How a Seed Startup VC Thinks Case Study with Sramana Mitra

One frustrating observation remains with me. Entrepreneurs constantly come to us for assistance with their funding in situations where their chances of fundraising are ZERO.

We can’t do anything to assist them, regardless of how strong our investor connections are. We can’t help startups get funding until they are fundable. It pains me to see so many entrepreneurs who have no concept of what it takes to raise funds.

To all new entrepreneurs out there: please study how to evaluate your chances of obtaining funding.

If you want to understand the entire early-stage investment ecosystem, it consists of friends and family financing, pre-seed, seed, post-seed, small Series A, and large Series A, and we cover those stages in our Udemy courses one by one.

In this course, we do a deep dive into the seed stage.

1. How Seed Investors Think About Startups with Sramana Mitra

A fundable and proven business is essential if you want introductions to angels and VCs.

The reality is that less than 1% of businesses are fundable. What that means is more than 99% of the entrepreneurs waste their energy on pitching their unfundable businesses to investors. Hugely unproductive and unhealthy.

There is a reason why savvy entrepreneurs have been using the Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later strategy.

Generation after generation of entrepreneurs have used bootstrapping to get to a fundable stage, so they can call the shots at the negotiation table with their potential investors.

I have nothing against funding. I have scores of friends who are investors and I respect their work.

But my heart belongs to entrepreneurs who are capable of doing the heavy lifting of extensive validation. That’s where we can add the most value and that’s why we are in the trenches with those true entrepreneurs every day.

The following six courses below will help you grasp bootstrapping, which is a proven financing approach for a tech company until it has validated its product with paying customers. Study various types of bootstrapping and combine them to your liking. Choose those that are the most suitable for you. Apply the methodology.

1. Bootstrapping a Startup with Services with Sramana Mitra

2. Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later with Sramana Mitra

3. Bootstrapping a Startup with a Paycheck with Sramana Mitra

4. How to Bootstrap Startups by Piggybacking with Sramana Mitra

5. How to Bootstrap a Startup to Exit with Sramana Mitra

6. How To Succeed As A Solo Entrepreneur with Sramana Mitra

Only when you bootstrap to validation, think about outside capital. Get to know how investors think, so you can speak their language and attain that elusive holy grail of investor-entrepreneur fit. These three courses can help you further until you reach the seed stage.

1. Alternatives to Unicorn Chasing Investors with Sramana Mitra

2. How Pre-Seed Investors Think About Startups with Sramana Mitra

3. How Seed Investors Think About Deep Tech with Sramana Mitra

All of the above courses are based on The 1Mby1M Methodology. We offer this collection as a consolidation of tribal knowledge from successful tech entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders that can’t be found anywhere else. By taking those courses, you can gain instructive perspectives on how to build a thriving business methodically, step by step, instead of shooting from the hip and reinventing the wheel.

If you have any specific question, come and see me at a 1Mby1M free roundtable.

P.S. We’re looking to partner with community leaders who write blogs, teach and mentor entrepreneurs, and help support startup ecosystems in every corner of the world, no matter how small or how remote. I have written about my own journey building startup ecosystems around the world, and how you can draw from my lessons from the trenches. If you’re interested in partnering with 1Mby1M, please consider joining our ambassador program.

For more information, please check out the external resources.

David Lambert, Managing Director at Right Side Capital Management, a firm that invests small chunks of capital in capital efficient ventures. The firm is very much in line with the Bootstrapping to Exit philosophy that we discuss.