Startup Mentoring / Startup Mentor – Support on the way to independence

Startup Mentoring / Startup Mentor – Support on the way to independence

What is Startup Mentoring? What are the advantages for mentors and mentees? How do I find the right mentor for me? We answer these questions in our article. In addition, we present Industrial IoT Use Case, the podcast on use cases from the Internet of Things by Madeleine Mickeleit, a case study supervised by Christoph Baier as a mentor. Furthermore, Ambivation has developed a format to enable matchmaking between mentees and mentors, which we will present afterwards.

For Startup Mentors: link to the form

For Startup Mentees: link to Startup Mentor List

What is Startup Mentoring?

Experienced companies have often already taken the step towards independence, while young reasons still have it ahead of them. Here it can be helpful to have a mentor to advise you. In start-up mentoring, the experienced entrepreneur takes on the role of mentor, while the founder as a mentee benefits from his or her wealth of experience. According to the Initiative for Start-ups of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, mentoring is defined as follows:

“The basic idea behind mentoring is that experienced people, the mentors, pass on their experience to other people with development potential”.

Mentoring usually takes place in the initial phase of a start-up, but it can also be continued beyond this phase or even take place on a temporary basis. The mentor acts as advisor, coach, promoter and, among other things, as a role model. Thus, he or she can provide support in many areas, such as developing the business plan or company presentation. Mentoring is usually done on a personal basis, so it should be harmonious between people and the mentor should be convinced of the mentee’s idea.

What should you pay attention to in start-up mentoring?

For the mentoring to be successful, attention should be paid to a functioning and above all transparent communication between both parties. This should take place in a regular exchange. It may also be useful to define in advance what the goal of the mentoring could be and in which areas special support is needed. What should be fundamentally considered is that it is a matter of give and take. In other words, the mentee should consider in advance what he or she can give back in return for the experience and support of the mentor. Since mentoring is often voluntary, a healthy basis of trust should be built up over time.

What advantages does Startup Mentoring offer?

For the mentee, mentoring can offer considerable support, as he or she benefits from the knowledge gained by the mentor. Many problems can be solved faster in tandem than alone. In addition, the mentor brings a further, often more objective point of view. Mentoring can also be helpful in avoiding mistakes.  Through their many years of experience, mentors may have made some mistakes in the process of founding a company themselves, and therefore know how to avoid them. Although at first glance the mentee seems to benefit from the mentor’s support, mentoring offers advantages for both sides. Florian Nöll, former chairman of the German Startup Association, describes it as follows:

“Bringing young company founders together with experienced entrepreneurs and managers benefits both sides: some benefit from access to innovators who grew up in the digital world, others from invaluable experience and networking”.

So mentoring offers advantages for both sides. The mTo better illustrate the concept of mentoring, we would like to present a successful case study here. Founder Madeleine Mickeleit has been running the website iotusecase.com since 2019, where she publishes case studies from the Internet of Things. In the meantime, she also regularly publishes her own podcast, which reaches 650 listeners after only 3 months. Christoph Baier, founder of Ambivation, has been a consultant from the beginning. In the meantime Madeleine has been able to win several large companies from the IoT and industry sector as partners. The podcast episode appears weekly on all major media and can also be read as a blog post on iotusecase.com.entor can expand his or her personal network through the founder, and also be inspired by his or her innovative way of thinking. If the supervised project becomes a success, the mentor can also benefit from it.

Case study IIoT Use Case

To better illustrate the concept of mentoring, we would like to present a successful case study here. Founder Madeleine Mickeleit has been running the website iotusecase.com since 2019, where she publishes case studies from the Internet of Things. In the meantime, she also regularly publishes her own podcast, which reaches 650 listeners after only 3 months. Christoph Baier, founder of Ambivation, has been a supporter from the beginning. In the meantime Madeleine has been able to win several large companies from the IoT and industry sector as partners. The podcast episode appears weekly on all major media and can also be read as a blog post on iotusecase.com.

How do I find the right mentor?

Finding the right mentor can be a challenge. Here, a match has to take place. So how do I, as a founder, find support that fits me and my project exactly? It can make sense to first look around in your own network. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, many cities offer free programs to support business start-ups. In addition to the city itself, contact persons can also be the local Chamber of Industry and Commerce, advice centers for business start-ups or appropriate associations. Another possibility are platforms that offer matchmaking between mentor and mentee as a service.

Startup Mentor List
At this point, we at Ambivation also want to be supportive. With our service we want to establish contact between mentors and mentees and thus support young founders. In the following you can fill out our form and participate in our mentoring service. If you would like to act as a mentor, please indicate your experience, your business background etc. The data will not be passed on to third parties without your consent and will be displayed anonymously on our website. If you are a founder looking for a mentor, you can filter our database accordingly and let us if you want us to connect you with one of the mentors (let us know the mentor number). We will be happy to establish contact afterwards!

Mentoring can offer great added value to both sides, i.e. both the founder as a mentee and the entrepreneur as a mentor. Young founders on their way to self-employment receive optimal support, advice and, in addition, a certain role model is placed at their side. The mentor can benefit from the innovative thinking of the founder and his contacts in the start-up scene. Thus, a startup mentoring can be a win-win situation for both sides. We are happy to help you find the right mentor or mentee!