Last November, Cowboy Ventures’ Ailene Lee wrote a post on Techcrunch titled Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups. In it, she offered a list of companies that have had billion dollar exits, and analyzed some of the common threads. In this series, I would like to look at some of the ‘unicorn’ … Continue reading “Starting Unicorn Companies: FireEye”
Author: Sramana Mitra
Sramana Mitra is the founder of the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) initiative, an educational, business development and incubation program that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy, and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. As an entrepreneur CEO, she ran three companies: DAIS, Intarka, and Uuma. Sramana has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
May 10,000 Cloud Startups Bloom
The cloud services market has fueled a boom of immensely successful startups, most of which have raised millions in venture funding. Take analytics platform company Birst, which started off in the high end financial sector, raised $64 million in venture capital, and is now growing fast as a regular Silicon Valley-style pre-IPO company. Technology Business … Continue reading “May 10,000 Cloud Startups Bloom”
Starting Unicorn Companies: Tableau Software
Last November, Ailene Lee wrote a post on TechCrunch entitled Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups. In it, she offered a list of companies that have had billion-dollar exits, and analyzed some of the common threads. I would like to look at some of the “unicorn” companies that she identified, as well … Continue reading “Starting Unicorn Companies: Tableau Software”
Entrepreneurship Inside Corporations
There is a real trend developing right now of large corporations becoming crucibles of innovation and entrepreneurship in a systematic way. In this post, I will discuss four specific sub-categories of this trend that we’re seeing, and for all practical purposes, participating in. Intrapreneurship Incubation Corporations have come to realize that there are numerous great … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship Inside Corporations”
How To Fund a “Fat Startup”
These days, we focus a lot more on lean startups than startups that require capital to get going. The entire industry has moved away from the “fat” startup category. Investors expect that you will have your product launched, customer acquisition model fleshed out fully, and a team in place before Series A. However, infrastructure software, … Continue reading “How To Fund a “Fat Startup””
Crowdfunding Startups: Opportunities and Bottlenecks
There has been a bit of action for a while now in the crowdfunding world, and certain startups have been able to get themselves off the ground using Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and similar sites. By and large, these types of financings have gone to companies that are building physical products, digital games, and the like. Fundings … Continue reading “Crowdfunding Startups: Opportunities and Bottlenecks”
Not All Student Entrepreneurs Drop Out
Today’s generation of students has a high exposure to the Internet, smartphones, social and many other technologies from a very young age. It is not uncommon to see college students tinkering with technology, starting digital startups, and making millions (and occasionally even billions). Some drop out of school to build their business, but not all. … Continue reading “Not All Student Entrepreneurs Drop Out”
How Startups Can Navigate the Dynamic IT Channel
The IT industry is one of the most dynamic industries where companies are under constant pressure to keep up with the rapid pace of technological advances and trends. However, information databases on IT companies aren’t always up-to-date. Therefore, navigating the IT channel to find potential channel partners to take a product to market is often … Continue reading “How Startups Can Navigate the Dynamic IT Channel”
The Future of Education: 10 Trends To Watch
It is that time of the year when we tend to pause, reflect, and look forward. What have we achieved in the year just passed? What are the highlights of culture, business, technology, and trends that we have observed around us? For me, the most exciting and positive movement at present is in the domain … Continue reading “The Future of Education: 10 Trends To Watch”
A Tablet App from Invention Labs Helps Kids with Speech Disabilities
The field of educational technologies is going through an exciting period. From massively open online courses (MOOCs) like MIT’s OCW or edX and Khan Academy to a range of tablet and smartphone applications, the field is rife with exciting innovations that have dramatically changed the face of education. There is a higher degree of self-learning … Continue reading “A Tablet App from Invention Labs Helps Kids with Speech Disabilities”
Innovation’s Next Decade
While the world economy continues to look shaky, the technology industry has never looked stronger. Now is perhaps a good time to stop for a moment and reflect on what the next decade will be all about for the industry. My vision of what the technology industry needs to focus on is best described by … Continue reading “Innovation’s Next Decade”
