Short, Actionable Guide to Finding a Mentor!

Hello Hackers! 👋

So, we are told all the time that having a mentor can accelerate your skills and business as fast as sonic grabs those golden rings. I also agree with this. But rarely is it ever discussed how to go about finding a mentor, approaching them, and getting them onto your side! This is not an easy thing. So, I have an approach that had recently netted me potential mentor meetings within a day of approaching them.

📝 Some guidelines:

1 . You must present yourself professionally on Linkedin. If you do not have a professionally photographed image of yourself on your page, please restrain from approaching anyone until you do. Get a professional headshot NOW!

2 . You should have some sort of business founded or a fully-developed product made. You do not need customers or to even be launched, but without this key step, you also don't know who you need to approach.

3. You need to know how to talk to people, so that if, and when, you do get a call, you are likeable. I can not teach you this, but soft skills like the ability to read social cues and generally being nice goes a long way. Improv / Acting Classes or some sort of regular in-person participation in group activities can help you with this.

💡 Now for the advice:

The Search.
I used Linkedin to discover people who I was targeting. I am in the hardware space, specifically for consumers. So I just went over to Linkedin and started searching for people with "consumer hardware" in their profile in addition to "director", "VP", "president", "CEO", etc.

I am a CEO myself so I need high-level executives who understand the game in my space. As an example, If you are working as a UX designer, try to find someone ahead of you in their career, or shoot for the stars and go for the CEO of the design firm... whatever you want really.

The Strategy.
Once you identify a few targets, review their background to really make sure you think they will fit. It is much like finding investors, do your diligence. Read their background, try a quick Google search, and overall try to discover their vibe.

The Approach.
Once your Linkedin profile is looking good (remember your professional picture) and you have a high-value person, click "Connect" on their profile and make sure to "add a note" with a variation (in your own voice) on the following note:

"Hello {Their Name}, {Your Name} Here! Given your background in {Their Vertical}, I was curious if you are against advising or mentoring early stage startups? I am a/the {Your Position} of a {Their Vertical} startup and looking for extra support from experienced leaders. Let me know! I'd love to connect."

Almost every person I have approached has, at least, connected. Some didn't understand the construct of what I was looking for and thought they would be a paid consultant, however most have been open to at least a conversation. If they responded with something like this, I was straight forward and mentioned what I was looking for (as shortly detailed in the next paragraph).

☝️ Note: With a mentor specifically, you should be looking for a kind of friend. You want them there for good conversations that also result in strategy for you, and growth for them. Be very clear about this when they ask what you are looking for! I also suggest having a cadence in mind you can ask for... once a month, once a week, etc.

This is also a great way to start building a diverse board for your business. Invite many people from all shapes and sizes to help you along the way and you'll create an attractive Team page for your pitch deck too!

And that is it... I put this to use over the last week and have had one extremely promising connection with just 48 hours, and three more calls in the pipeline. So I can verify it works!

AMA in the comments if you'd like!