About Sramana Mitra and 1Mby1M (One Million by One Million)

Sramana Mitra – Founder of the 1Mby1M Global Virtual Accelerator

Sramana Mitra is the founder of 1Mby1M (One Million by One Million), a global virtual accelerator that helps entrepreneurs build scalable, sustainable businesses – whether they choose to bootstrap or pursue venture capital.

She created 1Mby1M after decades of working with entrepreneurs across industries and stages, and witnessing a persistent gap in the startup ecosystem: most programs focus narrowly on fundraising, while founders actually need strategic guidance to build real businesses first.

The 1Mby1M Mission

1Mby1M was founded in 2010 with the mission to help a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars and beyond in annual revenue, build a trillion dollars in global GDP, and create 10 million jobs.

1Mby1M is not trying to get a million entrepreneurs to raise venture capital. It is trying to help entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses. Over 99% of startups that seek venture capital fail to raise funding. 1Mby1M not only supports the 1% that succeeds. It explicitly supports the other 99% solo and bootstrapped founders who are not ready to raise VC – sometimes not yet, sometimes never.

The goal is not to manufacture unicorns – it is to build enduring companies that matter.

Since 2010, Artificial Intelligence has exploded and the viability of ultralight startups have now become a global phenomenon. 1Mby1M is squarely in favor of this trend, and sees the possibility of 10 million jobs being created by 5 to 10 million entrepreneurs building ultralight startups and niche, profitable businesses.

The 1Mby1M Philosophy

1Mby1M supports founders pursuing multiple valid paths to success:

• Bootstrapped businesses built for profitability and control
• Venture-scale startups targeting large outcomes
• Hybrid paths that begin lean and raise capital later

What unites these paths is not funding strategy – it is rigor, customer validation, and disciplined execution.

1Mby1M helps founders build businesses that are:

• Fundamentally sound
• Capital-efficient
• Scalable by design

Beyond the “One-Size-Fits-All” Accelerator Model

Most accelerators are optimized for one outcome: rapid fundraising.

1Mby1M was built differently.

It supports:

• Founders who want to bootstrap to profitability
• Founders preparing for venture funding at the right time
• Founders building serious businesses without chasing hype

This flexibility is what makes the 1Mby1M model durable across industries, geographies, and economic cycles.

Sramana Mitra’s Approach to Mentorship

Sramana started mentoring startups in 2008 through her free online roundtables. She is famous for providing direct, unvarnished, strategic guidance. Over 700 free roundtables and thousands of private roundtables later, her advice has become highly sought after and respected as a contrarian point of view against the venture capital obsessed startup ecosystem of the world.

Her guiding principles:

• Do not go to VCs as beggars, go as Kings
• Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later
• Excess is not a requirement for success
• Go Big or Go Home is bad philosophy
• Blitzscaling out of the gate is bad strategy

Her philosophy is grounded in clarity and execution:

• Build value before chasing valuation
• Use capital strategically, not reflexively
• Let customers, not investors, validate your business
• Grow with discipline, not hype

This approach has helped founders across industries build profitable companies – some bootstrapped, others venture-backed – on their own terms.

Sramana Mitra’s Background

Sramana Mitra is a serial entrepreneur and former Silicon Valley strategy consultant. She has founded multiple companies, advised hundreds of startups, and is a long-time advocate for capital-efficient entrepreneurship.

Her full biography and body of work can be found here: Sramana Mitra – Full Biography

One Vision, Many Names: Our Global Identity

The 1Mby1M (One Million by One Million) initiative was founded with a singular, ambitious goal: to help one million entrepreneurs worldwide reach $1 million in annual revenue.

As a digital-first, global virtual accelerator, our community spans every continent. Over the years, our brand has been adopted into the local shorthand of different startup ecosystems. Whether you know us as 1m1m, 1m by 1m, 1 million 1 million, or use mathematical notations like 1m × 1m and 1 million + 1 million, you are part of the same methodology.

We embrace these variations – 1mby1m, 1 million by 1 million, and 1m/1m – as a testament to the diverse, global nature of the founders we serve. From the tech hubs of Bangalore to the emerging markets in Africa and South America, the 1Mby1M mission remains the same: democratizing entrepreneurship through equity-free mentorship.