Study found that mentors help student entrepreneurs develop their entrepreneurial identity. Student entrepreneurs who received extensive mentoring support, who were open to mentor feedback, and who practiced critical self-evaluation were able to successfully navigate the highs and lows associated with entrepreneurial activities and successfully launch their ventures. However, students who lacked adequate mentoring support were ill-prepared to manage the highs and lows and “failed to develop different role identities needed to move their ventures forward” (Ahsan, et al., 2018, pp. 97, 96). This guide introduces resources for you to nurture mentor and advisor relationships.

Startup Boards (Kauffman Foundation)

Brad Feld, entrepreneur and early-stage investor, provides valuable guidance on how to establish a board of directors who will be there to support you, direct you, and call you out when you fall short.

Startup Secrets: Mastering the Gift of Mutual Mentorship (Harvard i-lab)

Are you seeking a mentor but not sure of how best to leverage that relationship? Have you ever been in a mentor relationship and wondered how best to serve the mentee? In this workshop Michael Skok, a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, shows you how to develop best practices and get the most out of mentorship.

Manage Up and Across with Your Mentor (Harvard Business Review)

Jeanne Meister, partner at Future Workplace and contributor to the ”HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across.”

Creating and Sustaining an Advisory Board: A Key Success Factor for an Entrepreneur (UMass- Lowell)

This webinar discussed the essentials of advisory boards and compared them with governance boards. It highlighted how important an advisory board is to a start-up venture.

Building Your Startup Advisory Board (Silicon Valley Bank)

Advisors can help fill gaps in your team in specific areas like hiring, regulatory affairs, or industry knowledge and experience. Look for advisors through your network and while you meet potential angels; screen them like you would screen an employee. Draft an agreement to specify duration, duties, and responsibilities; when it comes to equity comp, don’t give away too much.

Build a Composite of Mentors (Standford e-corner)

Venture capitalist Kate Mitchell encourages entrepreneurs to seek out a wide range of mentors to gain a full picture of individual strengths and weaknesses. Trust is a two-way street when it comes to mentor relationships, says Mitchell, so make it easy for mentors to offer feedback and to tell you “the hard thing.”

Meant to Be: Mentor & Mentee (Standford e-corner)

We all hear that having professional mentors is critical to career success. So how do you identify a mentor and sustain the relationship? In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Tania Abedian Coke, founder of TellUs, and Lauren Ottinger of Intercom say successful mentorships are characterized by gratitude and reciprocity. It helps to seek a mentor one or two steps ahead of you in their career.

Get Many Mentors

Early in her career, author and board director Shellye Archambeau realized the wisdom of having many mentors, not just one. Often, she says, it’s helpful to not seek formal “mentorship,” but to gradually adopt mentors by asking for advice and always following up. Furthermore, she has found, mentors often turn into sponsors—the people who actively advocate for you and advance your career.

How To Build Relationships With Mentors

Emily Melton, partner at the venture capital firm Threshold (formerly DFJ), shares how to build and nurture relationships with mentors. She recommends that those early in their career really think about what they can offer to mentors, such as time and raw intellect. By offering your strengths, you build reciprocal relationships.

Cold-Call a Mentor (or Even Create One)

Airbnb strategic advisor and Modern Elder Academy founder Chip Conley explains that his two most important mentors were people he never met in person. He offers an even more radical idea: Do some digital sleuthing to learn more about someone you admire and use them as a DIY model to think through your own decisions.

You can search Harvard Business Review to learn more articles on this topic. You can also check if your university library has a subscription to the Business Source Complete database, which provides full-text access to Harvard Business Review articles, or use the library’s interlibrary loan service to access the article.

Five Signs that Your Mentor Is Giving You Bad Advice

Not long ago, I attended the “Forever Green Leadership Gala” in Menlo Park, a fundraiser for The Girl Scouts of Northern California. The event honored two women with impressive accomplishments: Noosheen Hashemi, who earlier in her career spent a decade at Oracle and was instrumental in its 1991 financial turnaround, and who has spent the past decade leading The HAND Foundation…

How to Break Up with Your Mentor

Having a great mentor can do wonders for your professional development and career. But even the best mentoring relationships can run their course or become ineffective. How do you know when it’s time to move on? And what’s the best way to end the relationship without burning bridges?

How to Build a Great Relationship with a Mentor

While 76% of working professionals believe that a mentor is important to growth, more than 54% do not have such a relationship. If you’re one of these people, there are a few things you can do to find a mentor and build a strong relationship: define your goals and specific needs; write a “job description” for your ideal mentor; search for mentors through your second-degree network; make the ask (and keep it simple); have a first meeting; create a mentorship agreement; and follow up to say thank you over the long term.

How Do You Find a Decent Mentor When You’re Stuck at Home?

Research has shown time and time again that employees who have mentors tend to succeed with job promotions, salary growth, and decreased burnout. But in a time of social distancing, it’s become harder to meet new people and form mentor-mentee relationships. Despite the challenges to socializing in person, there are still ways to connect with potential mentors.

What’s the Right Way to Find a Mentor?

Mentorship can be life-changing. Staying in the driver’s seat and being proactive about your relationship with your mentor is key to its success. These simple principles will help develop strong mentoring relationships, no matter where you are in your career.

How to Find a Mentor (Bplan)

Some of the most common advice for new entrepreneurs is to “find a mentor.” It’s understandable—after all, it’s good advice; having a mentor relationship is often a dream come true. A mentor is a teacher, a trusted advisor that a budding entrepreneur can turn to with questions and get valuable advice, tailored directly to their industry and specific business situation.

Find Mentor and Networking Opportunities