How to Choose a Mentor? Questions, Criteria, and Tips

Maria Spark

In the first part we delved into basic notions about mentorship, including metnor`s role, benefits, and required qualities. Today we`ll highlight the way mentoring is different from other similiar jobs and provide you with hands-on recommendations to choose the best mentor for your startup.

Quick Overview

First, let`s brush up your knowledge about what mentorship is. A mentor is a person who possesses extensive experience in the area you`re targeting and genuine willingness to help your project evolve into a big thing. Founders can take advantage of mentor`s business expertise they lack and valuable insights.

Mentor VS Advisor

In a broad sense, a mentor is a trustee with considerable experience in entrepreneurship, venture market, or a narrow industry. They help other entrepreneurs turn their ideas into desirable results without intentions to earn. Mentors share their knowledge and experience to help startup makers remain focused on achieving their aims.

In contrast to a mentor, an advisor doesn’t work for free. They help you tackle vital problems as well but take money for it. As a rule, this is a small share (up to 1$), $1,000 in advance for their services, and the pay for time spent on dealing with startup difficulties.

Whereas mentors don`t carry any responsibility for their recommendations, advisors are liable for their services according to the signed contract. Beforehand, the founder formally agrees with the advisor on critical points like timelines, salary, and bonuses for extra work. Basically, a mentor is more like a friend free from any paper formalities, while an advisor serves as an external team member and acts based on the set agreements.

The choice between a mentor and advisor depends on your startup`s needs and deadlines. If there is an applied task, you can address an advisor, whether it`s increasing customer loyalty or boosting the team`s efficiency. Since advisors are paid for their services, they may seem more reliable and motivated to achieve the desired results.

Traditionally, mentors help founders with more general skills in entrepreneurship. They act as a business role model and teach you through their own experience and real cases. With the help of mentorship, you can keep your team motivated and gradually improve your startup. Mentors can ask you leading questions so that you pull your project out some troubles and gain new experience.

Preparation

Once you`ve decided to address a mentor, it`s necessary to determine crucial criteria.

Superiority

A mentor should be superior to founders, at least in the field they want to advance but, ideally, in everything. The greater the gap in resources and opportunities between the mentor and you, the more you can benefit from this collaboration.

However, a mentor doesn`t have to drag your startup through all the obstacles. Their task is to lift you to a new height, to take you beyond the normal boundaries. In other words, the potential of the mentor—student relationship is always limited in time.

That's why you need a big difference in level. Then, even being on the same trajectory with you, the mentor will be able to give an accelerating impulse longer. And they will have time to reach a new level in order to keep this distance between you.

Proximity

Without trust, there is no success. Productive relationships are impossible without trust. The more is at stake, the more trust you should build.

Mentoring is a special case. Trust is critical here. But even more important is what trust comes from. Trust between a mentor and a student should be based on a sense of mutual closeness.

Many people are successful in their field, but may not be able to effectively convey what they have done to achieve the result. Make sure that the mentor can clearly teach you some lessons. To check it, ask your mentor a couple of questions.

It is worth paying attention to this factor not only to quickly perceive information. A mentor with developed social and listening skills will help you adopt a communication style. You will learn how to better convey information to others.

Expectations

In advance, you need to define what you want to get from the mentorship. Do you want to have time to ask questions beyond the professional environment? Do you need them to attend some meetings in person? Do you want to communicate with them in an informal setting? These are the issues that should be discussed before becoming a mentee. It is important to set your expectations clearly so that you and a potential mentor are on the same wavelength.

Beforehand, ask yourself the following questions

Do I look up to this person?

Your mentor should be not only a skilled entrepreneur, but also a great source of inspiration. As we`ve already mentioned, it`s important that they act as a role model for the team to look up to.

Can I work well with them?

To make the most of the mentorship, you should be able to establish a smooth communication with your mentor. After all, if you can`t get along, mentoring won`t effective. Oppositely, such a relationship might negatively affect your startup`s performance.

Are they engaged in the community?

Mentorship is not only about experience and support, but also networking opportunities. A good mentor can help you build meaningful connections with investors, partners, experts, and other venture market players. It is particularly valuable for beginners who lack any contacts with the people from their industry.

Can this person guide me toward my professional goals?

A good mentor shouldn`t provide you with a step-by-step action-plan. Instead, they need to be able to listen to your needs and encourage you to make necessary moves toward your startup`s prosperity.

Are they happy?

If you see that your mentor is truly satisfied with their job, it`s a good sign. By doing the job they`re passionate about, a mentor is very likely to guide your project in the right direction.

Questions to Ask the Mentor

As soon as you`ve set the basic criteria for the mentor, you should prepare the questions to ask them and see whether you could make a good match.

What mistakes have you made?

It’s natural for everyone to commit mistakes when doing business. A mentor who can share their mistakes help other entrepreneurs avoid them. Such a mentor is particularly valuable for founders.

What factors do you consider when planning the future?

It may concern both long and short terms. It allows you to find out mentor’s perspectives and values, the problems you need to cope with, and skills you have to develop.

What should have you done differently?

If a mentor tells you about what they could have done differently, you can rethink your own experience.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

If a mentor listens to you carefully and delves into your business situation, they will give you precious advice.

How to Get the Most out of a Mentor?

You`re almost ready to choose a perfect mentor! Finally, we`ll split some tips on how you can make your mentorship the most fruitful and smooth.

Agree on boundaries

Like in any other relationships, you need to set boundaries to make your communication go as smoothly as possible. Say in advance what you expect from this collaboration, what qualities and responsibilities your startup needs from the mentor, and what things you don`t the mentor to take on.

Establish overall goals and objectives

By setting the ultimate goal, you build a sort of a beacon both you and the mentor should move toward. It`s crucial to ensure you follow the same goals and objectives so that your steps don`t contradict each other but complement.

Expect confidentiality

It`s necessary to emphasize the confidentiality of the information you don`t want to have disclosed. Unlike advisors, you don`t conclude any take contracts with the mentor so you have to take only their word. Anyways, if you don`t trust them to a sufficient extend, it`s better not to provide them with critical data that might be leaked.

Don`t confuse mentoring with sponsorship

Finally, you should understand mentor`s responsibility area without expecting them to take on tasks they are not supposed to do. For instance, mentors are not in charge of the financial aspect so normally they don`t provide your startup with funds. That`s what sponsors do. Instead, the mentor will empower your team with experience, insights, network, and motivation.