Balancing Act: How a Working Mom Built Steals.com
Working mothers are constantly struggling to strike a balance between spending time with their kids and making the most of their professional skills or supporting their families financially. Jana Francis, co-founder of Steals.com, has achieved this balance, and for her, the most rewarding part is that her employees are able to strike a balance as … Continue reading “Balancing Act: How a Working Mom Built Steals.com”
Platform Ecosystems in Big Data
I have written about the platform eco-system trend in technology recently. To recap, a business that has been gaining ground in the tech world is the technology platform developer network model, wherein large numbers of developers can use the platform to build their businesses cost-effectively without the handicap of huge infrastructure expenditure. Some of the … Continue reading “Platform Ecosystems in Big Data”
Trendspotting: Platform Ecosystems
For big enterprise services companies, the hot new trend is having a cloud-hosted platform for third-party applications. These platforms give app developers the resources they need to build, launch, promote, and integrate their apps with other businesses. This not only creates a bundle of exceptional business tools but it also creates a hotbed of savvy … Continue reading “Trendspotting: Platform Ecosystems”
Trendspotting: Commerce on Facebook
Social media’s impact on global e-commerce is being felt everywhere. By promoting products via social media outlets, e-commerce companies have invited customers to spread interest and awareness of their brands through liking, reviewing, and sharing products with their network of friends. Commerce on social media has become a hot trend for many e-commerce firms to … Continue reading “Trendspotting: Commerce on Facebook”
Bootstrapping Products with Services
Because it’s often so difficult for entrepreneurs to obtain seed funding for their startups, bootstrapping is one of the best methods to self-fund their projects. And offering a service is one of the best ways to go. This, by the way, remains a controversial point of view, and most industry observers will take the position … Continue reading “Bootstrapping Products with Services”
Bootstrapping With A Paycheck
Entrepreneurs looking to launch their startups are often faced with myriad difficult decisions, chief among them being the question of seed financing. If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “How can I fund this?” or “Can I fund this on my own, while I’m still holding my current job?” the answer is yes—you absolutely can. Vasu … Continue reading “Bootstrapping With A Paycheck”
Healthcare IT: Making Good Progress
The cost of healthcare administration is a hot issue in America. According to the Center for American progress, in the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $361 billion annually goes to cover administrative costs. That number is a 14 percent of total healthcare expenditure nationwide. Improvements in IT are expected to reduce these expenditures dramatically. The … Continue reading “Healthcare IT: Making Good Progress”
Crowdsourced Workforces Rising
Crowdsourcing is a growing trend in the tech startup industry, and one that has the potential to address pressing needs in various markets. In particular, crowdsourcing of workforces is seeing tremendous uptick. At 1M/1M we’ve encountered several startups that are applying the model on different problem domains related to hiring and staffing. CrowdFlower founder Lukas … Continue reading “Crowdsourced Workforces Rising”
Innovations in Financial Technology: Wisdom of the Crowd
It is of particular interest to me when an established industry begins to innovate and move in new directions. Financial technology has been an active area of innovation all along, but the advent of social media and crowd sourcing has infused new life to the sector. Aside from crowdfunding, here at 1M/1M we are also … Continue reading “Innovations in Financial Technology: Wisdom of the Crowd”
The Series A Crunch: Don’t Get Discouraged
Much is being said on a daily basis about the “Series A crunch.” Supposedly, there aren’t enough venture investors to support all the startups winning seed funding these days. I will give you my thoughts on how to deal with the issue. Please note that this advice is entirely for entrepreneurs, not investors. First and … Continue reading “The Series A Crunch: Don’t Get Discouraged”
The Million Dollar Club
I had two conversations last week, each of which reinforces a simple phenomenon that I have constantly emphasized over the last five years in my writings. On Wednesday, I had lunch with Brian Jacobs, General Partner at Emergence Capital. We were discussing our respective startup portfolios, and Brian mentioned that his firm’s preferred stage for … Continue reading “The Million Dollar Club”
Women ARE Running Startups
There has been tremendous sensationalizing of the women and entrepreneurship issue. Self-proclaimed (male) pundits pontificate on how women entrepreneurs face tremendous obstacles, huge prejudice. I disagree. A blog post that I wrote on the subject in October 2010 still garners readership and discussions. Meanwhile, our 1M/1M virtual incubator continues to work with women entrepreneurs actively, … Continue reading “Women ARE Running Startups”
