{"id":1203,"date":"2020-10-28T12:19:05","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T19:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/?p=1203"},"modified":"2023-10-06T13:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T20:32:21","slug":"7-reasons-why-accelerators-should-set-clear-mentorship-end-dates-per-cohort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/7-reasons-why-accelerators-should-set-clear-mentorship-end-dates-per-cohort\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Reasons Why Accelerators Should Set Clear Mentorship End Dates Per Cohort"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/play.ht\/embed\/?article_url=https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/7-reasons-why-accelerators-should-set-clear-mentorship-end-dates-per-cohort\/&voice=Noah\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"90px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>I&#8217;ve worked with dozens of startup accelerators globally.\u00a0 Not all accelerators operate the same, but at least some assign one or more mentors (or &#8220;advisors&#8221; or &#8220;coaches&#8221;) to their cohort startups for the duration of their program [How they should be assigned is a subject for a future post].\u00a0 The start of the mentorship term is often quite clear &#8211; e.g., when the startup founders and mentors are notified of their matches.\u00a0 Although, sometimes this is also not clearly done, or perhaps those who are not matched do not get notified at all.\u00a0 However, more often, the end date of the mentorship term is not clearly communicated.<\/p>\n<p>This post outlines the 7 key reasons why the mentorship term end date should be clearly defined and communicated by the accelerator.<\/p>\n<h1>1. Forever is Unsustainable<\/h1>\n<p>Hopefully, this goes almost without saying.\u00a0 Unless an accelerator feels it has an endless supply of quality mentors, it probably wants to ensure its mentors don&#8217;t get fully booked up forever, or they won&#8217;t be available for future cohorts and startups.\u00a0\u00a0And if you consider mentors&#8217; goals (giving back, staying current &amp; learning, investing, networking), many probably don&#8217;t want to get tied to just a few startups &#8220;forever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h1>2. Awkward<\/h1>\n<p>If the mentor is unclear about the end date, it gets awkward.\u00a0 Should they continue to take inquiries from the assigned founders?\u00a0 Does the accelerator want them to?\u00a0 If not, then how\/when does the mentor indicate this?\u00a0 For founders too, is it okay to continue pinging their mentors?\u00a0 They don&#8217;t want to impose.<\/p>\n<h1>3. Too Early<\/h1>\n<p>Even worse, without a clear end date, mentors may stop supporting their startups too early.\u00a0 Either they think it should end earlier than it should.\u00a0 Or perhaps they think it needs to phase out over time, so they start early anticipated a ramp down period.<\/p>\n<h1>4. Fizzle<\/h1>\n<p>Without a clear end date, things &#8211; the relationship, the perceived value,&#8230;the relationship fizzle to an end.\u00a0 It provides no event to reflect back on all that was accomplished together.<\/p>\n<h1>5. Undefined Expectations<\/h1>\n<p>Without setting clear expectations up front, you risk disappointment.\u00a0 Perhaps founders feel they now have a lifelong mentor.\u00a0 Remember, founders may feel they have paid the accelerator for their program.\u00a0 Even if the accelerator invested in the startups, they feel they gave equity in exchange for $\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> the program, which includes (often in a significant way) mentorship.\u00a0 They may feel the equity is &#8220;forever&#8221; and so should be the mentorship.<\/p>\n<h1>6. Lost Opportunities<\/h1>\n<p>Mentorship may not always want to continue forever, but it may often want to continue beyond the 3 or 4 month program.\u00a0 A well defined end date gives the mentor and mentee the opportunity to discuss the opportunity of continuing to work together.\u00a0 Without it, the founder may not even realize they have the option to continue working with a mentor they value.\u00a0 Whether there&#8217;s compensation or not is for those parties to then decide.<\/p>\n<h1>7. Missed Incentive<\/h1>\n<p>Having hard, well understood deadlines motivates people to accomplish as much as possible before the deadline.\u00a0 Give founders and mentors the added incentive to ensure they achieve as much progress as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, accelerators wills now appreciate the need to define and communicate specific mentorship end dates.\u00a0 When considering when to set those dates, probably consider that many startup founders can benefit from mentor help during their fundraising for a period after demo day.\u00a0 But also consider when mentors will need free time for the next cohort, perhaps even with a break in between.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" alt=\"divider\" width=\"1024\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201024%2077%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-200x15.png 200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-300x23.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-400x30.png 400w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-600x45.png 600w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-768x58.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-800x60.png 800w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1200x90.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png 1500w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Samir is a full-time tech startup mentor based in Silicon Valley and runs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/13920086\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">StACM<\/a> (&#8220;stack &#8217;em&#8221;), an online peer community for other startup mentors (incl. advisors and coaches).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accelerators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1203"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions\/1265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}