Mentorship is a seemingly simple concept. Get some help from someone more experienced than you. So why do we bother teaching a class on it? Because, like anything else, it’s a skill to mentor and be mentored. And if we can learn that skill it can be a real gift, both to give and receive.
1. Proprietary and Confidential
START UP
SECRETS
An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage
Mastering the gift of mutual mentorship
@underscorevc startupsecrets.com
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Are you seeking a handout or real help?
Do you want an answer or are you really
looking to learn?
4
Do you know what help you want and how
to ask for it?
startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
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Answers are for history lessons
Questions are for future breakthroughs
Breakthroughs present opportunities for Startups
8startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
“We cannot solve our problems with the
same thinking we used when we created
them."
Albert Einstein
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Question Answers!
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Are they appropriate for YOU?
Tempt you to take the road already traveled
Don’t develop curiosity…
Combinatorial thinking can be much more powerful than individual
answers
… and what happens when you don’t have someone there to give you
answers?
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How about asking for questions?
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SERIOUSLY!
• Think about it… when you were
asked a really great question, did it
get your mind working?
• Consider asking your mentor for great
questions to help you puzzle the
answer for yourself…
…enabling the “AHA!” moment
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What’s stopping you from answering your
own questions?
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What do you need?
• A new skill?
• An experience?
• Some knowledge?
How and where can I best get these?
Is it one-off help or is it an enduring kind of learning you need?
Mentorship is often only a part of the solution
Sometimes mentors are just pointers to other resources
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Mentors & Mentees
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So how do you find the right questions?
Could you ask the market ?
• Ask the customer, user, potential market?
At least understand their view of the problem
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Problem solving skills…
15@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
See article on
• 8 Levels of Problem Solving
• 8 Ways to Encourage Breakout Solutions
Including a story of how Amazon turned a problem into a billion
dollar business
http://www.mjskok.com/resource/how-amazon-turned-problem-bn-opportunity
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Mentors: Nothing worse…
16startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
… than answering the wrong question well
Newton’s Apple vs Apple’s Newton
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Startup Secret:
“Don’t take advice blindly, take it mindfully”
Your mind and instincts are your best resources to set a course for something that can work forYOU.
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Enabling the Eureka! moment…
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Mentor to Mentee test:
• If I give you this answer, then what will you do with it?
• What comes next?
(Hint: If it only advances you one step, it's probably not a good question or answer.
Remember the chess game, are you helping them master it?)
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Enabling the Eureka! moment…
20startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
Example:
Question for answer:
• Mentee: Should I price this at x or y?
• Mentor: y
Question for question:
• Mentee: how should I charge for my product?
• Mentor: where is the core value, who will see that and how will they value it?
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What are you trying to develop in your
Mentee?
21startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
Mentors, if you’re not giving Mentees answers, what are you giving them?
• Curiosity
• Joy of learning
• Confidence to try
• Resourcefulness, initiative – eg EXTERNAL validation
A journey from AHA to WOW - I can do this !!
• Enlightenment
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Startup Secret:
“Things are rarely ever as good as they seem,
or as bad as they seem in the moment”
THE MENTOR’S ROLE IS TO PICK THE MENTEE UP WHEN THEY ARE DOWN,
AND KEEP THEM FROM RISING TOO FAR UP!
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How do you know you’re a good mentor or
mentee?
25startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
Is this working?
• Ask for feedback!
How do you improve?
• Ask for measures for success!
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Record & review regularly
26startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
Mentees - record what you learned!
• Share with your mentor at your next checkpoint
• How you learn is a great guide for your mentor to teach you
Mentors – figure out how to coach your specific mentee
• Everyone learns differently, successes AND failures
Book: "On Managing Yourself”
Review regularly
• Mutual feedback
• If the relationship isn’t working… it won’t fix itself!
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Peer Mentorship
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The power of peer mentorship...
• Who else are you on this journey with?
Co founders?
Other founders, entrepreneurs?
Other peers in school?
Friends?
Family (can be tricky!)
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Mentoring is a gift…
30startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
The question is:
• Do you have it?
or
• Do you give it?
Neither: At it’s best, giving and receiving
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The importance of YOU in the equation…
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m
possible."
- Audrey Hepburn
In the real world you’d iterate
Today we’re going to do a workshop to allow you to build a value proposition
For (target customers—beachhead segment only)
Who are dissatisfied with (the current market alternative)
Our product is a (new product category)
That provides (key problem-solving capability).
Unlike (the product alternative),
We have assembled (key whole product features for your specific application).
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
For (target customers—beachhead segment only)
Who are dissatisfied with (the current market alternative)
Our product is a (new product category)
That provides (key problem-solving capability).
Unlike (the product alternative),
We have assembled (key whole product features for your specific application).
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
EG
Value prop vs the framework – andswer vs the questions to ask yourself…
Silicon Graphics in Hollywood
For post-production film engineers
Who are dissatisfied with the limitations of traditional film editors
Our workstation is a digital film editor That lets you modify film images any way you choose.
Unlike workstations from Sun, HP, or IBM, We have assembled all the interfaces needed for post-production film editing.
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
EG
Silicon Graphics in Hollywood
For post-production film engineers
Who are dissatisfied with the limitations of traditional film editors
Our workstation is a digital film editor That lets you modify film images any way you choose.
Unlike workstations from Sun, HP, or IBM, We have assembled all the interfaces needed for post-production film editing.
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
EG
Silicon Graphics in Hollywood
For post-production film engineers
Who are dissatisfied with the limitations of traditional film editors
Our workstation is a digital film editor That lets you modify film images any way you choose.
Unlike workstations from Sun, HP, or IBM, We have assembled all the interfaces needed for post-production film editing.
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
EG
Silicon Graphics in Hollywood
For post-production film engineers
Who are dissatisfied with the limitations of traditional film editors
Our workstation is a digital film editor That lets you modify film images any way you choose.
Unlike workstations from Sun, HP, or IBM, We have assembled all the interfaces needed for post-production film editing.
Moore, Geoffrey A. (2009-03-17). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Project (p. 154). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.