More information about the 1M/1M premium program is at: http://1m1m.sramanamitra.com

When is the right time to join the 1M/1M Program? At what stage of business development?

Anytime. You can start with an idea, and use the 1M/1M methodology to validate it.

Or, you can be at $500k in revenue, and can use 1M/1M to get to the next level.

What do you say to entrepreneurs who are uncomfortable discussing business problems while other 1M/1M members are listening?

As soon as you start discussing your business with customers, your ideas will be exposed, anyway.

Confidentiality is rather an overrated concept in startup land.

It's all about execution, really.

Make assumptions that are all wrong, which don't get tested in the market

This is a recipe for failure. Always.

The @1mby1m methodology wants you to discuss with customers ASAP.

What is your advice for bootstrapping entrepreneurs whose team members want to raise money so they can get paid?

Get a feel for the market, validate assumptions, or invalidate assumptions

You can do creative forms of bootstrapping…

Like bootstrapping using services.

This would allow you to pay your team members and yourself, while still continuing to validate your business.

Selling equity too soon, too cheap really screws up your cap table.

And most businesses won't succeed in raising money without adequate bootstrapping, anyway.

99% of the deals appraoching investors get rejected.

Creative ways, meaning using services/vendors

Right. Exactly, taariq.

I mean customer traction, far more important than investor traction.

Entrepreneurship = (Customer + Revenue + Profits); Financing is optional.

Cud u throw a little bit light on creative bootstrapping ways, please

And you can get there. That's my point.

Look at Greg Gianforte of RightNow.

His company just got acquired by Oracle for $1.3 Billion.

Excellent bootstrapping story. No financing until $5M in revenue

The Right Now Story: RT @1Mby1M: You can read about Greg here: http://bit.ly/tlo5TR

How can a bootstrapping entrepreneur who is counting every penny justify spending $1,000 on the 1M/1M program?

It deals with many methods of creative bootstrapping from some of the greatest practitioners

We recently had a premium member who was ready to trigger a $15k product development investment.

I listened to her at the premium roundtable and told her that she should not waste the $15k.

She is not ready for any product development yet.

Her $1000 investment helped save $15k in her first roundtable session by not building the wrong product.

Another premium member won a $40k grant from Microsoft within wks of joining the program which we helped them apply for.

So, you never know exactly what dots we can help to connect

We can say this, that you will get tremendous value from the program, because we see members actively benefiting everyday.

Well, financing is a very time-expensive effort.

It takes away time from customer development.

So yes, absolutely.

Bootstrapping is a @1mby1m mantra for good reason.

Another question, can non-IT businesses benefit from the 1M/1M program?

If your business is IT, IT-enabled services, Internet, or Outsourcing, we can help you in 1M/1M.

But if you are doing drug discovery or putting solar panels on schools, we cannot.

The primary reason is that we don't do highly capital intensive businesses.

The risks of a very capital efficient business are very high.

Can u help startups in education space

Given the rejection ratio, we cannot, in good faith, tell you that we can help you raise $20M.

Yes, Online Education / Educational tech / Edutainment is a big focus

We have a separate premium curriculum module addressing this.

Is 1M/1M a funding broker?

And we have several entrepreneurs working on this area in the program

making great progress.

Ajit recently wont the MIT Tech review TR35 innovation award for his work in autistic learning

So is 1M/1M a funding broker?

1M/1M does make introductions to angels and VCs.

But our primary value proposition for entrepreneurs is to use the resources of 1M/1Mto ‘become fundable’.

1M/1M is an educational, incubation, business development, and acceleration resource, not a brokerage.

We have an excellent network of investors, and we do make that network available to you.

But you need to be ready for $$$ to happen.

And if an entrepreneur joins 1M/1M, how soon can you introduce himor her to Angel Investors and VCs?

That depends on my assessment of his or her fundability.

Over 99% of the deals that get introduced to investors get declined.

In 1M/1M, we work diligently with entrepreneurs to increase their chances of funding.

When I feel that they have a chance of successfully convincing investors to invest in their projects …

Only then will I introduce entrepreneurs to investors.

Prior to that, if a business is not ready for funding, I work with entrepreneurs so that they become ready.

Yes, it can and suually is iterative.

Could you help entrepreneurs to negotiate the terms for angel or VC funding?

you gauge the funding market's appetite for your deal, and then come back work with @1mby1m some more.

Fill the gaps.

In some cases, depending on the competitive nature of the market, your deal may get traction right away.

