Founder advice for Techstars Mentor Madness
I am one of only ten Mentors In Residence in Techstars' 17-year history. I've supported 350 startups across 8 global Techstars programs.
I love Mentor Madness because it is wonderfully exhausting.
Techstars Mentor Madness is when founders and mentors make a life-changing connection in a meeting lasting less than 20 minutes.
I've been through Techstars Mentor Madness dozens of times on both the mentee and mentor sides of the table. From Boston to Seattle to Atlanta, in-person and via Zoom, I've met with founders who, like me, have an addiction to solving hard problems.
I truly love Mentor Madness.
I believe that a few decisions by founders during Mentor Madness can help make the most out of a necessarily brief 20-ish minute meeting.
In the spirit of the Techstars Mentor Manifesto, I'm not going to tell you what to do. Instead, I'm offering my position on how I would approach Mentor Madness if I were a member of a Techstars class today.
10 things to keep in mind during Mentor Madness
At best, any meeting is life-changing.
Founders that were once strangers have since become friends for life.
We help each other navigate professional and personal challenges.
We take early-morning and late-night calls to debate potential solutions to unique problems.
We’ve extended our relationship well beyond Techstars. I’m now an advisor to three startups I met via Techstars.
These 20-minute meetings during Mentor Madness are the beginning of a relationship whose impact can be immeasurable.
At worst, any meeting is pitch practice
It's exhausting to tell your startup story multiple times in a day over multiple days, but that number of "at-bats" in such quick succession, combined with real-time feedback, is invaluable.
If you speak with 40 people and 2 of them don't understand your vision, try to understand why, but don't lose too much sleep over it.
If you speak with 40 people and 38 of them don't understand your vision, there's likely a problem with your storytelling.
If you speak with 40 people and all 40 understand your vision, but none believe it is possible, congrats! You're officially a startup founder.
Be honest about your challenges.
Challenges are fun. It's the whole reason mentors signed up.
If mentors can't help with a particular challenge, they always know someone who can—a subject matter expert who, for free, can provide you with great advice.
When you tell mentors that “everything is fine,” they know it's anything but. Every startup has challenges, and the only startups with more problems than unsuccessful startups are successful startups. So be honest about your challenges.
Find the rational optimists.
Pessimism is easy. Pessimism is also lazy.
It takes effort and a lot of thoughtful questions to understand the potential journey a startup will take.
You're a rational optimist; that's why you started a company. You have the audacity, so find others who believe in your audacity.
This journey is hard enough. Keep pessimists out of your circle.
Don't ask for money.
Every startup needs money. What you need the money for should be the topic of discussion. There will be plenty of time in the future for fundraising.
When people ask you what you need, lay out only the key item(s) of focus for the three months of Techstars.
“We're growing at 5% month-over-month, but we want to average 10% MoM growth through Demo Day. Here's our customer acquisition plan and current customer acquisition cost. What's your reaction?”
“Our iOS app is live, but we need an MVP Android app to ship in the next eight weeks. We're considering a dev shop. What has been your experience, and what should we be thinking about?”
There will be plenty of time for fundraising later, so use today for conversations on things that impact product and growth.
Be both convicted and curious.
Mentor whiplash is real. You’ll hear one piece of advice from one smart person and then immediately hear the exact opposite piece of advice from another smart person.
Not to mention that some mentors will be more than happy to tell you why your company will likely fail. (They shouldn’t do this, but they will because smart, opinionated people just can’t help themselves sometimes.)
Instead of getting defensive, get curious.
“Why do you feel that way?”
“What is something we’re not thinking about correctly?”
“What is something that could make a difference for X?”
“Who is the smartest person you know in the field of X?”
Conviction without curiosity is just stubbornness. Stay curious even when the feedback is unkind and invalid.
Be proactive in the match-making process.
Did you meet a mentor you absolutely love? Make sure you communicate immediately with your Managing Director and the mentor just how valuable they would be for your team.
Few mentors can commit to more than one team per Techstars class. If the mentor is incredible, other founders will also want to work with them.
Not vibing? Politely bail.
Time is your most precious commodity, especially at this point in your startup journey.
Maybe you’re not getting value out of a conversation. Perhaps the mentor isn’t passionate about your market or vision. Maybe you don't vibe with the mentor’s communication style. If any of these are true after 10 minutes, end the conversation swiftly and professionally.
Here’s what I’d say: “[mentor name], thank you so much for your time and for listening to the vision for my company. If there is anything I need related to [the mentor’s area of expertise] I will be certain to reach out. If it’s ok with you, I like to use the time remaining to [catch up with my co-founder, check in with my Dev team, take my first break of the day, etc.].”
The only people who would ever get upset with you for protecting your time are the same folks who would never respect your time to begin with.
When you're matched, tell mentors specifically how they can help.
Having great mentors is one thing, but putting them to work is something else altogether.
Be clear with each individual about why you wanted them as a mentor and what you want from them. If you don't, they'll assume that you need all of their skills. In reality, a group of mentors will have overlapping skill sets, but some are stronger than others in specific areas.
Mentors will respect your conviction, decisiveness, and clarity in what you expect from them.
Keep in touch if you don't match with a mentor.
Just because you don't get matched with someone doesn't mean you can't ping them for help.
I still talk monthly with 30+ Techstars companies from past classes, none of whom I was a mentor for during the duration of their class.