As I had mentioned in my previous column, choosing a mentor for a startup is not as simple as it sounds. Before zeroing in on the right mentor, founders must think about several factors, which are as follows:
Relevant domain knowledge: Ideally the mentor must have strong experience in the same or similar industry where the founder is attempting to start up. Familiarity with specific processes, regulations, industry practices, and connections to industry experts will come in handy.
Entrepreneurial experience: It will be useful if the mentor has been an entrepreneur earlier. Doing a startup is hard, and founders face many ups and downs. A person with a lot of corporate experience but no exposure to startups may not be able to fully appreciate a founder’s challenges.
Complementary skill sets: A good mentor must be able to help fill some of the gaps. Founders manage everything in a startup, but are well equipped to deal with only some of them. For example, a techie will be comfortable with writing code and building a product but may need help with marketing, business development and operations. Smart founders must look for such complementary skills in a mentor.
Networks and connections: This is very critical. A mentor must be able to connect an entrepreneur to prospective customers, alliance partners, experienced professionals, and investors with interest in the domain.
This will help track the direct outcomes in terms of revenues, deals, hires or fund raises, respectively.
Time commitment: Most mentorships fail due to this aspect. In the initial stages, mentors will be enthusiastic and may promise a lot of time and availability. After a few meetings, this will start to wane and founders may soon struggle to get their inputs quickly. Entrepreneurs must ensure mentors are able to commit the time required, meet in person if required, be ready to meet senior industry folks on occasion, interview potential senior hires, and so on. I turn down most mentorship requests because I cannot promise the time the startup and the entrepreneur deserve.
Chemistry: This is hard to evaluate but is very important. Founders need to candidly share details of the company and personal challenges for the mentor to offer good advice; this calls for a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. This may build up over time, but even before signing up a mentor, founders must be able to assess this factor.
There are some more things to look for in a mentor, and I shall discuss them in the next column.
(The writer is a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author of the book ‘Failing to Succeed’; posts on X @vaitheek)