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. 

I am.

My friend Betsy Corcoran, also my former editor at Forbes, came to one of my roundtables this year to discuss EdTech. She’s also the founder of EdSurge.

She read this poem that I have chosen to close the year with, and wish you happy holidays.

What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade
Written by Brad Aaron Modlin

Mrs. Nelson explained how to stand still and listen
to the wind, how to find meaning in pumping gas,
how peeling potatoes can be a form of prayer. She took
questions on how not to feel lost in the dark
After lunch she distributed worksheets
that covered ways to remember your grandfather’s
voice. Then the class discussed falling asleep
without feeling you had forgotten to do something else—
something important—and how to believe
the house you wake in is your home. This prompted
Mrs. Nelson to draw a chalkboard diagram detailing
how to chant the Psalms during cigarette breaks,
and how not to squirm for sound when your own thoughts
are all you hear; also, that you have enough.
The English lesson was that I am
is a complete sentence.
And just before the afternoon bell, she made the math equation
look easy. The one that proves that hundreds of questions,
and feeling cold, and all those nights spent looking
for whatever it was you lost, and one person
add up to something.

Be safe as Omicron rages.

Yours, Sramana

Featured Videos

Tech Workers are NOT Quitting. They are Starting Up.

Two articles this week attempt to demystify the myth.

In The Economist, the phenomenon is explained thus:

The term is elastic, but in essence it makes the proposition that the pandemic has provoked a cultural shift in which workers reassess their priorities. People in low-status jobs will no longer put up with bad pay or poor conditions, while white-collar types scoff at the idea of working long hours. Some people have become lazier or feel more entitled; others want to try something new, or desire money less because they have come to appreciate the joys of a simpler life. This is, supposedly, leading to a tsunami of resignations and dropouts. There is just one catch: the theory has little hard evidence to support it.

How to Teach Technology Entrepreneurship Using the 1Mby1M Methodology and Case Studies: Philosophy and Vision

Entrepreneurship is not a career. It is a way of life.

For me, this journey began as a graduate student at MIT in 1994. The world watched Netscape go public that spring, and the Internet swept over us like a virus. As I wrote my Masters thesis, I also wrote my first business plan. We were, as a generation, shaping the Internet during those early years, and, my degree in hand, I was ready to jump into the unknown – from then on really, I have been jumping into unknowns at every turn.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Workshop

On November 4, 2021, we ran a Workshop on How to Build Communities of Entrepreneurs EVERYWHERE:

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Metrics

Metrics: What user and revenue numbers should you target?

Be ambitious.

But be realistic.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Community Strategy

Community Strategy: How should you engage with your community?

Once you have a community, you have to make decisions on how you wish to engage with them.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Social Media Strategy

Social Media Strategy: How should you engage with social media?

Social Media is a lot of little things.

You need a Facebook Strategy.

You need a LinkedIn Strategy.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: SEO Strategy

SEO Strategy: What are the Search Engine implications?

I don’t believe in a lot of artificial gymnastics around SEO.

I have always written from the heart, with sincerity, with authenticity, with courage.

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Syndication Strategy

Syndication Strategy: Should you syndicate your content?

I have had a lot of success syndicating to a variety of different media partners. 

How to Build and Monetize a Technology Entrepreneurship Blog: Monetization Strategy

Monetization Strategy: How would you make money?

The consensus, today, is that affiliate marketing is a good monetization model for blogs in general.

Advertising rates are just too low to move the needle.

Specifically, for your entrepreneurship blog, a viable model would be to build upon the Udemy-1Mby1M affiliate program.