A Wake-Up Call for Angel Investors
[Editor’s note: To tap the wisdom of our distinguished group of Xconomists, we asked a few of them to answer this question heading into 2013: What does your gut tell you will happen in the coming year even though you don’t have data to prove it?] Mindless angel investing in unvalidated ideas will get a jolt. Over … Continue reading “A Wake-Up Call for Angel Investors”
TrendSpotting: eFood, iEat
The food industry may seem like the last bastion of brick and mortar companies, relying solely on human efforts. Think again. A new crop of entrepreneurs are taking our love of food out of the kitchen and into the digital realm. Several members of 1M/1M, our global virtual startup incubator, have created specialty brands that … Continue reading “TrendSpotting: eFood, iEat”
Trendspotting: The Variegated Social Web
The social Web is gradually taking over the Internet. From search to shopping, everything is getting social these days. Time for an overview of what we see in the 1M/1M portfolio from all corners of the social web. Lutebox Ali Ahmed, who used to be an entrepreneur-in-residence at Groupon, co-founded Lutebox, a Walkie-Talkie shopping venture … Continue reading “Trendspotting: The Variegated Social Web”
Trendspotting: The Era of E-Sharing
From sharing maternity clothing to sharing car rides, this seems to be the era of sharing, and the Internet is playing the role of the grand facilitator. A few people have already spotted the trend and are coming up with new ideas. Three such companies presented their products to me in the 1M/1M roundtables over … Continue reading “Trendspotting: The Era of E-Sharing”
Small Companies Storm the Edutech Market
Online education is now available for everyone. Parents can home school their children from the moment they start kindergarten until they graduate from high school. Online colleges and universities continue to gain legitimacy as more and more people pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees via the Internet. Schools such as the University of Phoenix no longer … Continue reading “Small Companies Storm the Edutech Market”
India vs. Silicon Valley: A SaaSy War
Software as a service (SaaS) probably grew in popularity as quickly as it did thanks to Salesforce.com. The customer relationship management (CRM) giant made the lives of sales professionals much easier, and the platform soon gained traction as a handy tool for non-sales professionals as well. But Salesforce.com wasn’t—and still isn’t—affordable for everybody. Enter Zoho, … Continue reading “India vs. Silicon Valley: A SaaSy War”
SaaS Spreads to India and Beyond
Software as a service is a thriving and still growing industry with dozens of multi-million dollar companies making their mark around the world. According to Gartner, global spending on the Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) market is projected to grow 17.9percent in 2012 to $14.5 billion and is projected to be worth $22.1 billion by 2015. IPOs and acquisitions … Continue reading “SaaS Spreads to India and Beyond”
Entrepreneurship Flowers Far Away from Silicon Valley
These days, the media are getting better at reporting on entrepreneurship outside Silicon Valley. Within Silicon Valley, however, people tend to be somewhat cocky about the region’s place in the entrepreneurship landscape. But technology entrepreneurship is happening all around the world, and here at the 1M/1M global virtual incubator we have always tried to present … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship Flowers Far Away from Silicon Valley”
Silicon Valley *Is* a Meritocracy
Of late, there has been talk that Silicon Valley is not a meritocracy, and that it is biased against women, black, and older entrepreneurs. I don’t believe this is true. I have lived and worked as a serial entrepreneur in the Valley for more than 15 years. Over the past couple of years, as I … Continue reading “Silicon Valley *Is* a Meritocracy”
The Other 99 Percent: Entrepreneurs
In my recent piece Reengineering Capitalism I highlighted a phenomenon that the global entrepreneurship ecosystem is paying very little attention to: Over 99 percent of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected. Yet, the entire world is focused on the 1 percent that is “fundable.” The media, when pitched a startup story, is interested in who … Continue reading “The Other 99 Percent: Entrepreneurs”
Reengineering Capitalism
In the fading months of 2011, we find ourselves in an uncertain world. On the one hand, America is still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, and the nation’s faith in free-market capitalism as its guiding principle has been shaken to the core. On the other hand, Europe is reeling under the burdens of socialism … Continue reading “Reengineering Capitalism”
Bootstrapping Our Way Back From the Collapse
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year (along with broader financial markets) the question at the top of my mind has been, “What next?” or maybe, “Where to from here?” From my perspective it is clear that small business must be a top priority in the coming months and years. There are approximately five … Continue reading “Bootstrapping Our Way Back From the Collapse”