Startup Thailand: The Philosophy of Startup Acceleration — Why Thailand Needs a Different Model

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

The startup accelerator is one of the most misunderstood institutions in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Too often, it is viewed as a magic wand: founders apply, get accepted, attend a few months of sessions, pitch on Demo Day, and—voila!—a unicorn is born.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: JP Persico, shuckerVC (Part 1)

Jean-Philippe ‘JP’ Persico, Cofounder and Managing Partner at shuckerVC, discusses his firm’s investment thesis.

Startup Philippines: Why 1Mby1M and Its Filipino AI Mentor Are Transformative for the Philippines

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

Over the past few posts, we’ve mapped the Philippine startup ecosystem, analyzed the key accelerators, and compared them to a global virtual accelerator model. The conclusion is clear: the Philippines has energy, talent, and ambition, but its accelerators often stop short of delivering continuous, scalable mentorship that matches the real timeline of building a startup.

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Startup Philippines: Comparing Philippine Accelerators to 1Mby1M – Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

In the previous post, we explored the key players shaping the Philippines’ startup ecosystem: QBO Innovation Hub, IdeaSpace Foundation, Impact Hub Manila, Launchgarage, and others.

Startup Philippines: Mapping the Philippines’ Startup Accelerator Ecosystem

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

The Philippines’ startup ecosystem has been steadily gaining momentum over the past decade. With a population of 115 million, a median age of just 25, and rapid digital adoption, the country presents a fertile environment for innovation. Add to that a large English-speaking workforce, a robust BPO industry, and strong government interest in supporting entrepreneurship, and the ingredients for a thriving startup ecosystem are clearly present.

Startup Philippines: The Philosophy of Startup Acceleration – Why The Philippines Needs a New Model

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

The Philippines is a vibrant, rapidly evolving startup ecosystem. With its young population, widespread smartphone usage, and dynamic digital economy, the country has enormous potential to become a major player in Southeast Asia’s tech scene.

Startup Malaysia: The Digital Mind AI Mentor – Why Language and Scale Matter for Accelerators

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

1Mby1M’s Digital Mind AI Mentor is a structural game changer because it converts two decades of mentoring into 24/7 conversational guidance, tuned to playbooks that emphasize revenue, validation, and capital efficiency. The product is explicitly available in 57 languages, enabling much wider accessibility for founders who are not comfortable with English as the sole mentoring language. That scale changes the marginal cost of quality mentoring and lets local accelerators ensure founders keep iterating between sessions. 

Startup Malaysia: Why 1Mby1M Offers The Accelerator Ecosystem a Tremendous Leverage

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

Entrepreneurs everywhere are intoxicated with the same myth: fast growth must mean more money now, and more money now means Blitzscaling — hire fast, burn cash, dominate markets. I have argued against that reflex in The Accelerator Conundrum — founders too often treat three-month accelerators like a magic elixir rather than a choice in a strategy spectrum. They confuse external validation (a shiny demo-day and investor introductions) with internal readiness (repeatable revenue, customer acquisition unit economics, defensible go-to-market).