The Startup Velocity Question: What Hinders Acceleration in VC Funded Companies?

I have been running 1Mby1M since 2010. I find myself saying to entrepreneurs ad nauseam that VCs want to invest in startups that can go from zero to $100 million in revenue in 5 to 7 years.

Startups that do not have what it takes to achieve velocity should not be venture funded.

Experienced VCs, over time, have developed heuristics to gauge what constitutes a high growth venture investment thesis. 

The Startup Velocity Question: Innovator’s Dilemma Kills Fundability

Say, you have a non-AI SaaS product with a $5M ARR. 

A competitor has come into the market with a new AI SaaS product addressing the same target customer.

You have to defend your turf and refurbish your SaaS product with AI to get the renewals. 

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The Startup Velocity Question: Repeatability Drives Exit

Perhaps you have come to the conclusion that you will not seek further funding.

Instead, you will look for an Exit. 

The Startup Velocity Question: Repeatability Drives Fundability

Founder-led sales is acceptable for the Seed round.

It is NOT acceptable for Series A or beyond.

At the minimum, you need a Repeatability Hypothesis to raise a sizable venture round.

The Startup Velocity Question: Positioning Drives Repeatability

There’s a common problem with Founder-led Sales: Positioning changes on the fly on a daily basis.

The Startup Velocity Question: Positioning Drives Segmentation

What problem does your product solve with a unique unfair advantage?

What ideal customer has that problem?

These questions are at the heart of Positioning.

The Startup Velocity Question: Segmentation Drives TAM

I see segmentation errors left, right and center.

As such, I see sloppy TAM models left, right and center too.

Segmentation requires a precise profiling of your ideal customer with a host of parameters each of which can individually slash your TAM down by 10%.

The Startup Velocity Question: TAM Drives Fundability

More often than not, an honest Total Available Market (TAM) analysis yields small or medium sized markets. This could range from $50M, $100M, $200M to $500M.

The Startup Velocity Question: Segmentation Matters

An acute lack of understanding of Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and an inadequate Market Segmentation result in artificially bloated TAM.

Often, Segmentation is too broad.

Let’s look at an example.

The Startup Velocity Question: Overestimating TAM

Accurate estimation of Total Available Market (TAM) is an essential component of a high velocity startup. 

I see a chronic overestimation of TAM in my work with startups.

1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Methodology

Developed as an integral part of the esteemed core 1Mby1M curriculum, these courses impart knowledge honed over 15 years. They dissect the mechanics and methodology of building startups with the help of lectures and case studies.