman and CEO of Phunware, which develops the mobile experience framework brandME and the mobile application infrastructure PRAISE. He is a serial entrepreneur and a veteran of the United States Army. Prior to Phunware he was the president of alternative investments for Curo Capital LLC and managing director and president of strategic investments for Trymetris Capital Management.

Sramana: Alan, let’s start with your personal background.

Alan Knitowski: I am a non-recovering serial entrepreneur. I spent 12 years in California, which included five in Silicon Valley and seven in Newport Beach. >>>

Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin (Part 1)

Mark Levitin is the CEO and founder of OpticsPlanet, an online supplier and retailer of technical and high-performance gear. OpticsPlanet was founded in 2000 and has since been recognized as a leading online retailer by Inc. Magazine and Internet Retailer Magazine. Mark studied engineering in the Soviet Union, where he worked as a medical engineer prior to immigrating to the U.S. in 1989.

Sramana: Mark, let’s establish some background. Where do you come from?

Mark Levitin: I came to the U.S. in 1989 from the Soviet Union. My background is engineering, specifically medical engineering. >>>

Managing Risk: MetricStream Chairman Gunjan Sinha (Part 1)

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

Gunjan Sinha is the chairman of MetricStream, an enterprise-wide GRC and quality solutions company with solutions aimed at global corporations. Over his career, Gunjan has spent more than 20 years in various entrepreneurial, board, and executive positions building innovative businesses. As an Internet pioneer, he was the co-founder and president of WhoWhere? Inc., an Internet directory services company acquired by Lycos in 1998, as well as eGain, an online customer service company he built from inception to post-NASDAQ IPO. Gunjan serves on the board of several Silicon Valley companies, and in 2010, he was appointed to the board of the U.S.–India Science and Technology Research Endowment by the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. He obtained his BS and MS in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and UC Santa Cruz, respectively. He also holds an MS in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University.

Sramana: Gunjan, let’s go back to your roots. What is the backdrop of your entrepreneur story?

Gunjan Sinha: I was born in India in the province of Bihar. My parents are from Patna and I spent a significant amount of time in Bihar. I did my schooling in Delhi, completing both high school and college there. >>>

Monetizing Premium Social App Ad Inventory and Scaling a Capital-Efficient Business: appssavvy CEO Chris Cunningham (Part 1)

Chris Cunningham is the CEO and co-founder of appssavvy, an activity advertising technology company. He also serves as co-chair of the IAB Social Media Committee and in 2010 and 2011 was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. Chris graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with BA in economics and marketing and is based in New York City.

Sramana: Chris, let’s start where your story begins. Where do you come from? What path did you travel during the early years of your life?

Chris Cunningham: I was born in Helsinki, Finland. My father is American and my mother’s side is Scandinavian. >>>

Capital-Efficient Customer Acquisition, Company Building: ReTargeter CEO Arjun Dev Arora (Part 1)

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

Arjun Dev Arora is the founder and CEO of ReTargeter, a company that serves ads to web audiences after they leave their clients’ websites. Prior to founding ReTargeter, Arjun was the head of business development of Yahoo Real Estate. Prior to working for Yahoo, he worked as an investment banker for Jefferies Broadview. Arjun is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he studied electrical engineering and computer science.

Sramana: Arjun, tell us about yourself. Where are you from? What background do you come from?

Arjun Dev Arora: I was born in the U.S. and raised in Southern California, down in Orange County. My parents were Indian immigrants who spent time in Germany before coming to the United States. >>>

Revolutionizing the Limousine Service: Limos.com CEO T.J. Clark (Part 1)

T.J. Clark joined Limos.com as president and CEO in March 2008. He was previously vice president of business operations at IAC/InterActiveCorp, which consisted of more than 85 Internet brands with 20 million visitors per day (ranked eighth worldwide), including Expedia, Hotels.com, Ticketmaster, LendingTree, and Match.com. Mr. Clark was previously a member the Hotwire.com startup team beginning in March 2000. Hotwire.com became the fourth-ranked U.S. online travel company within two years of operations, generating more than $1 billion in travel bookings. Hotwire was acquired by IAC in 2004. Prior to joining Hotwire, Clark was a trial attorney in Chicago, most recently at Lord, Bissell & Brook. He holds a JD from Loyola Chicago School of Law and a BS from Notre Dame, where he was a member of the NCAA swimming team.

Sramana: T.J., let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where does your journey begin?

T.J. Clark: I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and attended Notre Dame before becoming a lawyer. I started out in a non-entrepreneurial environment, which ultimately was beneficial. >>>

Online Audience Sampling Scaling Super Fast: uSamp CEO Matt Dusig (Part 1)

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

Matt Dusig, a serial entrepreneur, is the co-founder and CEO of uSamp™. Before jump-starting uSamp, Dusig logged into the [survey] industry with goZing, a pioneer in online sampling acquired by Greenfield Online in 2005. He was a finalist for the 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and attended Cal State Northridge.

Sramana: Matt, let’s start with the beginning of your story. Where did you grow up?

Matt Dusig: I grew up in Los Angeles. I went to Cal State Northridge. Everything I have done in terms of being an entrepreneur has tied in with my business partner, Greg Lavin. >>>