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. 

Man and Superman: Will There Be Revolution?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive?; The Environmental Time Bomb; Role of Religion. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

I’ve had several conversations about this series at various dinner parties, and a few points that have come up are worth further discussion.

One of them is the rebuttal that if Superman stops supporting Man through extensive welfare, there will be revolution.

I agree. This is a very logical possibility.

So let’s do a thought experiment on what leads up to revolution and what happens in the event of revolution.
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Featured Videos

Why is Customer Financing, Revenue or Equity, Great News?

Whether it is customers buying your products or customers investing in your company, it’s great news!

Watch this inspiring 1 minute 39 second video and learn why:

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Man and Superman: Role of Religion

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive?; and The Environmental Time Bomb. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

In recent times, Islam is facing a tremendous backlash because of the mindshare that ISIS and Al-Qaeda have managed to garner. Anti-Islam sentiments are appealing political fodder for populist candidates.

But the religion that actually holds humanity together is one that cuts across all major religions: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and most other smaller sects. In fact, that religion is one that even the Atheists and Agnostics subscribe to.

Humanism.
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Do You HAVE to Raise Venture Capital to Build a Large Company and a Big Fortune?

There’s a GIGANTIC myth in the startup ecosystem.

Go BIG Or Go HOME!

Raise GOBS of Venture Capital.

Otherwise, you can’t build anything big.

It’s GIGANTIC Bullshit!

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 09 second video and learn how the Turakhia brothers have created over a billion dollars of personal wealth through significant exits without raising any venture capital:

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Man and Superman: The Environmental Time Bomb

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

Parallel to the forthcoming disruption due to automation, there is another growing threat to humanity: the Environment.

In China, every year, a million people die of pollution related illnesses.

New Delhi, with a population of 18.6 million people, is the most polluted city in the world as of 2016.
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How Can You Raise Lots of Venture Capital and Then End Up Making No Money?

Are you good at Math?

Simple Math, nothing complicated.

Arithmetic, really.

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 04 second video and work through some simple math:

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Man and Superman: How Long Does Democracy Survive?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species, What CAN Be Controlled?, and Rationalizing Populations. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

The basic principle of Democracy is rooted in Humanism. Every life is equally precious and worth preserving.

It seems though that with the Man and Superman bifurcation, this sense of equality is no longer sacrosanct.

If these two segments of the population need to work within the same social structure, with the assumption that each person has one vote, then Man can pretty much steamroll Superman’s interests.
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Do NOT Dilute Your Equity Too Soon

We see lots of first-time entrepreneurs getting screwed by investors.

50% equity for $100,000 investment is a LOUSY deal.

Watch this inspiring 2 minute 06 second video of how Venky Balasubramanian kept his equity pie more or less intact:

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Man and Superman: Rationalizing Populations

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species, Man and Superman: What CAN Be Controlled? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

World population has been ballooning for years. As of August 2016, it was 7.4 billion, projected to increase to 8 billion in 2024, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

If the Man and Superman bifurcation happens, and a very small population of very rich, highly enhanced human beings segregate from the mainstream, the world will be in a deep funk.

Providing welfare services – universal basic income, food, healthcare – for 10 billion people will be an impossible task.
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Do Women Entrepreneurs Build Unicorns?

There is a myth in the startup eco-system that women entrepreneurs do not build billion dollar companies.

This is a MYTH.

Watch this inspiring 1 minute 33 second video of how Therese Tucker did build one:

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