Throwing out the rulebook on mentoring, sponsoring, advising, coaching entrepreneurs and start up founders/teams.

1. The Art of Entrepreneurial
Mentoring
Leda Karabela
Orange Grove October 22, 2013
leda@yhesitate.com

2. Setting The Stage
The Guru: Jack Welch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ipNo1BLeIk

3. How It May Look Sometimes

4. How It May Feel Sometimes

5. Your Mentees/”kids”
Millennials: born after 1980 –the first generation
to come of age in the new millennium.
• Confident.
• Connected.
• Open to Change.
… Everyone different
– and unique.
Get to know them!

6. Entrepreneurial DNA

7. But, This is Not Only About Them!
How much do you share with your startups?
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Why are you here
What’s your style of working
Preferred method of being reached (phone, email, f2f)
What’s your pet peeve?
What you like/hate about this process
Do you have a mentor/did you in the past?
Tell Them!

8. Pair Up
• 2 min mentor/mentee
– Switch roles
– Observations

9. Just Another Word for You …
cheerleader, coach, confidant, counselor,
developer of talent, guardian, guru,
inspiration, master, "opener of doors",
patron, role model, pioneer, "seminal
source", "successful leader", teacher…

10. The Karate Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T10ycFr770
g
Sometimes the why takes a long time to come
through..

11. Old fashioned vs. Redesign
Reciprocal
Dynamic
Cross-functional
Diverse
Transformational
Innovative
???

12. Myths
1: You have to be one perfect mentor
(development network)
2: It’s a formal long-term relationship
(Twitter vs. psychotherapy)
3: It’s for junior people
(two-way street)
4. Out of the goodness of your heart

13. Basic Rules
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Build rapport/trust
Set goals together
Make explicit expectations
Discuss the strategy/how
Keep it strictly business
Keep it confidential
Put It in Writing

14. Getting to Alignment

15. Clarity
Goals
What’s the ratio of
questions to statements
you are making to help
them along?
What’s
Next?
GROW
Options
Reality

16. Critical Timing
• What is the most important thing you need to
do in the long term?
• What’s the critical thing you need to do in the
short term?
• What do you need to get done ASAP?

17. Risks
•
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Founder /Team
Market
Competition
Timing
Financing
Marketing
•
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Distribution
Technology
Product
Hiring
Location
* Classic Marc Andreessen

18. Can you Put It in Writing?
Our goals for this mentoring relationship are:
Our expectations of how we will achieve these goals are:
Meeting times (frequency/duration) and other methods of communication:
How we will record and monitor our progress:
Confidentiality: We agree to keep everything that is said within the mentoring
relationship confidential.
Mentee / Mentor Signatures
Date:
______________________________

19. Vicki Saunders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6UTxOPe
Bk

20. What If?
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Not a Good Match
No Commitment
No Time
No Follow-Through
Let Down
Break in Trust

21. Breakout sessions
Role Playing 3 cases:
– The gadget freak
– The wall
– The scatterbrain

22. THANK YOU!
@LEDAKA
LEDA@YHESITATE.COM