Mentoring Best Practices (from a mentee’s perspective)
As the entrepreneurial spirit rises so does the need for mentorship. New accelerators mean new mentoring opportunities and some [ambitious] people are mentors at multiple programs. That’s great and I hope these organizations have the systems in place to measure their mentors’ effectiveness.
But I want to focus on how to be a good mentor. Personally, I rely on an informal network of mentors to help me. I found that the best ones do the following:
- Ask probing questions before giving any advice. One of my mentors always asks a dozen or so probing questions to really understand the issues at hand before saying anything.
- Offer advice based on their previous experiences. One of my mentors provides me with frameworks that have helped him succeed so I can apply them.
- Follow up after critical conversations. One of my mentors calls me after big meetings that he helped me prep for to see how they went.
Some entrepreneurs-turned-mentors fall into the easy trap of giving kneejerk advice without adequately understanding the situation. They think that their ideas is what we mentees want to hear when it’s actually their advice.
Keep on trucking, fellow founder
Successful entrepreneurs like to play with our heads. It’s ironic because years ago, when they were first-timers, they were being played with in the same exact way. I guess it’s their way of making us earn our stripes.
Throughout the year that I’ve been doing Social Tables, I’ve heard it at all. At first, it was “build something.” I did. Then, it was “get users.” I did. Then it was “think big.” I did. Then, it was “focus.” I did. Then it was “get revenue.” I did.
Are you seeing a pattern? Me too. No matter what you do and how well you do it, people will offer their advice because… they can… and because everyone’s frame of reference is different.
At the end of the day, if you got product-market fit with a solid and passionate team behind it, nothing else matters. You will win. Keep on trucking fellow founders!
Keep on trucking
DC is awesome for startups. Here’s proof.
So DC Week just wrapped up last friday (BYT’s photos here) and DC Entrepreneurship Week has arrived. I didn’t even get a chance to breathe!
Apart from being informative and fun-filled, these two weeks are illustrating why DC is [again] becoming a technology hub.
In his October 2011 essay, Paul Ghraham says tech hubs work because within them startups are seen as cool and chance meetings with people who can help you are more likely. The more startups in one area, the more potent this formula becomes, he says.
Well, the YCombinator godfather must have been thinking about DC when he was writing his post. Events such as these are helping put DC on the map by making startups cooler and people more connected.
TechCocktail and iStrategyLabs deserve a huge amount of props for producing DC Week. Let’s follow their lead and produce more community-building/inspiring events. DC Startup Weekend is another good example. This is why I help organize monthly DC Founder Dinners and Study Hall DC. And it’s why Social Tables works out of District I/O.
What are you doing to make this hub stronger?
