1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Financing

Raising money to build a startup is a huge challenge. To be able to raise any money at all, you must first understand how investors think. We have developed the following courses catering to entrepreneurs in different stages of their entrepreneurial journey.

572nd Roundtable Recording with Andrus Oks, Tera Ventures

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

Featured Videos

Roundtable Recap: April 21 – Spotlight on the Northern European Startup Ecosystem

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Andrus Oks, Founding Partner at Tera Ventures, based in Estonia. We had a great discussion on the Baltic and Scandinavian countries in particular.

Peep

As for entrepreneur pitches, today we had Elif Aydin from New York, pitching PeeP, an app for identifying street parking. Also an excellent discussion.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later

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

I wrote a book called Billion Dollar Unicorns a few years back. Writing this book took me through the extensive process of talking to entrepreneurs who have built tech companies with valuations above a billion dollars. While there is a tremendous amount of serendipity involved in any extraordinary success story, one recurring theme comes up in these case studies. I am particularly excited to share this nugget because it applies broadly to all classes of entrepreneurial ventures.

Bootstrap first, raise money later.

That’s what Fred Luddy did when he founded ServiceNow back in 2005. Leveraging his domain knowledge and expertise in IT ServiceDesk software, he rapidly acquired 12 customers before raising funding. Initially, he started charging $25 per seat and the 12 customers paid up. He raised $2.5 million in venture capital WITH 12 customers, and ample validation.

Soon they clocked $850,000 in revenues in their first year as a real company. In 2010, they had grown to $45 million annual revenue run rate with 350 enterprise customers. They ended fiscal 2013 with revenues of $424.7 million.

Prior to listing on the NYSE in 2012, ServiceNow was venture funded with $83.7 million in investments received from JMI equity, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital. They raised $162 million in their IPO. Soon after listing, ServiceNow had touched a valuation of $3 billion. Since then, the stock has skyrocketed. It is currently trading at $234.03 with a market capitalization of $41.96 billion. Clearly, a mega hit Unicorn that started, however, by bootstrapping first.

>>>

570th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Anupam Rastogi, Emergent Ventures

Anupam Rastogi is General Partner at Emergent Ventures, a firm focused on B-to-B tech investments.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

570th Roundtable Recording with Anupam Rastogi, Emergent Ventures

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

Roundtable Recap: April 7 – Spotlight on Pre-seed Funding

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest, Anupam Rastogi, General Partner at Emergent Ventures, a firm focused on B-to-B tech investments.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures (Part 1)

Rahul Chandra, Managing Director at Arkam Ventures, is a veteran of the Indian Venture Capital industry. This discussion spans historical context to the current Unicorn mania. Great analysis!

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner at Hourglass Venture Partners (Part 1)

Gans Subramanian, Managing Partner at Hourglass Venture Partners, is a former 1Mby1M Premium member who has now formed his own venture fund.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner and Founder at Ideaspring Capital (Part 1)

Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner and Founder at Ideaspring Capital, adds to our thesis on great investment opportunities within the sub $100 million exit space.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by having you introduce yourself as well as Ideaspring.

Naganand Doraswamy: I grew up in Bangalore. I did my undergrad there and then came to the US in 1999 to do my Masters in Virginia Tech. After my Master’s, I moved up to Boston. I joined FTP Software where I wrote the first implementation of IP security of Windows 95.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Christopher Mirabile, Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group (Part 1)

Christopher Mirabile is Senior Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group. We have an awesome conversation about a non-Unicorn chasing investment philosophy.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us a bit about your background as well as Launchpad.

Christopher Mirabile: I was actually an English major. I started my career in strategy consulting. I ended up getting a law degree and worked in a very tech-focused corporate firm. I ended up taking one of my clients public. I went in-house and became an executive and ultimately the CFO.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With BV Jagadeesh, Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures (Part 1)

BV Jagadeesh, Managing Partner at KAAJ Ventures, and a super accomplished serial entrepreneur, discusses funding Bootstrapping with Services ventures.

Sramana Mitra: BV is a very well-known and accomplished entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and I’ve known him for a very long time. It’s great to have you here.

567th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Zain Jaffer, Blue Field Capital

Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital, discusses trends in PropTech.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

567th Roundtable Recording with Zain Jaffer, Blue Field Capital

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

Roundtable Recap: March 10 – Spotlight on PropTech

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital, discussing trends in PropTech.

Pathaway

As for entrepreneur pitch today, we had Crystal Williams from Cleveland, Ohio, pitch Pathaway. She has an interesting decision ahead: to build a business or do a non-profit with her concept.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

>>>

566th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Julie Lein, Urban Innovation Fund

Julie Lein, Managing Partner at Urban Innovation Fund, discusses pre-seed and seed funding in companies focused on the betterment of cities.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS