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.

From Laid-off Engineer To Successful Startup CEO: Michelle Munson of Aspera (Part 1)

Michelle Munson is CEO of Aspera, a company she began after being laid off. Aspera was her realization that she could not only control her own career path but also create jobs for other people in a culture she established. This story is great inspiration for the thousands who have been let go by their employers.

SM: Michelle, where does your story begin?

MM: I grew up in Kansas, on a farm. My family is a five-generation farm family that raises Angus cattle as well as wheat, corn and soybeans. >>>

Featured Videos

Building The Small Business CRM Solution: CircleDog CEO Charlie Crystle (Part 1)

Charlie Crystle is passionate about music, nonprofit institutions and entrepreneurism. He has founded several companies including his current effort, CircleDog. His past ventures include ChiliSoft, which was purchased by Sun. He focuses on product usability, economics and policy, all of which are themes which can be found in each of his successful ventures.

SM: Let’s go back to your beginning. Where are you from? What kind of family did you grow up in?

CC: I am from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My father was a doctor. Lancaster is largely a farming community but the town itself is 60,000 and the county is 450,000, so it is not too small. It is a religiously conservative part of the country. >>>

Accidental Entrepreneur: Cryptography Research President Paul Kocher (Part 1)

Paul founded Cryptography Research, where he now serves as president and chief scientist. He has held positions at RSA Security and was a founding member of Valicert, Inc. (Tumbleweed). Among his notable accomplishments are his work on SSL 3.0, the DES Key Search machine, and discovering timing attacks and Differential Power Analysis. He holds a B.S. from Stanford University.

SM: To start, take us through your background. Where are you from?

PK: My mother is Canadian, although whatever accent she passed on has mostly been beaten out of me. I grew up in Oregon, where my father was a university professor. >>>

From Dyslexia to SugarCRM: John Roberts (Part 1)

John Roberts is CEO and co-founder of SugarCRM. He established SugarCRM’s commercial open source business model. Today the Sugar community is one of the largest open source communities on the Web. >>>

Legendary Entrepreneur and Author Judy Estrin (Part 1)

Estrin has been named three times to Fortune Magazine’s list of the 50 most powerful women in American business. She sits on the boards of directors of The Walt Disney Company and FedEx Corporation as well as two private company boards – Packet Design, Inc. and Arch Rock. For more background review her bio.

SM: Judy, you are a legend in Silicon Valley. Take us back to where your story begins. Where are you from, where did you grow up, and what is in your DNA that got you into all of this?

JE: The part that is in my DNA is a love for science and technology. The part that was a surprise was my being an entrepreneur and a leader. >>>

Enabling Ecological Data Centers: Rackable Systems CEO Mark Barrenchea (Part 1)

Mark Barrenechea is president and CEO of Rackable Systems. Before joining Rackable he served as executive vice president and CTO for Computer Associates. Prior to CA, he was senior vice president of Applications Development at Oracle and reported directly to Larry Ellison. Earlier, he served as vice president of Development at Tesseract, which was purchased by Scopus, where he maintained the same role.

SM: Tell us where your story starts.

MB: I was raised in New York City. I lived in New York for most of my childhood. I then moved to Stamford, Connecticut where I went to middle and high school. My father was in metals trading, and we definitely had a New York mentality in my family. >>>

Engineering Algae-based Bio Fuel: Valcent CEO Glen Kertz (Part 1)

Glen Kertz is a serial entrepreneur and an inventor who holds over 20 US and foreign patents in various fields. He started his first company at the age of 12 and has continued to create new business ventures based on scientific innovation. He has an extensive background in the development of a wide range of other technologies and business in general.

SM: Let’s start this conversation by reviewing your background. Where did you grow up?

GK:I grew up in a small town in eastern Texas called Orange. I had a fairly normal background but always had an interest in greenhouse plants. >>>

Innovating Web 2.0 Storage: Fabrik CEO Mike Cordano (Part 1)

Mike Cordano is the CEO and co-founder of Fabrik. Prior to Fabrik he served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Maxtor Corporation, where he was responsible for the formation and management of the Branded Products business unit. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado.

SM: Mike, take us back to your origins. Where are you from?

MC: I was born in Silicon Valley. My dad was a engineer at IBM and an early member of the storage team. >>>

Building An Indian Outsourcing Leader: MindTree CEO KK Natarajan (Part 1)

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

Krishnakumar Natarajan (KK) is the CEO of MindTree. Prior to co-founding MindTree, KK was chief executive of the Electronic Commerce & Financial Solutions Division at Wipro. KK has been elected to the Executive Council of NASSCOM for three consecutive terms and works towards strengthening India’s position in IT through strategic global initiatives. KK earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering, Madras and an MBA from the Xavier Institute, Jamshedpur. >>>

Still Innovating in Networking: A10 CEO Lee Chen (Part 1)

Lee Chen is the CEO of A10 Networks, which he founded in 2004 with a focus on innovation, networking and security. He previously held senior positions at Apple, Convergent, and InSync. Additionally, he was a co-founder at Foundry Networks and Centillion Networks. He has a BS in Electrophysics from National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan and a M.S.E.E. from San Jose State.

SM: Take us back to where you come from. Where did you grow up, what was your family environment, where does your story begin?

LC: I came from Taiwan about 29 years ago. I am from a fairly big family by today’s standards. >>>