Over the last 2 years I have been asked to engage with over 200 organisations as a mentor, 90% of these organisations are in the early stages (pre-startup or startup), the other 10% are in the scaling and growth phase.
I find there is a misunderstanding of the role of a mentor on both sides of the engagement including:
As the mentor what is my role for this organisation?
My approach is that I am more of a sounding board to understand the wonderful new idea, direct guidance (legal compliance, governance requirements) on some critical elements, and support exploration of the rest of needs (how to go to market, cost of the product, hiring people, etc.). My role is not to give the best solution I believe for the business it is to support the Promoter/Owner the tools to make that decision. In summary a coach, mentor, consultant, cheerleader, trainer, and fountain of ideas/frameworks to support the promoter/owner to get the most important steps moving forward.
As the pre-startup what is my roles in this engagement and what is the mentor’s role?
It is important to have a clear need and purpose for the mentoring engagement e.g. “I want to build a business plan”, “how do I move my 100% e-comm business to 30% traditional retail”, “what are the legal requirements and structures I need to get in place”, “what are all the funding possibilities for a pre-startup”. By having a clear starting point the engagement will organically move from one topic to the next. Be open to share the hard facts (no pretty pictures) and engage in the conversation fully.
To be clear your role here is as the lead as you are the client. What do you want out of the engagement? Make this clear from the start and have the information, presentations, plans, documents to hand to support your mentor getting under the hood before giving advice.
Some of the biggest challenges as a mentor to pre-startup are:
Getting clarity on what the idea/solution is as it sometimes has not been researched or tested yet. The solution here is to brainstorm with the client the possibilities and processes and clients to allow the product/service to pivot or solidify into a clear description. As a client, please see this exercise as an opportunity to refine your product/service it is not designed to kill the idea it is to refine and evolve it.
The euphoria of the new idea, “no-one has ever done this before”, “the physics is correct and people will buy it”, “no I have never lead a team but of course I will be CEO with 600 ppl reporting to me”, “all my friends said it is a great idea” can be a challenge to help the client to refine the wonderful idea into a saleable product. This can be infectious and sometimes the best part of the mentoring engagement but there is a need to support the client move forward without crushing their idea or allowing them to live is the bubble. As a client here it is important to not take this as a point to the end of the idea or the energy but a time to build on the enthusiasm for the idea and move to action.
Come to the point William
My points are simple and as simple as I am:
Be open to the experience – you never know here it will bring you as a client or as mentor.
The client owns the idea or solution – it is not for us to run their business just to help them move it along a step. As the client remember all advice is good, but you need to decide what is the next step.
Prepare for the sessions – as a client be prepared be clear and bring the plan to the session and lead from the start.
Be clear on the actions – agree the actions together and make a genuine effort to do them but if pivots happen review the actions.
Take advantage of the help available – as a client get to know all the incubators, accelerators, grand aid agencies and supports available in your area. Use all of them to help you. The funding space (Venture Capital, Privet Equity, Angel Investors etc.) are when you have the basics right move it past the idea to a plan.
Finally
If you are stating your own business small or large remember you are not alone there are millions of other people doing the same thing, other have done it already and there are agencies and people out there to support. Reach out!!!! Read more on LinkedIn