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Mastering Mutual Mentorship
startupsecrets.com
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Workshops
Full descriptions of each at
startupsecrets.com
1. What’s Your Roadmap to Success?
2. Building a Compelling Value Proposition
3. Turning Products into Companies
4. Culture, Mission and Vision
5. Hiring A+ Talent
6. Game-Changing Business Models
7. Go to Market Strategies
8. Getting Behind the Perfect Investor Pitch
9. Funding Strategies to go the Distance
10. Have You Got What It Takes?
11. Mastering Mutual Mentorship
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Mentoring is a Gift
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Are you seeking a handout or real help?
Do you want an answer or are you really
looking to learn?
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Do You Know What Help You Want
and How to Ask for It?
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Think of it as a Game of Chess
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The MIT Sloan Review
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You Can Easily Ask for the Next Move...
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…But Wouldn’t You Rather Learn
How to Master the Game?
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Answers are for History Lessons.
Questions are for Future Breakthroughs.
Breakthroughs Present Opportunities for Startups.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking
we used when we created them.” -Albert Einstein
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Question Answers!
Are they appropriate for YOU?
Do they tempt you to take the road already traveled?
Do they 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?
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?
What do you need?
• A new skill?
• An experience?
• Some knowledge?
How and where can you 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 and Mentees
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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Tools
Tools for guiding you to the right questions:
• Brainstorming
• Research
• Discovery, exploration
• Field work, research
• Surveys
• Landing Pages
• Frameworks
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Mentors
Nothing worse than answering the wrong question well!
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Newton’s Apple vs. Apple’s Newton
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“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 for YOU.
Startup Secret!
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Mentors: Develop your Mentees!
AHA!
Eureka!
&*!^#%!
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Enabling the Eureka! Moment
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
Example:
Question for answer:
• Mentee: Should I price this at x or y?
• Mentor: y
Question for question:
• Mentee: What 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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Developing Your Mentee
Mentors, if you’re not giving Mentees answers, what are you giving them?
• Curiosity
• Joy of learning
• Confidence to try
• Resourcefulness, initiative – e.g., EXTERNAL validation
A journey from AHA to WOW - I can do this !!
• Enlightenment
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Mentors
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
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Remember
For Startups in particular:
“There is no failure, only learning”
#nomorefear #onlylearning
So make it safe and leave room to fail / learn
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“Things are rarely ever as good as they seem,
or as bad as they seem in the moment.”
Startup Secret!
The Mentor’s role is to pick the Mentee up when they are down,
and to keep them from rising up too far!
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How Do You Know
You’re a Good Mentor or Mentee?
Is this working?
• Ask for feedback!
How do you improve?
• Ask for measures for success!
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Record and Review Regularly
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
Review regularly
• Mutual feedback
• If the relationship isn’t working, it won’t fix itself!
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Aren’t We All Mentors?
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Peer Mentorship
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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Surprise!
People trying to learn themselves
often make the best mentors, because
they’re asking questions!
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Mentoring is a Gift
The question is:
• Do you have it?
or
• Do you give it?
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Neither: At it’s best, you’re giving and
receiving
30. Proprietary and ConfidentialProprietary and ConfidentialProprietary and ConfidentialProprietary and ConfidentialProprietary and Confidentialstartupsecrets.comCulture, Mission, and Vision
The Importance of YOU in the Equation
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says
I’m possible."
- Audrey Hepburn
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info@startupsecrets.com
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Mastering Mutual Mentorship
startupsecrets.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
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.