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Mentors at accelerators worth it?

We finished an accelerator not too long ago. The mentors are pretty worthless. They dont exactly understand tech companies. They say they did all they can to ‘help’, when they haven’t done anything. Please tell me that my experience at this shit accelerator is uncommon and not the norm.

If you’re going to say you’re going to help with fundraising, but dont reach out to any of your contacts and say you’re doing your best, then you’re just an asshole.

 

    • That would be kind of messed up if he/she did that. But, in general I think that people are hesitant to reach out to contacts because they know that they only have a limited amount of favors that they can call upon before their investor contacts get annoyed with them and stop answering their emails.

      Like for instance let’s say that I personally knew Marc Andreesen. I’m not going to email him every time a founder that I’ve mentored asks me to, because then Marc Andreesen might get annoyed with me and stop reading my emails. So, to satisfy a few unknown startup founders I’ve ruined my relationship with a major VC. This is why people are hesitant to do this.

      I recall that Mark Suster wrote a similar blog post about this; how even though he knows Sheryl Sandberg, he hates it when entrepreneurs that he’s funded ask him to give them her contact info.

      Reply

  • I hear you, OP, useless mentors like that are usually the first to publicize their “advisor” role in your company everywhere (resume, blog, etc).

    If a mentor has spent considerable time with a company and agrees it’s in good shape (traction, market prospects, etc), then why wouldn’t they tap their contacts to help its founders fundraise/hire/fill whatever need? If you won’t put your money where your mouth is, then don’t call yourself a mentor/adviser.

    Calling your contacts ≠ forcing them to do anything; it is up to them to follow up/not, invest/not. And every investor appreciates a good lead that’s been vetted. To the 2nd comment saying they’d be scared to bug an Andreessen contact type, bullsh*t. As long as the startup is in the industry that he invests in and has great potential and metrics (per what he looks for in companies), why would he hate you contacting him with a potential moneymaker?? Either you’re the intimidated, starstruck type (which is stupid, as he’s a mere mortal like you) or you’re admitting that you aren’t a good assessor of company/team potential, in which case, you should NOT be a mentor.

    Reply

    • Relax. I’m not saying that I’m a mentor who does that. Rather, I gave you a reason why they might do that, out of fear of annoying their investor contacts with deals that they aren’t interested in.

      Reply

      • Your reason is invalid because they technically should be contacting investors only with deals in areas the VCs focus on.

        Reply

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