I just returned from a startup intensive working with a cohort of amazing climatetech startups.
Unlike typical accelerators, where mentors and founders pair up in 1-on-1 sessions to work on pitch decks and fundraising, this program includes group sessions where founders get to hear from multiple mentors on a variety of operational challenges, including mock board meetings and dealing with crises.
Listening to the founders’ responses to the problems thrown at them was interesting though predictable. Listening to the other mentors’ advice was eye-opening.
Although the mentors have lived through the various challenges ourselves, not only did we offer different advice to the startups, but our entire approach to handling the situation was different. We occasionally contradicted each other, but mostly by viewing the problem through different lenses, we were able to offer complementary advice.
I realized then what should’ve been obvious long ago: different mentors and advisors can help you in different ways. I’ve identified 3 types of mentors. Founders need all of them.
I’ve also seen 3 types of mentors founders need to recognize and run away from.
The 3 Type of Advisors You Need
1. Problem solvers
This is the category I fall squarely into. You have a problem, I want to help you solve it.
Need funding? Here’s where to find investors. Not getting traction with investors? Here’s how to improve the pitch deck. Having a fight with your co-founder? Here’s what I would do in your shoes. Your head of sales not making sales? Here’s why founders have to do the sales themselves.
I’ve written around 100 articles on Medium filled with startup advice that fall into this problem solving category. Perhaps that’s because I was once an engineer and still have a problem solver mindset, or because I was a startup founder myself and to me, assistance means providing guidance and assistance on the things new founders don’t know.
I used to think all useful startup advising fell into this category. But I realized there are other, equally useful, functions of advisors.
2. Connectors
When founders join an accelerator, they’re usually not looking for someone like me to tell them how to fix their problems that they weren’t even aware they had. They’re looking for connections to investors and customers.
Some mentors are amazingly well-connected. They may not understand anything about your product or want to dive into the details of each slide in your pitch deck, but they know the right people to connect you to and are happy to provide introductions.
Name your sector, and they’ll know which VCs are focusing on the space. Describe your product, and they’ll have contacts at your customers.
To my chagrin, these mentors are always the most popular. They tend to be people-person people — affable, friendly, ready to make a phone call or two to help out between games of golf.
If you can find a mentor or advisor with the right connections willing to work them on your behalf, they’re worth their weight in gold.
3. Nurturers
Startup life is a series of 3 steps forward, 2.9 steps back. On a good day. Sometimes it’s 10 steps back. Especially at the early stages, it can seem like one frustration after another that we somehow convince ourselves is fun and exciting. Unlike a regular job, we’re not even getting paid for our troubles.
At least once a day, you want to give up. At least once a month, you seriously question whether it’s worth it. Sometimes you just want to cry. Other times, you can’t help screaming.
Who do you turn to when funding falls through or your ally at a customer gets promoted to a different project?
A spouse or significant other can pat your back or give you a backrub, and that helps. But they’re not startup people, so they don’t really get it. Your best friend can take you drinking, but in the morning, you’re still stuck picking up the pieces and now with a hangover to add to the troubles.
What you need is a nurturer — someone who can tell you you’ve got it. Someone who can point to that dot in the darkness and convince you it’s the light at the end of the tunnel. Someone who’s been there before and knows exactly what you’re going through. Someone who can get you back on your feet and send you into the ring ready for the next round.
Which type of mentor do you need?
As founders we tend to gravitate towards mentors who match our own style. Certainly, I sought out advisors who had solutions to my specific problems. I was skeptical about glad-handing connectors, and thought nurturers were a waste of time. I was wrong.
Founders need a good collection of all 3 types of mentors. We’re like your army, air force, and navy. We each think we’re the most important and we don’t collaborate well, but you need all of us to accomplish different goals for you to succeed.
To be honest, after a bad day, I’m the wrong person to call. That’s not the time to talk about strategy and fixing whatever is broke. You need a nurturer who will help you get back onto your feet. The next day, when you’re prepared for battle again, that’s when you need my advice to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. But I can’t help you execute the plan. For that you need the connectors to get you in front of customers and investors.
The 3 Types of Mentors to Avoid
As a mentor at a dozen accelerators, I meet a lot of other mentors. Some are useful. Most, to be blunt, are not. At best, they waste your time. At worst, they give you bad advice.
There’s a difference between hearing a diversity of opinions and getting advice that’s just plain wrong. Unfortunately, I seem to spend half my time with founders disabusing them of things that other mentors have told them, like their pre-MVP startup having a valuation of $25M or more.
Here are the 3 types of mentors that founders need to identify and avoid:
1. Rah-rahs
Every accelerator seems to be full of cheerleaders who applaud all the incredible things you’ve accomplished, though let’s be honest, you haven’t accomplished much yet.
They’re great to have around and we all love to have our egos stroked. They sound like nurturers, but they haven’t been in your shoes, so their encouragement feels empty.
VCs often task their new associates with mentoring at accelerators. It’s good experience for them, and it might help with the firm’s deal flow or at least help get their name out there. But with no experience building a startup themselves, the role is often limited to telling everyone how great they are.
Thank them for their time and encouragement, then quickly move on to more useful people.
2. Narcissists
Accelerators seem to be full of people, often the biggest names in the room, who want to speak endlessly about themselves and all the incredible things they’ve accomplished. Many have been very successful, as they’ll constantly remind you.
Their advice is usually to do exactly what they did, without understanding how your circumstances differ from theirs.
Narcissists make the best keynote speakers. They can be interesting and engaging. But when it comes to being an advisor, mentor, or board member, they can’t see beyond themselves, making their advice for you useless or plain wrong. They may pretend to be connectors, and certainly have great connections, but don’t waste your time trying to get them to follow through with calls on your behalf.
3. Service Providers
If you have a business doing accounting for startups, or marketing, or legal, where is the best place to find clients? Wherever startups are found. Many sign up to be mentors as a way to troll for new business.
That’s not to say these mentors can’t be incredibly useful. What founder doesn’t need free legal advice?
But since early-stage startups have no money to spend on service providers, many of the mentors are more familiar with working with late-stage startups or small businesses, and don’t understand the critical differences.
I’ve overhead lawyers from big law firms advising startup founders to register as an LLC; self-proclaimed marketing experts declaring the solution to go-to-market is to spend $100K on advertising; and accountants who don’t know the proper way to account for grants. And worst of all, I’ve heard more than one later-stage VC pontificating that founders shouldn’t settle for any valuation less than $20M. Face plant.
How to avoid bad advisors
Undoing the damage of bad advice is incredibly frustrating. So before taking advice from anyone, even if they claim to be experts, question whether they truly understand the needs of early-stage startups and your particular situation.
Just because someone has been successful or works at a big-name firm doesn’t mean they have the right advice for you. Having a famous name on your pitch deck won’t impress anyone if they aren’t actively helping.
So as you meet potential advisors, think through what they can offer you specifically. Do they understand your business and your industry? Do they understand the world of early-stage startups where you have to accomplish a million impossible things with a tiny team and no budget? Will they answer the phone at 11 PM on a Sunday night when you have an emergency? If not, find someone who will.
Ted Hara is back! The sake-drinking hacker has discovered a terrorist plot in a murdered friend’s email, but the file is encrypted and only the dead friend has the password. Can Ted find a way to crack the file before the bombs start exploding? Find out in my cyberthriller, Countdown to Decryption.
