The author tells you the three types of mentors you need and the other 3 types of mentors you should avoid at all costs.
I just returned from an intensive startup program where I worked with a group of amazing climate tech companies.
Unlike typical accelerators, where mentors and founders are paired up in one-on-one sessions to work on pitching and fundraising, this program includes group sessions where founders hear from multiple mentors about various operational challenges, such as mock board meetings and crisis management.
Listening to the founders’ responses to the problems they were faced with was interesting, if predictable. Hearing advice from other mentors was revealing.
Even though we mentors had experienced different challenges, we not only gave different advice to the startups, but our approach to the situation was different. Sometimes we contradicted each other, but above all, by seeing the problem from different perspectives, we were able to offer complementary advice.
Then I realized what should have been obvious long ago: different mentors and advisors can help you in different ways. I’ve identified three types of mentors. Founders need them all.
I’ve also seen 3 types of mentors that founders should recognize and avoid.
This is the category I fall into. If you have a problem, I want to help you solve it.
Need funding? Find investors here. Can’t get investors to come? Here’s how to improve your pitch deck. Feuded with your co-founder? Here’s what I’d do if I were you. Your sales manager isn’t selling? Here’s why founders have to do the selling themselves.
I’ve written about 100 Medium articles full of advice for startups that fall into this problem-solving category. Maybe it’s because I was once an engineer and still have a problem-solving mindset, or because I was a startup founder myself and to me, support means providing guidance and assistance on things new founders don’t know.
I used to think that all useful advice for startups fell into this category. But I realized that there are other equally useful advisory roles.
When founders join an accelerator, they’re not usually looking for someone like me to tell them how to solve problems they didn’t even know they had. They’re looking for connections to investors and customers.
Some mentors are incredibly well-connected. They may not understand anything about your product or want to dive into the details of every slide in your presentation, but they know the right people to put you in touch with and will be happy to introduce you.
Name your industry and they’ll know which venture capital firms are focusing on it. Describe your product and they’ll have contacts with your customers.
Much to my chagrin, these mentors are always the most popular. They tend to be people people: friendly, kind, willing to make a phone call or two to help out between rounds of golf.
If you can find a mentor or advisor with the right connections willing to work them on your behalf, they are worth their weight in gold.
Startup life is a series of 3 steps forward, 2.9 steps back, on a good day. Sometimes it’s 10 steps back. Especially in the early stages, it can feel like one frustration after another that we somehow convince ourselves is fun and exciting. Unlike a regular job, we don’t even get paid for our troubles.
At least once a day, you feel like giving up. At least once a month, you seriously question whether it’s all worth it. Sometimes you just want to cry. Other times, you can’t help but scream.
Who do you turn to when funding falls through or your client partner is promoted to another project?
Your spouse or partner might give you a pat on the back or a massage, and that helps. But they’re not startup people, so they don’t understand. Your best friend might take you out for drinks, but in the morning you still have to pick up the dishes, and you’re still hungover.
What you need is support, someone who will tell you that you’ve got this. Someone who will point out that spot in the darkness and convince you that it’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Someone who has been through it and knows exactly what you’re going through. Someone who can stand you up and send you into the ring ready for the next round.
As founders, we tend to gravitate toward mentors who match our own style. I was looking for advisors who had solutions to my specific problems. I was skeptical of the connectors who helped me and thought the ones who nurtured me were a waste of time. I was wrong.
Founders need a good collection of all three types of mentors. We’re like the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. We each think we’re the most important and we don’t collaborate well, but you need all of us to accomplish different goals for you to be successful.
To be honest, after a bad day, I’m the wrong person to call. It’s not the time to talk strategy and fix what’s broken. You need someone to help you get back on your feet. The next day, when you’re ready for battle again, that’s when you need my advice to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. But I can’t help you execute the plan. For that, you need the connectors to put you in front of clients and investors.
As a mentor at a dozen accelerators, I know a lot of other mentors. Some are helpful. Most, to be frank, are not. At best, they waste your time. At worst, they give you bad advice.
There’s a difference between listening to diverse opinions and receiving advice that’s just plain wrong. Unfortunately, I find I spend half my time with founders disavowing them of things other mentors have told them, such as that their pre-MVP startup is valued at $25 million or more.
Here are the 3 types of mentors that founders need to identify and avoid:
Every accelerator seems to be full of cheerleaders cheering on all the amazing things you’ve accomplished, even though let’s be honest, you haven’t accomplished much yet.
They are great to be around and we all love having our egos stroked. They seem like carers, but they haven’t been in your shoes, so their spirits seem empty.
Venture capital firms often task their new partners with mentoring at accelerators. It’s good experience for them, and can help with the company’s deal flow or at least help get their name out there. But without experience building a startup, their role is often limited to telling everyone how great they are.
Thank them for their time and encouragement, then quickly move on to other, more helpful people.
Accelerators seem to be full of people, often the biggest names in the room, who want to talk non-stop about themselves and all the amazing things they have achieved. Many have been very successful, as they will constantly remind you.
Their advice is often to do exactly what they did, without understanding how your circumstances differ from theirs.
Narcissists are the best public speakers. They can be interesting and engaging. But when it comes to being an advisor, mentor, or board member, they can’t see beyond themselves, making their advice useless or just plain wrong. They may pretend to be connectors, and they certainly have great connections, but don’t waste your time trying to get them to keep making calls on your behalf.
If you have a company that does accounting for startups, or marketing, or legal advice, where is the best place to find clients? Wherever startups are. Many sign up to be mentors as a way to troll new businesses.
That’s not to say that these mentors can’t be incredibly helpful. What founder doesn’t need free legal advice?
But because early-stage startups don’t have the money to spend on service providers, many mentors are more familiar with working with late-stage startups or small businesses, and don’t understand the critical differences.
I’ve heard lawyers at big law firms advise startup founders to register as LLCs; self-proclaimed marketing experts declare that the solution to going public is to spend $100,000 on advertising; and accountants who don’t know how to properly account for grants. And worst of all, I’ve heard more than one venture capitalist pontificate that founders shouldn’t settle for a valuation below $20 million. Stand your ground.
Undoing the damage of bad advice is incredibly frustrating. So before you take advice from anyone, even if they claim to be experts, question whether they truly understand the needs of early-stage startups and your particular situation.
Just because someone has been successful or works at a reputable company doesn’t mean they have the right advice for you. Having a famous name on your pitch deck won’t impress anyone if they’re not actively helping you.
So when you meet potential advisors, think about what they can specifically offer you. Do they know your business and your industry? Do they understand the world of early-stage startups, where you have to do a million impossible things with a tiny team and no budget? Will they answer the phone at 11pm on a Sunday when you have an emergency? If not, find someone who does.
