Do More Faster India, 2nd Edition

Chapter 29Engage Great Mentors

Emily Olson

Emily was the cofounder of Foodzie, an online marketplace where consumers could discover and buy food directly from small artisan producers. Foodzie raised $1 million from First Round Capital, SoftTech VC, Tim Ferriss, and several other angel investors after completing Techstars in 2008. It was acquired by Joyus in 2012.

Starting a company is the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. Every day, it’s like I’m walking into a final exam that is composed of essay questions on topics I’ve never studied. That’s the reality for most entrepreneurs—every day is something new you don’t know about. Now imagine walking into that same test, but instead of essays it’s multiple choice and you have someone who already took the same test sitting next to you who is telling you the answer is probably “a” or “b.” That’s how much easier business gets when you have the help of a great mentor.

When my Foodzie cofounders Rob LaFave, Nik Bauman, and I first arrived at Techstars, we went gangbusters setting up meetings with any Techstars mentor who would give us the time. At the beginning of Techstars, we were in the business of meeting mentors. But then we realized that although we needed to engage mentors, we also had a business to run.

Mentors should fit into your business, which means that at any given time you should only be working with a few—but their experience should match up with the challenges you are facing at the time. We found that when it came ...