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Ask HN: Did you have a mentor when building your first startup and how was it?

4 points by vince_liu 3y ago

h2odragon 3y ago
Had a partner, with extensive experience and ready assurances that all I needed to do was the programming (and packaging and distribution and sales and support...) and they'd take care of the rest. That one cleared about $500k before dying; I came out of it with debt and not enough knowledge or cynicism to avoid doing the same stupid shit again.
- vince_liu 3y ago
  oh damn thats unfortunately :(
sf4lifer 3y ago
Build relationships with paying customers ASAP in the journey. They will give you all the guidance you need.
- vince_liu 3y ago
  very true. What about if you want to start fundraising to expand?
  - sf4lifer 3y ago
    If you are growing MoM with clear PMF in a decent sized TAM you'll have no problem getting meetings or raising money. If you have paying a couple of customers who are passionate about your product (ready for seed round) then you can cold email VCs who will take a meeting. If you're pre-revenue, you're best bet is to raise from someone you know.
    - vince_liu 3y ago
      that does sound reasonable given the current VC climate
muzani 3y ago
Yup, helped a lot. Had a ton of ideas. The mentors helped refine them. When you're in creative mode, you're not always in rational mode. I'd bounce ideas off the mentor(s) every day, which also forced me to build something to show them. Avoid mentors who are regular cynical corporate job types though. They do more harm than help, and I think they subconsciously just wanted us to see us fail. Find the ones who are cheering for you.
- vince_liu 3y ago
  glad it worked out for you! Did you find a mentor who is in a similar domain/industry you're interested in? e.g. finding a mentor with b2c experience when you know you want to do b2c
  - muzani 3y ago
    Not really. Data and B2B mentors when doing B2C. It's still fairly similar, they know enough to comment on things like UI/UX, how to raise funding, and tech business models. Normally you're the domain expert anyway. You don't always want to take advice from someone who might be more inexperienced. Part of the mentor experience is blindly following advice to get through a plateau, so be careful who you allow to blindfold you.

4 points by vince_liu 3y ago

Had a partner, with extensive experience and ready assurances that all I needed to do was the programming (and packaging and distribution and sales and support...) and they'd take care of the rest. That one cleared about $500k before dying; I came out of it with debt and not enough knowledge or cynicism to avoid doing the same stupid shit again.

vince_liu 3y ago
oh damn thats unfortunately :(

sf4lifer 3y ago

Build relationships with paying customers ASAP in the journey. They will give you all the guidance you need.

vince_liu 3y ago
very true. What about if you want to start fundraising to expand?
- sf4lifer 3y ago
  If you are growing MoM with clear PMF in a decent sized TAM you'll have no problem getting meetings or raising money. If you have paying a couple of customers who are passionate about your product (ready for seed round) then you can cold email VCs who will take a meeting. If you're pre-revenue, you're best bet is to raise from someone you know.
  - vince_liu 3y ago
    that does sound reasonable given the current VC climate

muzani 3y ago

Yup, helped a lot. Had a ton of ideas. The mentors helped refine them. When you're in creative mode, you're not always in rational mode. I'd bounce ideas off the mentor(s) every day, which also forced me to build something to show them. Avoid mentors who are regular cynical corporate job types though. They do more harm than help, and I think they subconsciously just wanted us to see us fail. Find the ones who are cheering for you.

vince_liu 3y ago
glad it worked out for you! Did you find a mentor who is in a similar domain/industry you're interested in? e.g. finding a mentor with b2c experience when you know you want to do b2c
- muzani 3y ago
  Not really. Data and B2B mentors when doing B2C. It's still fairly similar, they know enough to comment on things like UI/UX, how to raise funding, and tech business models. Normally you're the domain expert anyway. You don't always want to take advice from someone who might be more inexperienced. Part of the mentor experience is blindly following advice to get through a plateau, so be careful who you allow to blindfold you.