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22 Comments

Do you have a mentor? How do you get one?

I don't know whether the mentor is important for startup success or not. But I have been done everything by myself still now. I have a few startup friends but no one taught me how to start a startup. What do you think about mentoring? And tell me how to find it.

  1. 5

    I think mentorship is useful, but so much effort and lip-service is spent on finding a mentor that the value is lost.

    1. Do good things.
    2. Let people know you are doing good things if you think it will be helpful.

    If someone sees what you are doing and helps you along the way, they are your mentor. Formalizing it almost cheapens it.

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      @SoulOfTheGods
      I see. I'll try to publish what I 'm doing to Twitter and blogs. Thanks!

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        Do you know people IRL that might be interested? That’d be even more helpful.

        1. 1

          Thanks a lot :) Helpful advise!

  2. 4

    I tend to have a few informal mentors, as well as "peer mentors" which are basically people that I mastermind with who can offer a different perspective. I think everyone in business should have mentors!
    I am pretty active in online communities and have hired coaches over the years, so I have a wide network, and will often reach out to folks I admire for virtual coffee dates.

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      @mariepoulin
      It sounds great. "peer mentors" help us when we face each problem. What kind of online communities do you use?

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        I'm in many online business communities, like Tara McMullin's What Works Network, and lots of business-focused facebook groups. I've also met so many people from conferences who have gone on to become people I mastermind with!

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          Thanks for your information :) I'll check it out!

  3. 3

    Mentor relationships, in my opinion, are the most efficient way of learning. You are not learning from theory, you are learning from someone who has lived through what you are now experiencing. Consider reaching out to a Startup Studio. These venture builders help entrepreneurs from the very beginning (ideation) of a startup cycle and guide you through/work with you until significant growth has been reached. They additionally connect you to a valuable network and provide you with individual mentorship. It has been shown that entrepreneurs working with Startup Studios have a higher probability of success ("exit"). If you are interested in Startup Studios, take a glance at the following report: https://www.gan.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Rise-of-Startup-Studios-White-Paper.pdf

    Otherwise, there is a new platform called Wyzr that aims to connect experts of all fields to users seeking advice in one-on-one live conversations. On this platform, startup founders like you can also reach out to experienced entrepreneurs for guidance. Conversations like these with serial entrepreneurs, if done smartly, could form the beginnings of a great mentor to mentee relationship, so give it a try. Take a look at Wyzr here

  4. 2

    The way I see it, you are my mentor now, and I am yours as well. Every time you seriously consume a piece of information aimed at growing your business, you are being "mentored".

    I guess you could benefit more from a closer relationship with someone more experienced or more successful. Those relationships cost more time though, successful people are busy and there is the silent agreement that you, as the mentee, must also provide some form of value for the education you receive.

    Often times, the people that you would like to be your mentors are already published authors or blog actively about the field. You basically get about 60-70% of their knowledge but in a streamlined way. Seems like a good tradeoff to me.

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      @odysseus Thanks for your comment. I really like subscribing blogs, reading books and following influencers. These things are a good way to learn for free communication.

  5. 2

    I look for passive and active mentorship from people that have done what I want to achieve or who are in a similar industry.

    Passive could be following their Twitter accounts to see what they're tweeting about and interacting with them there. Get to know them more and ultimately get in touch with them.

    Active could be getting a LinkedIn Premium and messaging people for intros if you really believe that person could be helpful for your career and life in general.

    1. 1

      Actually, I follow so many tech talents :) LinkedIn action sounds pretty good, I'll do it! Thanks @kebeentrill

  6. 2

    Mentorship has been a huge part of my personal and career development. Without it, I don't think I'd be the same person right now. But when it comes to startup mentorship, there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all.

    If you want to find the right mentor for your startup, then you need to think about where your company is and where you want it to go, as well as what kind of advice is going to make the biggest difference.

    And remember that mentoring is a two-way road. You need to give just as much as you want to receive. Don’t expect your mentor to give you the answers.

    At best, they’ll listen to you as you tell your story and ask you the questions that inspire you to arrive at your own conclusions.

    If you want an easy way to find startup mentors, check out www.growthmentor.com - full disclosure, I'm the founder, and also am the biggest users of the platform myself personally. Eat your own dog food right? :p

    1. 1

      @fotipanagio Thanks for your comment. I browsed growthmentor.com, this is a little similar to clarity.fm . But I love it :) I remind "the mentoring is two-way road".

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        Glad you like it! Feel free to reach out to me, I'd be happy to jump on a call with you and give you a tour.

  7. 2

    I've found that it's more effective and less intimidating to people to simply contact them with a question than to request a formal mentoring relationship. If they were open to the first question, ask them another later on. And another. Relationships tend to work better when they form naturally.

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      @narthur
      I see. Every time I face the problem, I'll try to the expert. And I'll keep on building a relationship with them.

  8. 2

    I don't call him a mentor, but he provides advice and has been a big supporter. I have a newsletter where the intended audience is early-stage VCs. He's an early-stage VC and he lets me bounce ideas off of him and is incredibly helpful and responsive.

    How to find one depends I think on what you want to build. Be helpful to people one step ahead of you and try to attract their attention.

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      @Chris24
      Thanks for your comment. The guy sounds great, I don't have anyone who rely on about startups still now. I have to do networking and so on.

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