Film-style poster for the Diagnose Before You Advise presentation

A guide for startup mentors A guide for startup mentors

How to run a first meeting with founders that ends in a real plan.

EN DE ES FR IT NL PT TR

What this guide covers

What this guide covers

Why the first meeting matters

Structure is advice that works

Startups coached on regular meetings, goals and feedback grew more and closed less often.

28% More growth when peers taught formal management practices, vs. informal ones Chatterji et al., Strategic Management Journal, 2019

10 pts Lower chance of closing down in the same field experiment Chatterji et al., 2019

Asking before advising

Spend the first hour asking

Ask about what already happened, like the last five customer calls, not about plans.

Before any adviceFirst meeting

What you do, in three sentencesThe one number, and its trendMonths of runwayGaps in the teamTop three problems, rankedWhat would waste our time?

AskingAdvising

Choosing the goal

Match the goal to the problem

Known work gets a hard outcome goal; an open question gets a learning goal first.

An execution problem Outcome goal Close 5 paid pilots by June

An open question Learning goal 15 buyer interviews to test pricing Check-in in 3 weeks

Ending with a plan

End with an if-then plan

Plans written as if-then had a medium to large effect on goals across 94 studies.

Ifit is Monday, 9:00 thenI send 10 outreach emails

Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4

Doing it on Mentornity

Run the meeting on Mentornity

Your meeting reaches the whole founding team and keeps the notes in one place.

The whole team is invited

A meeting with a startup goes to every founder on it.

Pick where you meet

Platform video, Jitsi, Zoom, Meet, Teams or your own link.

Write a visible note

The team gets it by email at once; admins can read it.

Session titles set the topic

In structured programs, each meeting comes with its topic.

The whole team is invited

A meeting with a startup goes to every founder on it.

Pick where you meet

Platform video, Jitsi, Zoom, Meet, Teams or your own link.

Write a visible note

The team gets it by email at once; admins can read it.

Meeting notesOrbital Labs · 3 founders

Visible noteEmailed to the participants at once Emailed

Agreed: test annual billing with the next 20 sign-ups.

pricing-test.pdfUp to 10 files

Hidden noteOnly you and the program admins

Session titles set the topic

In structured programs, each meeting comes with its topic.

Meetings

3 of 4 meetings done

3Mar Kick-off & expectations Tue · 14:00 · 45 min
10Mar Strengths & skills Tue · 14:00 · 45 min
12Mar Goal setting & career mapping Thu · 14:00 · 45 min Meeting scheduled Schedule a meeting Confirm and book
Networking plan Schedule a meeting

Goal setting & career mapping

Thu, Mar 12 · 14:00–14:45 Join video call

Mentor sees

Founder sees

Ask about their top three goals and help them pick one for the next 90 days.

Pre-meeting questions

What do you already know about their goals?

Post-meeting questions

Which next step did you agree on?

Bring your top three goals. You will leave with one to focus on for 90 days.

Pre-meeting questions

Which goal do you want to focus on?

Post-meeting questions

How confident are you in your plan?

1The whole team is invited

2Pick where you meet

3Write a visible note

Meeting notesOrbital Labs · 3 founders

Visible noteEmailed to the participants at once Emailed

Agreed: test annual billing with the next 20 sign-ups.

pricing-test.pdfUp to 10 files

Hidden noteOnly you and the program admins

4Session titles set the topic

Meetings

3 of 4 meetings done

3Mar Kick-off & expectations Tue · 14:00 · 45 min
10Mar Strengths & skills Tue · 14:00 · 45 min
12Mar Goal setting & career mapping Thu · 14:00 · 45 min Meeting scheduled Schedule a meeting Confirm and book
Networking plan Schedule a meeting

Goal setting & career mapping

Thu, Mar 12 · 14:00–14:45 Join video call

Mentor sees

Founder sees

Ask about their top three goals and help them pick one for the next 90 days.

Pre-meeting questions

What do you already know about their goals?

Post-meeting questions

Which next step did you agree on?

Bring your top three goals. You will leave with one to focus on for 90 days.

Pre-meeting questions

Which goal do you want to focus on?

Post-meeting questions

How confident are you in your plan?

Before your first meeting

Send the founders the six diagnosis questions two days ahead.

Sign in to Mentornity Read the guide

Sign in to Mentornity Sign in Read the guide