The role of the mentor has been close to entrepreneurship for many years in one way or another, and in recent times this relationship has been strengthened even more and both have grown exponentially. Compared to another figure also in vogue such as the Coaching, which seeks more to reinforce positive traits and transform the person, the The role of the mentor is to provide their knowledge and experience to guide the “pupil”, pointing out flaws or dangers and also strengths.For entrepreneurs, the figure of a mentor can be the key to a successful project and with certain guarantees of success. The mentor can provide not only his personal experience and knowledge, but also, and more importantly, an external vision that points out possible blind spots or that refocuses the project. And the fact is that many entrepreneurs who have been designing their project for years, when the time comes can be so focused on that vision that they have created that they are not aware of the mistakes, that is where the mentor is key to saving the project thanks to his experience and objective vision. mentoring a fairly new discipline in Spain, one of the difficulties that an entrepreneur or businessman who wants to have a mentor may have is How to search for it.First step: The first thing to keep in mind is the profile that the mentor should have. The potential mentor must have a proven professional career in the sector where the project is located, accredited values and a great communication skills and empathy. It's no use if the person we want as a mentor is a successful businessman if he doesn't have the capacity to transmit those knowledge and experiences effectively. When it comes to finding a mentor, there are more and more companies that include among their consulting services the mentoring. However, they are Social Networks are the ones that can best help you locate and screen to find the right person. Twitter and, although not widely used in Spain, debates and groups on LinkedIn, are a good basis for locating topics of interest and potential mentors who are experts in them. The first contact can also be made via Social Networks, but orOnce established, it is advisable to build a personal and more private relationship that builds trust between the parties..Although there may be cases of altruism and the mentor offering help in a selfless manner, this is an increasingly professional profile in which there are already companies that offer it (and charge)). Therefore, we must bear in mind that we must attract the interest of the potential mentor in our project and expect that the safest thing is that they will have to be paid for their services. The important thing here is to know what it contributes, what it is committed to and what other projects it is involved in in order to know incompatibilities and also availability.
Startups with mentors in their ranks get 7 times more funding.
One of the ways to attract and also build loyalty to the mentor is to offer him to participate in the company as inverter, Business Angel or your entry as one of the partners. The entry into capital of the company may be a formula that many entrepreneurs do not like, but it can be a point in favor of the project in its first steps. According to a recent report (See here), start-ups that have a mentor in their ranks get up to 7 times more funding and grow up to 3 times faster than others without them, at least in the United States. The mentor, therefore, can be an ingredient that makes the recipe for the new project truly attractive to both investors and clients. Would you consider bringing a mentor into the company? , is the mentor an established profile in Spain? We leave you the comments for you to discuss the topic.
