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Finding a great startup advisor
- mindcrime 16y agoFor those of you in North Carolina, check out the "Venture Mentoring Service" from CED. It's a free service that connects entrepreneurs with mentors. Apparently it's modeled after some program at MIT that was very successful: http://www.cednc.org/content/mentor+program/12270 http://www.cednc.org/content/mentor+program/12270 This strikes me as a great resource for those who don't know a lot of potential advisors already. I have my first meeting with these folks tomorrow, and should know who my mentor(s) will be in little while... hopefully this is going to prove very beneficial. For those in other areas... ask around, maybe there's something similar you can tap into. Oh, and there's also SCORE: Service Corps of Retired Executives. http://www.score.org/ http://www.score.org/ I have yet to try using a SCORE advisor, but it might be an interesting avenue to explore, again, if you don't know any of those "couple of step ahead" entrepreneurs, or anyone else that you can tap from your social circle.
- ares2012 16y agoI agree with the article, but I would add that I think most startups need at least 2 advisors. One who is "only a few steps further down the path" and one who "has done it a number of times before". While you might find it easier to relate to the first one, the second is going to have important insights that you need for what the road looks like far down the line. The worst thing you can do as a start up is make a decision early on and not understand how that might affect you a few years down the line.