Season 2: 10/10 VC Series — Advice for Founders Seeking Mentorship🤝🏼
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Overview: 10 Questions to 10 Early Stage Venture Capitalists
This topic series brings together perspectives across a variety of early-stage VC funds to help readers gain insight into what investors believe to be key to their growth and success. In our belief that perspectives should be well-rounded and not monopolistic, we chose to feature 10 different investors rather than to dive deep with just 1 or 2 individuals. We have a lot to learn from each other and hope that by sharing 10 unique viewpoints, we may all come to our own insights faster. Our posts will be organized by question and cover topics including investment criteria, portfolio support, industry trends, and general advice.
We are honored to feature investors at:
Boehringer Ingelheim, Breakout Ventures, Arkitekt Ventures, Time BioVentures, B Capital Group, NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, NFX, Not Boring, Mayfield Fund, & Alix Ventures
We asked our guests:
“As a founder building something new in the world, you are often in need of knowledge you don’t possess. How would you recommend founders go about seeking mentorship?”
“Being a founder (particularly a first time founder) means you’re doing something you’ve never done before. That means you’re likely rather uncomfortable. Knowledge can assuage some of that discomfort. Successful founders find creative ways of finding an answer, and a lot of the time it just means picking up the phone. I strongly advise founders to talk to their peers, their board, other partners at the funds who gave them money, their networks and the independent/chair. I can’t overemphasize the concept of group think when it comes to these things. When I was a grad student, my Ph.D. advisor would always say that an afternoon in the library saves a month in the lab. In this case, a few zoom calls can save a lot of time and money. I would suggest that founders start with the Board (it’s our job after all!) and then expand.”
Kanad Das — Investment Director @ Boehringer Ingelheim
“The smartest people I know can take in data — including advice and mentorship — from a wide variety of sources. Be insatiably curious. Look for inspiration and case studies from other industries. And then find people who you feel comfortable enough with to test out how you think the pieces are all coming together and encourage you not just to respond to the advice of others but to find confidence in your own synthesis of the right path forward.”
Julia Moore — Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Breakout Ventures
“Surround yourself with mentors that can help support you in your development from a founder to a CEO. Your employees are not going to tell you what you can improve on. Make sure your mentors balance that out with objective, direct and honest feedback to ensure you scale in your role as the business grows.”
Pavan Choksi — Partner @ Arkitekt Ventures
“Find out who really knows what you need to know, and incentivize these people to help you. Humility drives success, whereas overconfidence is incredibly risky.”
D.A. Wallach — Co-Founder & General Partner @ Time BioVentures
“Embrace the freedom to build your own tribe of mentors. Aim high and reach out to people you admire. Mentors are usually enthusiastic to meet entrepreneurs, but their time and attention are precious and limited. Take charge and be specific in your questions.”
Widya Mulyasasmita — Sr. Principal @ B Capital Group
“One thing I learned early on is the value of having multiple mentors; mentorship is not one-size-fits-all. It’s ok to have someone you go to for people management advice, someone else for strategic advice, and someone entirely different for personal advice. Work to expand your network and surround yourself with various options of people you respect and trust.”
J.C. Lopez — Principal @ NEA
“Be eternally curious and ask many questions. I’ve found the best conversations are those that evolve one’s thinking, regardless if I’m a mentee or a mentor. Try to also provide a perspective even if it’s new or evolving as it will help mentors to push your thinking.”
Sofia Guerra — Investor @ Bessemer Venture Partners
“In my experience, if you’re courageous enough to ask for help, most people are willing to give it. We all started at the bottom and remember what it was like to be there.”
Omri Amirav-Drory — General Partner @ NFX
“Find the best people in your field and surround yourself with them. Learn from their experiences. Become their friends. Life is not a transaction and mentorship isn’t either. Great mentor relationships come from two-way streets of inspiration.”
Arvind Gupta — Partner @ Mayfield Fund
“I think that it’s generally a great skill to be really intentional about establishing relationships with mentors. It’s a huge advantage in nearly every endeavor to have consistent and dedicated time with a more experienced person — especially in areas where you are weak. In software, junior engineers have scheduled pairing sessions with senior engineers. I think that it’s great for founders to establish these types of relationships with experienced operators that they really admire.”
Elliot Hershberg — Partner @ Not Boring
“As a Founder, you are shepherding a new idea into the world, the responsibility of this should not be understated. Surrounding yourself with those who have come before you & teaching those who will come after you is how the ecosystem works. We often ask Founders, “how can we help?”. Most Founders always have a few items on their list, some have a laundry list, but it’s those that have nothing, are the ones we really worry about. Mentors first & foremost can help check blindspots, even when times are the best, threats might be existential versus immediate, but they still exist. We advise Founders to build a personal board of directors composed of those who they can have honest conversations with, free of conflict of interest, & seek to level up their knowledge, be it domain, leadership, or preparing for the next stage of company growth. The journey never stops until you do, so why should your growth?”
Chas Pulido — General Partner @ Alix Ventures
To read more insights from our guest contributors, click here to continue on to part 9…
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Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, and content sponsors.
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