mentors and mushrooms
Post on 21-Oct-2014
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Since a couple of years, we see emerging more and more mentors around startups... But what are they? Who are they? How to recognize them? How can they help you? In this presentation I explain what startupmentoring is really about.TRANSCRIPT
Mentors
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Mentors are like Mushrooms
by @peignoir
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How to recognize the good ones?
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Good mentors
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How to recognize them..
Successful people
You will have to attract them (they usually say no)They are awfully busy
They helped a lot of successful StartupsThey have connections and usually $
Rare / hard to find
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Toxic Mentors
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How to recognize the toxic ones..
They claim to be a mentor (it’s not a job!) They will come to you (usually you beg for a good one)They cost $ (usually mentors will invest...) They never successfully launched anythingThey will spend a lot of time with you (they have time!)They are everywhere!
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Side Effects of Toxic Mentors
-Losing credibility - Killing your Startup
- Weird strategic move - If you survive he will claim success
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Where to find them in the Startup eco-system
DISCOVERY
Garage
?INSPIRE/CELEBRATE
You are an
Entrepreneur
You want to be an
Entrepreneur
ACTION
You have a solid team
with some good ideasSTARTUP
You have a stable business model and a great product
SCALE
You are taking over the World!
HIGH GROWTH
You’ve got some
passions & ideas
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What is Mentoring?
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Origin
Someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less experienced colleague
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Is it only about Knowledge?
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An unfair advantage provider
Mentor’s network
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Example of unfair advantage:
Before After
Mary Maxwell Gateswas an American businessperson. Gates served 18 years (1975–1993) on the University of Washington board of regents. She was the first female president of King County’s United Way, the first woman to chair the national United Way’s executive committee where she served most notably with IBM's CEO, John Opel, and the first woman on the First Interstate Bank of Washington's board of directors.
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Network > Knowledge
The Connector Mentor The Guru Mentor
Network < Knowledge
Type of Mentors
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Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company
George W. Fairchild(1854 - 1924)
Sherman Fairchild(1896 - 1971)
Gordon Moore(1929 ... )
How networks and Money Interact with startups
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Having a great Academic network is your first ally! It allows you to build a great “unfair advantage” by yourself!
Be good at school kids!
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It’s only been 6 Years since good accelerators allows you to have access to great mentors via your Talent (usually technical talent!)
Like Colleges each accelerator / incubators are different. Avoid the ones who don’t provide good Mentors (cf the Mushroom section)
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Do you need mentors / great academics to succeed?
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Nope...
There’s always exceptions!
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Though having models might help...
Edwin H. Land
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Questions?
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