Startup Secrets - Mastering Mutual Mentorship
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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.
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Startup Secrets - Mastering Mutual Mentorship
- 1. Proprietary and Confidential START UP SECRETS An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage Mastering the gift of mutual mentorship @underscorevc startupsecrets.com
- 2. Proprietary and Confidential Have a Question? Tweet it! 2startupsecrets.com@underscorevc @underscorevc #startupsecrets
- 3. Proprietary and Confidential 3 Mentoring is a gift… startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
- 4. Proprietary and Confidential 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
- 5. Proprietary and Confidential Think of it as a game of Chess… 5startupsecrets.com@underscorevc The MIT Sloan Review
- 6. Proprietary and Confidential You can easily ask for the next move… 6startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
- 7. Proprietary and Confidential But wouldn’t you rather learn how to master the game? 7startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
- 8. Proprietary and Confidential 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
- 10. Proprietary and Confidential Question Answers! 10startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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?
- 11. Proprietary and Confidential How about asking for questions? 11startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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
- 12. Proprietary and Confidential What’s stopping you from answering your own questions? 12startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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
- 13. Proprietary and Confidential Mentors & Mentees 13startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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
- 14. Proprietary and Confidential Tools 14startupsecrets.com@underscorevc Tools for guiding you to the right questions… • Brainstorming • Research • Discovery, exploration • Field work, research • Surveys • Landing Pages • Etc… • Frameworks (my personal favorite)
- 15. Proprietary and Confidential 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
- 16. Proprietary and Confidential Mentors: Nothing worse… 16startupsecrets.com@underscorevc … than answering the wrong question well Newton’s Apple vs Apple’s Newton
- 17. Proprietary and Confidential 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.
- 18. Proprietary and Confidential Mentors: Develop your Mentees! 18startupsecrets.com@underscorevc AHA! Eureka! &*!^#%!
- 19. Proprietary and Confidential Enabling the Eureka! moment… 19startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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?)
- 20. Proprietary and Confidential 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?
- 21. Proprietary and Confidential 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
- 22. Proprietary and Confidential Mentors 22startupsecrets.com@underscorevc Be open, honest and accurate wherever possible Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know either! Always look for teaching moments Bring humor, have fun! “To encourage and beyond!” with apologies to Buzz Lightyear
- 23. Proprietary and Confidential Remember 23startupsecrets.com@underscorevc For Startups in particular: “There is no failure, only learning” #nomorefear #onlylearning So make it safe and leave room to fail / learn
- 24. Proprietary and Confidential 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!
- 25. Proprietary and Confidential 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!
- 26. Proprietary and Confidential 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!
- 27. Proprietary and Confidential Aren’t we all possibly mentors? PEERS…
- 28. Proprietary and Confidential Peer Mentorship 28startupsecrets.com@underscorevc 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!)
- 29. Proprietary and Confidential Surprise! People trying to learn themselves, often make the best mentors, because they’re asking questions!
- 30. Proprietary and Confidential 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
- 31. Proprietary and Confidential 31 The importance of YOU in the equation… “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible." - Audrey Hepburn
- 32. Proprietary and Confidential Thank you! @underscorevc #startupsecrets
Editor's Notes
- 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.