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9 Comments

Is there someone who you would want to mentor you?

Do you have an entrepreneur (or otherwise successful person) who you look up to and would want to mentor you?

Let's keep it realistic though, no Elon Musks or Gary Vees!

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    I admire what Nathan Barry, Sam Ovens, and Joel Gascoigne have done.

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      I'm literally feeling all their vibes from CoachViva, which I think is an amazing project! Kudos!

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    I'm gonna offer an alternative answer: pick someone whose work you admire, and really do your homework.

    Don't just look at what they do now, look at what they did when they started. Look at the turns and changes in their career they navigated, and what factors (in their control or not) were involved. When making decisions, what do they seem to prioritize.

    Look for times when they changed their mind. Look for patterns in what they do and say. Try to adapt what they did at the BEGINNING of their career, and see what results it creates for you, rather than trying to replicate what they do now.

    You can make anybody you look up to your mentor without ever having to talk directly to them...and I bet $100 today that if you actually try stuff based on what you learned from observing them, getting 1-1 time with them down the road is a lot easier than you think.

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      Can't tell you how much I love your twist on this, I think that should be another post on its own!

      I kind of agree. You can replicate what they did, but often you only will see the end result of their actions. E.g.:

      • You can look at what a programmer has built, but unless his work is openly accessible somewhere, there is little to learn from their project.
      • You can look at the designs of a designer, but you only see the final .PSD without the layers.
      • You can look at CEOs but you will only see how their company operates to the public. What's the secret of the CEO to hire great people though? How do they negotiate?

      I'm sure there are some examples where it actually makes a lot of sense to just look at the work/outcome of people, e.g. copywriters. Anyway. Yes, you can just try to replicate on your own, but then you'll do the same mistakes as the ones that you're following. You may find your own approach, but nobody guarantees you that it will be as good.

      IMHO, the purpose of having a mentor is to multiply your learning curve. It's an actual shortcut (if the mentor knows shit and also is a somewhat talented teacher). Sure, you can learn by yourself looking at those people, but it's not even close in terms of efficiency.

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    For me it would be Erik Torenberg. He was the first employee at Product Hunt and now runs a VC firm called Village Global and a new education platform On Deck.

    He's where I want to be 5 years from now and would be able to help out so much

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      Haven't heard about Erik before, but what I just skimmed from a quick Google search indeed looks pretty interesting. Nice!

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    any brilliant product designer.

    i've spent the past year apprenticing at a top design agency, but specifically in brand design. mentorship is 100% the quickest path to becoming a better designer (by far)—but the people i have access to, and who work with me every day, do not possess the product design skillset.

    i'm still trying to figure out exactly what to learn in that realm.

    but...going at it. reaching out to people. seeing what i can figure out.

    ---

    alt answer: david merfield. he built blot.im, which i use for my blog, and i know absolutely nothing about him other than this product he built—but i love the product, i love his philosophy, and every email exchange i've had with him has been a pleasure.

    he has this incredible blend of both design and engineering, and seems to run blot.im all by himself. i would give a lot of time to developing that skillset and ability.

    —ds

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      Thank you for this answer, you've phrased it so humble, inspirationally and pragmatically! Love it!

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