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Film-style poster for the One Problem, One Session presentation

A guide for startup mentors A guide for startup mentors

How to make a short booked session solve one real problem.

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What this guide covers

What this guide covers

What this guide covers

Before the session

A short session needs one problem

Ask founders to send one decision with the booking, not a status update.

  • Context three sentences
  • The question just one
  • Decision by a date
  • Tried so far and what happened

Using the time

Split 25 minutes in three

Restate the problem, diagnose with questions, then let the founder say the takeaway.

The first five minutes

Ask which decision this should unlock

If it is not your field, say so and point them elsewhere right away.

  • What decision should this session help you make? Sets the goal for 25 minutes.
  • This is not my field. Here is who knows it better.

Diagnosing

Ask about what already happened

Past facts beat future plans, so start from what customers actually did.

  • Walk me through the last five customer calls.
  • What did you try, and what happened?
  • What is the number this week, and last week?

Labelling advice

Label opinion, experience and data

Tell founders which kind each piece of advice is, so they can weigh it.

  • My opinion a view to test
  • My experience one company, one market
  • Data with its source

Doing it on Mentornity

Run office hours on Mentornity

Open your slots once, and founders book them without approvals or email chains.

Weekly or one-off slots

Open recurring hours or a single date under My Availabilities.

Founders book directly

A booked slot is confirmed, with no approval step.

The video link creates itself

Connect Google, Zoom or Teams, and every booking gets a link.

Alerts for every booking

Browser push tells you when a meeting is booked or moved.

Weekly or one-off slots

Open recurring hours or a single date under My Availabilities.

Founders book directly

A booked slot is confirmed, with no approval step.

The video link creates itself

Connect Google, Zoom or Teams, and every booking gets a link.

Alerts for every booking

Browser push tells you when a meeting is booked or moved.

Ask for the problem first

Ask founders to send their question with the booking, and read it before you meet.

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