We've done a deal recently, where the entrepreneur got 3 term sheets within a few weeks.

Then I helped him negotiate out some of the onerous terms like tranche financing and liquidation preferences.

What's your view on recruiting technical talent in the IT space for bootstrapped companies? Is it harder?

the deal closed at the top end of the valuation estimate.

Could be harder, but there are ways of doing it.

One of the mechanisms we use is Outsourced Product Development (OPD).

We have @1mby1m premium services companies who are doing OPD services for @1mby1m premium product companies

You should look up the module on OPD in the Team Building section of the premium curriculum.

Can 1M/1M make introductions to regional investors outside ofSilicon Valley?

We have provided names and contacts of preferred vendors, as well as the general framework of how it works.

Thans @sramana. How do companies use the OPD mechanism in the program?

1M/1M works with VCs and angel investors around the world.

Sramana, what direct access do we have to you as premium subscribers if we have specific questions that we need to address and get feedback on?

In addition, 1M/1M has a lot of alternative financing relationships and strategies which are deployed on behalf of entrepreneurs…

regardless of where you are based.

sorry - hello everyone

Taariq: OPD - we have excellent OPD services companies.

in the program.

Im currently located in Singapore. Would all this work for entrepreneurs HERE

You can work with some of them on your product and augment your core team.

Yes, Nicholas ... you have the private roundtables where I will work with you directly.

Thank you - Can your service assist me if I want to bring additional proven directors with track record on board to add to the overall credibility of the team?

And also you can ask questions via the discussion forum and the comments section in the premium lounge.

Finally, emails.

yes.

Learn more about the private roundtables here: http://1m1m.sramanamitra.com/private-roundtables/

In general, anything to do with adding and augmenting your team and credibility - whatever dots we can connect, we will.

thank you - sorry to get you typing so fast

no problem :-)

I already control 87% of the stock of a company that is currently listed on the pink sheets, do I make ourselves more of an attractive proposition to PE investment by being able to use this to provide an exit strategy for those investors?

I have to look at the specifics to be able to advise you.

you should come pitch at a roundtable, so we can look at the specifics.

Sramana, I am considering setting something up in the education space focussing on India but am located in SINGAPORE. Would u be able to help

or join the premium program, and get going.

Yes, we have premium members in both India and Singapore.

exactly the reason I am here :)

India is our second biggest geography, and we're very well received there.

Nicholas - great :-)

We're also seeing good traction in East Asia

Lots of interest in entrepreneurship in East Asia.

Can your servive assist with the valuation of the existing assets developed, and then in the negotiation with potential PE investors?

Absolutely.

We don't believe in business plans. No one reads them.

You need to tell your story in a compelling way in 20 slides, not 20 pages.

We can definitely teach you how to do that.

please explain more - I am frowning

There are specific modules addressing these presentation issues.

in the premium curriculum.

Trends - lots of SaaS and Cloud projects.

Gaming.

HealthcareIT

Mobile apps, platforms.

Social apps, platforms.

OPD services

Services in general.

e-commerce.

Web businesses of all kinds.

Online education and edu tech.

If a company is not looking for funding, how does it benefit fromjoining 1M/1M?

All of those have dedicated elective modules in the curriculum, as well as case studies and video lectures.

Those are the big trends right now.

I think these trends will continue in 2012.

By 2020, 5 billion people will be on the internet.

lots of businesses to build upon that basic trend.

Nicolas - glad you found the reason to join :-)

Primarily by accessing channel and customer relationships, as well as strategy consulting.

In addition, 1M/1M has a lot of alternative financing relationships.

This can stretch your current capital further, help you raise your valuation for the next round of funding without diluting yrself.

These include inventory financing, revenue sharing, receivables financing, etc.

All mechanisms that are designed to be non-dilutive for the entrepreneurs.

Finally, if you need to raise a follow-on round, we will help you with that as well.

what else?

So if an entrepreneur is rejected by a set of VCs / Angels, can 1M/1Mhelp him to get funded?

You need to first figure out why you got rejected, and what is thebest financing strategy for your business.

1M/1M can certainly help an entrepreneur with that, and if we ascertain that you might have a fundable business

Then yes, we will guide you on what steps would help you get funded.

Chances are, we are going to ask you to make certain changes in what you are doing currently.

And you’d need to execute on those suggestions before we bring you back into the funding circuit again.

Otherwise, you would be wasting your time.

Time is Money.

Not all businesses are fundable.

Hi @sramana. Can you share a little about Top Down vs. Bottom Up valuations? What types of valuations do VCs like to see?

