The 1Mby1M Methodology is based on case studies. In each 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.

One of the most exciting trends in the tech industry currently is Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Developer Ecosystems. Entrepreneurs looking for a capital-efficient strategy should seriously consider bootstrapping by piggybacking on these PaaS players.

This course is a first step in learning about Bootstrapping by Piggybacking on PaaS platforms.

The company that has knocked the ball out of the park with its PaaS strategy is Salesforce. They launched their platform over a decade back, and many substantial companies, and numerous sustainable small businesses, have been built on it.

Veeva, for example, was built this way with a small amount of capital, and today boasts over $1B in revenue and over $20 billion in market cap.

My hypothesis is that of the 200+ SaaS companies that have achieved scale, we would see a set that would break out and become significant PaaS players.

This means the industry would have 20-50 PaaS platforms with serious developer ecosystems and app marketplaces. The PaaS vendors would want to sell the apps developed on their platforms to their customer bases, take 30% in platform commission, and help support robust businesses while scaling themselves exponentially.

Once you learn the methodology of piggybacking on PaaS platforms, consider learning about other bootstrapping techniques.

Though we love bootstrapping, we never rule out funding.

You will also need to learn about the realities of startup funding at different stages, from Pre-seed to Series A. Get to know how investors think, so you can speak their language and attain that elusive holy grail of investor-entrepreneur fit.

Here you have it. If you master the essential skills, you’ll have an edge over many of your competitors.

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