Startup Mentorship: Responsibilities, Benefits, and Qualities

Many enthusiasts who want to build a startup don`t have much experience in entrepreneurship, which makes it more challenging to achieve their business goals. To solve this problem, they can address mentors and take advantage of their vast background.

Recently, startups have increasingly resorted to mentors. And there`s a reason — they provide the company with valuable insights and professional recommendations. Mentorship acts as a kind of booster when it comes to launching a startup onto the market, building relationships with leading players and investors, as well as the gradual business growth.

Who is a mentor?

Mentors help startups determine the development vector, generate alternative solutions, fill in gaps in knowledge, and expand their networking potential. Traditionally, they acted as founders but now mentorship has a special role. Mentors possess extensive experience in the startup`s industry, deep expertise in a specific business area, and a desire to help founders grow both professionally and personally.

However, a mentor is not a parent who makes decisions for you. They don`t provide a step-by-step guide on the way to success and aren`t responsible for the startup`s mistakes.

Instead, they act as advisors who can set the direction and help you make smarter choices by sharing business insights. Their mission is to enable founders to learn from their mistakes in the past and avoid them in the future, as well as optimize the overall workflow.

What distinguishes mentors from other similar jobs is that they work for free. Mentors assist startups for the public good without intentions to earn. They are interested not in money but in business itself and aim to make some contribution to its success.

What are mentor`s responsibilities?

Candid Feedback

Since mentors take up only the projects they`re sincerely passionate about, they seek to provide as honest feedback as possible. Mentors can identify both strong and weak points of your startup allowing it to seamlessly grow. Criticism from experienced entrepreneurs is what young startuppers are normally looking for.

Motivate team

Apart from providing knowledge basis, a mentor is supposed to channel motivation and cheer your team members up. As a rule, mentors possess great leader and social skills that are needed for setting up an enabling environment in the company. They should serve not only as a teacher, but also as a great role model to inspire the team.

Flag risks

Risk management is an indispensable part of any startup. Thanks to their broad business experience, mentors can analyze risks and anticipate some problems better than founders. As a result, they can help you minimize risks and prevent the company from failures.

Right advice

Entrepreneurs have to constantly commit strategic decisions, prioritize tasks, and assign employees with responsibilities. Mentors help them see what is right and what is wrong by sharing some wisdom and experience. Of course, it`s up to you to either accept this advice or reject it. But it`s always helpful to have someone who can provide you proven techniques and recommendations.

Show gaps

A good mentor can easily identify the startup`s weaknesses you should focus on. They may provide an unbiased perspective on your business model, strategy, marketing campaigns, and corporate culture to streamline the overall performance.

Mentor`s Benefits

Skill growth

By finding a great mentor, you can learn a lot about business and substantially master your skills in the art of entrepreneurship. Instead of spending hours reading a bunch of theoretical stuff and watching sketchy videos on YouTube, you can grasp hands-on information from mentoring and apply it in practice right away.

Helping trust yourself

Building a startup means a lot of fears. Founders are afraid of being criticized, failing, and not meeting others` expectations. A mentor can mentally support you reducing the level of stress and boosting your self-confidence. Having a person you can ask for advice and some encouragement greatly contributes to mental well-being of the team and overall startup`s development.

Networking opportunities

Any business is based on people: partners, stakeholders, investors, etc. The more valuable connections you have, the likelier your startup is to take off. However, it may be really hard for novice entrepreneurs to get acquainted with the people from the industry. Mentors can broaden your networking potential by providing access to the people you need.

Better business outcome

Sometimes the company needs some fresh look and innovative solutions for better results. Being on your own, you can easily get stuck and overwhelmed in the bunch of paperwork and difficulties. Mentors can prompt answers to important questions and give new viewpoints on the startup`s actions. Eventually, you can move faster and achieve better results.

Qualities of a great mentor

When it comes to select a mentor, you might get confused. To help you make a right choice, we`ll provide you with the list of qualities that distinguish a good mentor.

Challenges you

Growth happens through challenges. The more challenges you go through, the stronger you become. A good mentor is not someone who says that everything is alright. Oppositely, they should pose new challenges providing you with some space for both professional and personal development.

Is experienced

Experience is the primary thing that makes a mentor valuable for business beginners. This enables you to get useful insights and learn from mistakes without making them yourself. Therefore, this is a must-have quality you should pay attention to when looking for a mentor. Importantly, this experience has to be related with your startup`s industry. Otherwise, it might end up useless.

Is where you want to be

If your mentor has achievements you`re seeking to, this is probably who you need. In case they`ve accomplished the goals you have and overcome the challenges you experience now, you can make the most of such mentorship. On top of that, this mentor can set a great role model for you, which will make it easier to grow.

Supports you

A good mentor should not only be knowledgeable, but also supportive. Moral support is as important as technical one. Founders are particularly exposed to stress, criticism, and burnout. So it`s necessary to have such a mentor that can encourage you and keep morale high.

Is invested in your success

If a mentor is passionate about your project, they`re willing to invest their time and experience in it to make it work. They can also share some networking opportunities or disclose secrets to achieve success. Basically, your mentor should demonstrate their enthusiasm in practice not just in words.

Guides you toward the answer

Don`t expect from a mentor to simply answer your questions. Instead, they will make you find an answer by yourself. It`s a brilliant way to develop your critical thinking and hone business skills. By guiding you toward the clue, you can think bigger and become more experienced.