The small niche $5M $10M ideas are not fundable.

But we're okay with helping you build them.

We always emphasize bottom up valudations.

if you don't know what bottom up valuation means, we cover that in the Market Sizing module of the curriculum.

It's a critical piece of knowledge that ALL entrepreneurs need to know - Market Sizing and its implications.

Right 100% of $5M is GREAT.

Zoho is over $100M now, completely bootstrapped.

not an ounce of outside money.

Zoho's story: http://www.sramanamitra.com/2007/07/10/happily-bootstrapping-zoho-ceo-sridhar-vembu-part-1/

it takes time to bootstrap, but it takes time to build great companies anyway.

look at Steve Jobs.

everyone wrote him off, because his ideas had such long term vision.

in the end, he got the last laugh.

one more qs?

If one needs introductions to potential customers, can you connect themto decision makers who may want to purchase the solution?

Yes. This is one of the most important focus areas of 1M/1M.

You can read up some of my writings on the topic:

Alternative Financing For Startups Using A Sales Channel Partner: http://ow.ly/78ft3

1M/1M introduces entrepreneurs to both customers and channel partners.

Examples: CIO of Intel.

CIO of VMware

pretty rare species :-)

Can you help an entrepreneur to sort though his or her ideas andpick the best one?

Bottomline - our rolodex is available to the premium members wherever it makes sense.

And the rolodex is ever-expanding.

Idea sorting: Absolutely. We apply systematic methodology in doing this.

You will learn the methodology yourself, as well as get my input.

We've already touched on the next question, but it gets asked alot...

Do you help with business plans?

We don’t recommend that you start working on your business planbefore going through the 1M/1M curriculum.

Chances are, you would waste your time, and miss important elements.

But in principle, absolutely.

Note: Business plan is not a 20 page document.

No one reads those, as I said earlier to Nicolas.

Can someone be a part-time entrepreneur while holding a full-time job?

Ah, Yes. It’s great to have a pay-check.

We recommend you use it to bootstrap a company.

Join 1M/1M premium and spend 50 hours over the next 2-3 months to fully understand the methodology.

Then, come up with an idea, put it through the validation methodology, and see if ithas legs.

If not, test another. Keep going, until you find an ideathat passes the 1M/1M litmus test.

This could take 6-12 months, but you can do it while keeping your job, during evenings and weekends.

Once you have a validated idea, quit your job and jump in fully.

1M/1M is a perfect springboard for people with jobs AND entrepreneurialaspirations.

Why do you recommend to join 1M/1M as early as possible, preferablybefore a product is built or a website is launched?

I am not so sure, @sramana. There are IP issues and entrepreneurs could get sued by their companies. No?

We have premium members working in this mode, and I think they feel a lot safer with a blueprint before them

Moonlighting and doing startups while working has been Silicon Valley's tradition for decades, Taariq.

It's a tried and true method.

one more qs.

@sramana so you would say there are no IP risks for this approach?

we'll stop at 9:00

So why do you recommend to join 1M/1M as early as possible, preferablybefore a product is built or a website is launched?

there are some, but they can be tackled, because they have been tackled for a long time.

Because without proper methodology, most likely, you will buildthe wrong product.

99% entrepreneurs don't know how to do validation and positioning.

We prefer that you do the validation first, following the 1M/1M methodology, before building any technology.

You may want to consider going through 1M/1M first.

Thanks @sramana. Iteration and validation are still big issues to tackle.

Spend 30-50 hours digesting the curriculum.

And then going for technology development.

Otherwise, the 6-8 month investment may go to waste.

We don’t want you to build a product that no one wants to buy.

brings me back to the example I gave you earlier.

Wow this hour flew by!

$15k investment on the wrong product is money flushed down the toilet.

do you have potential routes to the education market in India that might benefit us?

can't say without specifics of your business.

On that note, if you still have questions about the 1M/1M Program: http://1m1m.sramanamitra.com

Thanks for your time and advice

Or please give Irina Patterson a call at 786-301-2456 after this chat session to discuss your specific situation

Thanks to Taariq Lewis for letting us give Stanzr a ride.

Have a great day, and see you in the program, hopefully.

Sramana's fingers must be very tired!

Hope it was helpful ...

Thank you!

Thanks for letting us use Stanzr. Cool platform, Taariq.

Ciao, then!

Boostrapping to $100MM RT @1Mby1M: Zoho's story: http://bit.ly/usUdrN #in