Sramana Mitra
Founder & CEO of 1Mby1M, virtually mentoring, incubating and accelerating startups worldwide from Silicon Valley
Description
Sramana Mitra is the founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first and only global virtual incubator/accelerator. Its goal is to help a million entrepreneurs globally reach a million dollars in annual revenue, build a trillion dollars in global GDP, and create 10 million jobs. Since its founding in 2010, 1Mby1M has become a powerful platform for democratization of entrepreneurship education, incubation, and acceleration, embracing a community of over half a million people. Sramana’s weekly online mentoring sessions have had over 300,000 participants. In 2015, LinkedIn named Sramana one of their Top 10 Influencers alongside Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Before 1Mby1M Sramana has been an entrepreneur and a strategy consultant in Silicon Valley since 1994. As an entrepreneur CEO, Sramana founded three companies: Dais, Intarka and Uuma. Two of these were acquired, while the third received an acquisition offer from Ralph Lauren, which the company did not accept. As strategy consultant, Sramana has consulted with over 80 companies, including public companies such as SAP, Cadence Design Systems, Webex, KLA-Tencor, Best Buy, MercadoLibre and Tessera among others. Her work has also included numerous startups and VCs. Sramana also has a proven track record in turnarounds Sramana has a Masters degree in EECS from MIT and a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Economics from Smith College.
Suggested Questions
- Why are investors rejecting me?
- Why am I not finding Product Market Fit?
- Should I raise funding or bootstrap?
- What are the benefits of a non-equity accelerator?
- Should I join a 3-month accelerator?
- What are some common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make, and what advice would you offer to avoid them?
- How do you define the "right" time for a startup to seek external funding?
- How important is market segmentation in achieving sustainable growth?
- What are your thoughts on the importance of revenue as the cheapest and most empowering form of financing?
- What are some effective bootstrapping techniques that you recommend for early-stage startups?
- Can you explain the importance of customer validation in the fundraising process?
- How important is it for entrepreneurs to have a clear vision for their business?
- How do you believe entrepreneurs can successfully navigate the gap between concept and traction?
- How do you guide entrepreneurs through the process of transitioning from a services-based business model to a product-based model?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of equity crowdfunding as a funding strategy?
- What are the challenges faced by entrepreneurs when building two-sided marketplaces, and how can they be addressed?
- How important is customer validation in the early stages of a business?
- How can the principles of bootstrapped entrepreneurship be applied effectively in corporate innovation settings?
- What is your perspective on the value of utilizing a services-based model initially to bootstrap a product company?
- What strategies do you recommend for effective customer acquisition?