Entrepreneurs: What if you could ask the founder of Compete.com how your 4 month old startup should tackle customer acquisition? Or the founder of Viximo how to begin fundraising around your beta product? Thanks to Boston’s new program, Founder Mentors, now you can.
Founder Mentors matches startup founders facing a particular business challenge with experienced founders in operational roles at their current companies. The matches meet regularly over the course several months to tackle, work through, and see implementation around that challenge.
I’ve been in Boston’s startup ecosystem for a year now, both in customer development roles building our social news product as well as speaking with and writing about hundreds of entrepreneurs and their startups here on BostInno. And in my very humble opinion, Founder Mentors might be the best thing to happen to Boston’s startup ecosystem in 2011: the program increases entrepreneurs’ success rates by providing meaningful, hands-on mentorship at the most critical points in their development.
I had the opportunity to speak with Sean Lindsay, the main founder behind the program who overviews the idea here, to learn more, including getting my hands on a list of the current mentors involved:
Sean, who is co-founder and CTO at Viximo and prior technical advisor at Flybridge Capital Partners, saw a real demand for the program here in Boston. “I have a lot respect for the other great mentoring programs in the Boston area, but when talking to entrepreneurs who had participated in those programs some of the same complaints arose again and again.” These complaints included not having access to active founders (with real experiences addressing startup challenges) who are willing to meet regularly over an extended period, not just in a time-limited accelerator program. “I’m hoping both with the structure of our program and the great people we have involved, we can help address some of those needs,” Sean added.
After speaking with entrepreneurs and potential founder mentors alike, Sean crafted the vision and structure of the program. He’s already lined up two program coordinators, Ellie Mirman and Carol Ortenberg to drive the launch and manage it going forward. In the next week he’ll be asking the over 50 entrepreneurs who have applied to fill out an information survey that will help mentors understand their business and the challenges they are facing.
According to Sean, the entreprneurs who have applied to date represent a wide range of startups — some are just getting started while others are fully funded and looking for help addressing growth challenges. Sean believes this ability to add value at various stages of a company’s growth is one advantage of the program compared to others both here in Boston and in other cities in the US.
When I asked Sean about the most important thing he wants entrepreneurs to know about the program, he underscored how deeply committed the people involved are to truly helping build successful startups. “Everyone involved has their heart in the right place and we’d love to hear from anyone who’s interested in participating or has ideas on how we can improve.”
“For those that are familiar with it, the approach looks a bit like the AngelList process,” Sean said. In terms of vetting mentors, he has been recruiting them personally to affirm their commitment to the goals of the program as well as to round out a stable of skillsets that will be used in the matching process. Mentors to date include:
- Brian Balfour, Viximo
- Jason Baptiste, PadPressed
- David Cancel, Performable
- Brian Chemel, Digital Lumens
- Ariel Diaz, SavvyTextbooks
- David Hauser, Grasshopper Labs
- Nabeel Hyatt, Conduit Labs / Zynga Boston
- Matt Lauzon, Gemvara
- Seth Lieberman, Pangea Media
- John Prendergast, Blueleaf
Where does Founder Mentors want to be a year from now? Sean offered,
“It’s probably going to take an iteration or two before we really get the formula right, but I’m hoping a year from now that Founder Mentors will be recognized as one of Boston’s best resources for entrepreneurs looking to connect with a mentor and that experienced founders will consider us a great way to give back to the Boston entrepreneurial community.”
A big thank you to Sean for creating Founder Mentors and facilitating such a great program for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs: apply to the program here, and you can follow the program on Twitter @FounderMentors.
