The impact of quality mentorship is clear. According to research by Endeavor Insight, companies with a founder mentored by a top-performing entrepreneur, are +3x more likely to become top performers* themselves. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to be mentored. The Techstars Entrepreneur’s Toolkit “Engage with Mentors” module can help you prepare your students to effectively leverage mentorship opportunities.
The videos in this series enable you and your students to be a fly on the wall during mock mentor meetings between Techstars Cofounder David Brown and three real Techstars Accelerator LA companies: Heartbeat, Blue Fever, and Playfull (a company started by UCLA students that recently raised $2 million!) Nicole Glaros, Chief Investment Strategy Officer at Techstars observes and shares her thoughts on the experiences and how to improve them.
“Positive feedback makes you feel better, constructive feedback makes you perform better.”
Engage with and Read the Mentor
When typical mentor meetings (especially those done remotely via phone or video) last 30 minutes or less, it is important to be efficient. Mentees should be prepared to be open, honest, and direct. It is important to remind students that challenging feedback or questions may be discouraging, but they can’t improve their idea based on only encouragement.
Whether virtual or in-person, the majority of communication is actually nonverbal. Students should be constantly reading their mentor’s reactions - fidgeting, watching their phone, and glazed-over eyes are sure signs to move the conversation along or in a different direction. (The worksheet for this module contains a valuable list of nonverbal cues students may experience.) By having multiple students working on a single idea meet with a mentor, they can share the responsibility to observe and adjust.
Redirect or Refocus Your Mentor
Sometimes mentors can get hung up on the wrong question or issue, the third video shows you how your students can directly, but politely, return to the most important topic. Example:
“That’s a fascinating topic, but before we cover that, we’d like to finish talking about…”
“We’re happy to get into the details on that question, but can we first discuss…”
This may be a particularly difficult issue for students who might lack confidence or are only concerned with respecting their mentors. The result? If not addressed quickly enough, the entire mentoring experience can pass by without the primary issue ever being addressed at all.
Another common challenge is using the mentor meeting as an extended pitch session. (Part of the art of the mentor meeting is recognizing when to stop talking.) When a mentor asks a question at the heart of the issue, students should be honest about how they’re handling that and then feel comfortable asking a mentor for their advice on that very thing!
Mentor Chemistry (for Non-science Students)
Sometimes there’s just natural chemistry and sometimes there isn’t. Both are ok, and students may need to be reminded of that. When there is no natural chemistry, a mentor meeting can still be helpful, it may just be more transactional in nature. (This is not a failure!)
The best situations are when there is chemistry between a mentor and entire team - versus a mentor and just one student. Everyone should have a chance to speak and participate, but students should also not force it. Each team’s rhythm is unique and the most important thing is for students to be authentically themselves.
Students should:
- Be clear about the topics they want to discuss and the problem they want to address. (As David wisely points out in the second video, students should focus on current issues they are experiencing now, versus potential issues they expect will arise.)
- Make sure, as best they can, it will be a topic the mentor can speak to. Nicole suggests students should bring a list of questions, some business/industry-specific, others more general, strategic, or even (appropriately) personal in nature.
- The less talking students do, the more value they can get out of the experience. Encourage them to set up the business/product or service as quickly as they can and then pivot to the specific topics they’re interested in discussing.
- Practice. Practice. Practice. Before a student meets with a Techstars or Blackstone mentor, they should have gained at least some experience meeting with Campus Directors and other local or on-campus mentors.
The worksheet for this module is a particularly helpful tool to assist students with:
- Doing their homework (research and preparation) before the mentor meeting.
- Compiling appropriate and insightful questions to ask their mentor.
- Defining the roles and responsibilities of each person in the mentor meeting.
- Deciphering the experience and planning the appropriate follow up.
*Top performers in this study were identified as achieving a “significant acquisition” (an exit of at least $100 million), investor traction (top 10% in terms of the amount of equity funding raised), and internally rated in top 10 percent of peer group by the number of employees.
