Startup Essentials — Mentors

As a young entrepreneur in my early 20’s I often think about how much I don’t know. 4 years of university and I still feel like I don’t know much. I started talking to my friends and family and learned from them. Then I met three my mentors: Ray, Stefan, and Alex. I never had a mentor before in my life before I met them so my experience is fresh.

I met Ray DePaul through Mount Royal University’s entrepreneurship program. I had an idea, he agreed to meet me and I pitched it to him. At first, I was confident that I had convinced him my idea was good. Then he started asking questions. He made me realize how little I really knew about my start up. But, he was interested in seeing where this would go and we started meeting more often. The trajectory of my startup completely changed when he walked into the picture.

Stefan I met through a mutual friend. He is a legend at Mount Royal and i’m convinced I’ve heard of him in my many lectures. Ray was running a peer — mentorship program and I was lucky enough to get matched with him. My first meeting with him was at Startbucks for coffee. I was telling him about my business and by the end of it I had no idea what I just said. Stefan was patient and listened. After our meeting he gave me a great piece of advice: live and breathe the entrepreneurship community.

Alex is awesome, and i’m not just talking about his beard. We got accepted in the ATB X accelerator program and matched with him. I told him about the business and he genuinely believed in it. He has completely changed my outlook on building a business. Alex will challenge some of the assumptions I make and will flat out disagree with it. But he never pushes you to do something you don’t want to. Alex is a straight shooter — something I’ve learned is hard to come by these days.

I am lucky to have three extraordinary mentors, each brilliant in his own field.

Stefan Radeta: taught me how to think.

Alex Putici: taught me what to think about.

Ray DePaul: showed me how to turn thinking into direct, immediate and outrageous action.