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8 Rules To Being A Good Techstars Mentor

Started by micah · 8 months ago

Today got me thinking.
Dan Osit of Inighter was heading back to New York to run his company. Adam Sachs, his co-founder, will soon follow him. The women of People’s Software have moved back to their respective cities, as has many of the other teams. (Of course, some are stayi ... Continue reading »

7 comments

  • I'd add from the other side that the best mentors are the ones who earn the right to be brutally honest with me and then exercise that right frequently.
  • Fantastic post Micah. I didn't know I did that last one, but it makes total sense. Don't over-advise, and always remember your advice is your opinion, not some "ultimate truth."
  • Thanks. I suppose out of everyone, its probably important you dont
    think I am full of shit...and, yes that is as big a kiss ass move as
    the post, so I get my bio moved up on the page... :)
  • Nice piece, but I'd have a different rule #1: Remember your mentee's names. The "women" you mentioned are Susan and Lisa, unless you're just some mentor guy.
    Seriously it was a good piece and I agree David Cohen is marveous. (And you're pretty good yourself, dude, you gave us advice we took, thank you.)
  • Susan, I 100% remember yours and Lisa's names. It was a literary
    choice. I felt the paragraph flowed better without a laundry list of
    names.
  • I think you have to emphasize the importance of mentors listening to the mentees. A few of our mentors would come in and starting speaking at us about what we should be doing with our company without fully taking the time to understand exactly what we did and what we were hoping to accomplish with it. These were mentors that we rarely called upon again. Rather the mentors who really took a few minutes to listen to exactly what problem we were trying to solve, those mentors always seemed to add the most value in the long run.
  • I think thats a great point. Its one of the reasons I highlighted
    David's tact of listening, answering, then being quiet.

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