3 Easy Steps to Evaluate Business Mentors

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Everyday, I speak to indie founders from different parts of the world about their tech startups. It’s always a pleasure sharing what I learn from their experiences at it helps me get closer to the kind of founders Sparrow serves and deeply understand their core issues, challenges and goals.

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Building a platform where startup founders can learn from other successful entrepreneurs and business mentors involved a disciplined approach that I had to build and iterate over time. I’ve learned this process over time after making several mistakes and building on what worked the best for Sparrow’s clients.

I’m a big believer of making articles like this concise. And so I’ll get to the point straight away. Before I do though, there’s a couple of things you need to bear in mind that will ultimately help you get the right kind of advice and mentorship for your startup.

1. Having a founder’s growth mindset – It’s extremely easy to feel comfortable in our own shell (comfort zone) when deciding if seeking mentorship is “right for us”. The sore truth is the sooner you realize your pain points and try finding ways to improve upon them, the better off you’ll be in your future. Having a “growth mindset” is critical for founders of all stages as this pulls you towards genuinely finding ways to improve – whether it be learning better product management principles, how to conduct more purposeful customer interviews and building a culture that works for your specific team. Get ready to be uncomfortable! :)
   

2. Building a personalized effective mentoring program – At Sparrow, our Advisors (also known as business mentors) sit down with you to understand (a) the depth of technical / strategic guidance and (b) the frequency of sessions that work best for your team. But putting my shameless plug aside, it’s critical for yourself to look at your company’s critical pain points and understand (a) what the risks to your business are if they’re not resolved and (b) the latest time they have to be addressed. This gives you a holistic view of your company’s key problems and will ultimately help you decide WHAT kind of advice and mentorship to look for and HOW MUCH money to spend doing it. This isn’t talked about much.

I promised you to be concise and so here I am. Here are the 3 steps that I recommend following (in sequence) when finding and evaluating a business mentor for you and your team.

1. Do you need a friend or an expert?
   
   Sometimes, we don’t really need an expensive mentor or advisor. What we really want is a friend or acquaintance we can rant to or ask for their general opinion on our problems. Unless you’re someone who’s very difficult to be around, this shouldn’t be hard! All you need to do it treat them to breakfast and you’re golden – rant all you want, get yourself heard, get that weight off your chest, you get the idea.
   
   I personally recommend doing this with a few close friends in your circle and seeing if it helps you get closer to solving your key issues. If not, well there’s always Sparrow (;

2. Past struggles, successes and skeletons.
   
   Every time I onboard an advisor or approach a successful startup founder to become a startup advisor on Sparrow, I read up on them for an hour. This includes listening to their podcasts, watching their videos, reading their blogs and even TechCrunch articles about their successes. I’m mostly interested in their failures / struggles and how they talk about them because it provides a clear view into how they see themselves and how they’d probably treat you on a phone call. Critical.
   
   And so I suggest you do the same kind of homework I do, before approaching someone to be your startup’s advisor or even just your personal mentor because their pasts and how they talk about their ups and downs is directly co-related with how you’ll be treated by them. Skeletons means bad stuff. Be critical in your research. Otherwise it’ll cost you. Literally.

3. Setting the stage.
   
   On Sparrow, even when founders are decided to sit down with our advisors, I always encourage them to attend a discovery call with their advisor of choice. This allows both parties to understand if they have a character and professional fit. Believe me – both are important.
   
   This point is called setting the stage because you need to set the frame for WHAT your key challenges actually are today and how it impacts your future. This includes discussing the following:

   • Your team formation, their strengths / weaknesses and how it affects your current burning challenges

   • The main solutions you’ve tried in the past to address your current burning challenges

Good luck. I’m rooting for you! ;)

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