Looking for a mentor is natural when you're inexperienced. As is the case in any job you may come across charlatans or -just as likely-incompetents. The problem may also come from today's society encouraging bright young things to become entrepreneurs when they have neither experience nor the idea of how tough entrepreneurial life is. Sure it makes sense to 'fail fast' when you're a young person without kids or a mortgage but it may he be high time we started to reflect that being an entrepreneur or part of a startup is not for everybody far from it. Actually it's a very tough life and most people will live a much healthier life steering clear from it. Some young people become themselves complete charlatans telling a charmed older audience the tales they want to hear. A number of others will suffer severe burnout and suffer consequences the rest of their lives. "Caveat Entreprenor!"
Agreed, being an entrepreneur is not a walk in the park and could lead to mental illnesses. Now my take was on mentors, not entrepreneurs. You are correct a lot of startups should not even exist, and maybe good mentors should just say it that way. My 2 cents.
Completely agree, what I've observed over the past years:
- A good mentor will tell you how he has done it at the time and in which context, and what were the alternative. Most of the time, getting another perspective into a similar problem is sufficient and excellent mentorship!
- If your startup mentor starts to use MBA-type frameworks, forget it, these may be useful but only way later in your company growth when you may need to change strategy and align dozens of people (BCG / McKinsey should not be useful for startups, and the change methods are made for large cos).
In general, the big question is "what's in it for them?". Too many times there is simply a misalignment of incentives. I find that a "mentor" asking for fees in cash to an early-stage startup is a bad sign. As an official advisor, you can get stock options with a contract and vesting plan. Better yet, your VC should be the one recommending advisors among their LPs or network who have an incentive in helping you, other than your early stage startup wasting money in consulting fees.
Agreed. Eventually even though I'm an angel investor and have supported several startups led by bright young things I steer away increasingly from entrepreneurs who need mentors. I am looking for someone agile, with a capacity to listen and act decisively when faced with new information and who knows that nobody can make it alone. Young entrepreneurs too often need mentors who risk becoming either gurus or people who make the website look good. A savvy entrepreneur surrounds themself with specialists who complement his take on things and help them execute better but they should never depend on these people just know how to utilise their skills in a win-win, meritocratic set up like advisory agreements.
Looking for a mentor is natural when you're inexperienced. As is the case in any job you may come across charlatans or -just as likely-incompetents. The problem may also come from today's society encouraging bright young things to become entrepreneurs when they have neither experience nor the idea of how tough entrepreneurial life is. Sure it makes sense to 'fail fast' when you're a young person without kids or a mortgage but it may he be high time we started to reflect that being an entrepreneur or part of a startup is not for everybody far from it. Actually it's a very tough life and most people will live a much healthier life steering clear from it. Some young people become themselves complete charlatans telling a charmed older audience the tales they want to hear. A number of others will suffer severe burnout and suffer consequences the rest of their lives. "Caveat Entreprenor!"
Agreed, being an entrepreneur is not a walk in the park and could lead to mental illnesses. Now my take was on mentors, not entrepreneurs. You are correct a lot of startups should not even exist, and maybe good mentors should just say it that way. My 2 cents.
Thanks Pierre. A good mentor
or counsel probably finds a way to have skin in the game. Else you run the risk of falling into the trap of the IYI . They're the entrepreneur's biggest foes whilst passing for their friends: https://medium.com/incerto/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577
Love it!
Completely agree, what I've observed over the past years:
- A good mentor will tell you how he has done it at the time and in which context, and what were the alternative. Most of the time, getting another perspective into a similar problem is sufficient and excellent mentorship!
- If your startup mentor starts to use MBA-type frameworks, forget it, these may be useful but only way later in your company growth when you may need to change strategy and align dozens of people (BCG / McKinsey should not be useful for startups, and the change methods are made for large cos).
In general, the big question is "what's in it for them?". Too many times there is simply a misalignment of incentives. I find that a "mentor" asking for fees in cash to an early-stage startup is a bad sign. As an official advisor, you can get stock options with a contract and vesting plan. Better yet, your VC should be the one recommending advisors among their LPs or network who have an incentive in helping you, other than your early stage startup wasting money in consulting fees.
Agreed. Eventually even though I'm an angel investor and have supported several startups led by bright young things I steer away increasingly from entrepreneurs who need mentors. I am looking for someone agile, with a capacity to listen and act decisively when faced with new information and who knows that nobody can make it alone. Young entrepreneurs too often need mentors who risk becoming either gurus or people who make the website look good. A savvy entrepreneur surrounds themself with specialists who complement his take on things and help them execute better but they should never depend on these people just know how to utilise their skills in a win-win, meritocratic set up like advisory agreements.