A group of seven mentors from companies like Samsung Next Ventures and The Kaufman Foundation will be providing one-on-one mentoring to startups at this year’s SXSW festival according to the article on Tech.co These Mentors Will Be Imparting Wisdom at SXSW Startup Lunch by Conor Cawley.
The importance of mentorship is undeniable. While most entrepreneurs are forced to learn through failure, having a mentor allows you to bounce your ideas off of an experienced mind that has likely been through the mountain of successes and failures more than enough times for the both of you.
Having a mentor means you can talk through everything from raising capital and building company culture to cofounder disputes and gain insight to issues you never thought of before you were a founder. Plus, in a world that caters to a warm introduction to investors, having a mentor could provide the fast track to an advantageous entrepreneurial network.
Tech.Co and Mobile Future are partnering to provide mentoring at their Startup Lunch: The Wireless Meetup. Tech.Co provides news, events and resources for tech startups. Mobile Future is an association of cutting-edge technology and communications companies and a diverse group of non-profit organizations, working to support an environment which encourages investment and innovation in the dynamic wireless sector.
While there’s certainly value to be gained from any entrepreneur getting mentoring from this group, the real value of mentoring comes from a much longer term relationship between the founders and mentors. This is once the key to success of mentoring at organizations like TechStars and MIT Venture Mentoring Services. Just the same, being exposed to a one-time mentoring session at SXSW may encourage founders to seek out long term mentoring once they retain home from the festival.
Mentorphile 