Case Studies of Entrepreneur Mistakes with Sramana Mitra

The 1Mby1M Methodology is based on case studies. In this course, Sramana Mitra shares the tribal knowledge of tech entrepreneurs by giving students the rare seat at the table with the entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders who provide the most instructive perspectives on how to build a thriving business. Through these conversations, students gain access to case studies exploring the alleys of entrepreneurship. Sramana’s synthesis of key learnings and incisive analysis add great depth to each discussion.

Throughout this course we are going to talk about common mistakes that entrepreneurs make, and we are going to look at a lot of different case studies to illustrate the different types of mistakes that we see frequently. I’ll give you a little bit of a flavor of the kinds of things that you’re going to encounter.

One of the biggest, most prevalent myths of the startup ecosystem is that you can raise money without having a business. This is a flawed concept, so don’t go there. This is going to be a requirement – that you turn your concept into a business before you can raise money.

Similarly, you will find problems with a spray and pray strategy. Don’t try to boil the ocean. You’re gonna have to have very precise positioning to gain high velocity entry into a market.

Everybody and their mother is not your customer. Your customer has to be a very precise, well-targeted audience. That is what builds strong businesses.

Another common mistake is having lousy unit economics. You are losing money on every single customer, so how do you expect that you’re gonna build a profitable business over time? It doesn’t work.

So these are just a few examples of the kinds of issues we’re gonna deal with in this course. You’re going to find a ton of case studies here and you will get a visceral feel for the kinds of mistakes that you should be avoiding.

Let’s go!