How to Build E-commerce Startups with Sramana Mitra

The 1Mby1M Methodology is based on case studies. In this course, Sramana Mitra shares the tribal knowledge of tech entrepreneurs by giving students the rare seat at the table with the entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders who provide the most instructive perspectives on how to build a thriving business. Through these conversations, students gain access to case studies exploring the alleys of entrepreneurship. Sramana’s synthesis of key learnings and incisive analysis add great depth to each discussion.

In the post Covid world, e-commerce is growing at a furious pace and it will continue to grow. Today, small merchants no longer open shops on main streets and downtowns. They start e-commerce sites.

This trend is here to stay.

In this course, I want to discuss some of the best practices, talk to a lot of e-commerce entrepreneurs about what’s working and what’s to be replicated, explore some of the trends, and address the common errors.

First, basic startup methodology needs to be learned. I’ve offered numerous courses on Udemy in which this is addressed categorically. Please don’t look for repeats of those in this course.

For example, e-commerce is a very popular category for solo entrepreneurs. You should look in my Solo Entrepreneur course for specifics on that topic. Bootstrapping with a Paycheck is used extensively by e-commerce entrepreneurs. I have a separate course on that topic. Two-sided e-commerce marketplaces have become a very big trend. I cover that elsewhere in a separate course, not in this one.

In this course, we look at how new merchants can start e-commerce ventures. Also, we look at how e-commerce merchants already doing business can grow into larger businesses.

On the latter, I want you to be familiar with my Web 3.0 framework. I really believe that impressive businesses can be built by thinking of e-commerce not as a pure store, but as an integrated web experience. I have covered this topic here in some depth.

On customer acquisition, you will find some overview points but not instructions on how to run Facebook advertising. There are many other places you can learn that, and yes, you do need to learn that to run a successful e-commerce business. The same applies for Google SEO and PPC campaigns. You need to know how to run those.

The notion of Channels is simple: you have to start somewhere. You can start on Shopify, or Amazon, or eBay, or Etsy, or elsewhere. But, you will soon discover that e-commerce today is a multi-channel game. As such, you’d need to understand how to operate on multiple channels simultaneously. That creates complexities such as inventory management, order tracking, etc. There are software systems to manage those issues.

Let’s get going.

The 1Mby1M courses are all heavily based on interview-based case studies on Innovation, Business Models, Go To Market Strategies, Validation Principles, and various other nuances of an entrepreneur's journey. We offer extensive opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons from the trenches from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and Investors who support their ambition.