A mentor is someone who accepts the responsibility of guiding a mentee on aspects of business, or life, that the mentor may have a longer experience on.
Thus, in the context of a startup, a mentor’s role is to provide perspective on the direction that the venture may take, and providing inputs and advice on how that idea can be converted into equity.
This means that the mentor should not just give opinion on what he/she feels is right, but should see the venture in the context of the individual mentee’s circumstances and then help the mentee take necessary decisions.
A mentor should not enforce his/her views but provide the inputs that will help the mentee take a better informed decisions.
Apart from strategy and help in decision making, a mentor could also help in the following areas:
- Helping create a business case and business plan – in this, the biggest inputs would be to help the mentee (usually a first-time entrepreneur) understand the complexities of business, the various cost structure, the time taken by companies to stabilize (usually entrepreneurs underestimate the time taken to establish the venture in the marketplace)
- Helping with warm introductions to potential customers, potential employees, potential partners, or even investors
- Providing support during tough times – entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey. And often, the challenges faced can pull a person down. In such times, a mentor can play a crucial role in keeping the motivation level up, reassuring the entrepreneur that the challenges are part of every journey, giving the comfort that his/her support is available, etc.
- Helping take tough calls – including sometimes shutting down or doing a pivot…
- Interviewing senior employees (this is especially useful when the entrepreneurs are young * inexperienced but have to hire someone older and experienced)
Each mentor mentee relationship is unique, and it will be good to hear form you what your experiences with your mentors were.
Originally posted on my blog – The Hub for Startups
Hozefa Shabbir Sabuwala
Hi Prajakt
In today’s business scenario I would say that a mentee can and should have more then one mentors. The way mentor can guide more then one mentee at a time, the same goes other way round………..
There are lots of good experience trustworthy people who are always ready to help us, if we approach them and ask for help.
I would also add, as an entrepreneur one should be a mentee and a mentor at the same time. It gives great learning experiences.
Akshay 'Backpacker' Chhugani
Great article Prajakt, however its sad but my own experience under your mentorship at the Hatch was exactly the opposite of the points you have mentioned here
Prajakt Raut
🙂 Akshay, we had clarified that we did not feel that there was a good business case in your model. Hence, there was no point in us engaging for mentoring. A mentor cannot invest a good business exists my friend. Often the mentor’s role is also to help entrepreneurs undersand weaknesses in their plans.
Happy to catch up over coffee to help you understand why I felt that way about your venture.
Sugeesh Sugathan
Hi Prajakt,
My query is how much equity stake can a mentor take in a company where he will spend time doing all the activities mentioned in the article?
Prajakt Raut
Depends on why that individual has chosen to be a mentor. Often, many mentos volunteer their time and may not accept equity. I have known mentors who have asked the startup to donate their equity to a charity of their choice.
However, an entrepreneur could offer anywhere between 0.25% – 3% equity in a startup, depending on the nature of the involvement, the stature of the peson, his/her motivation for mentoring, etc.