spero

Formerly Spot Tech. We build communities. We're a startup. Techstars '15.

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5 Mentor Madness Hacks

Just finished one of the most (in)famous parts of Techstars: Mentor Madness. These two weeks definitely live up to their name; lots of mentors, lots of madness. Let me explain. 

Over 10 days, we met with 80 mentors for 20 minutes each in a sort of high-stakes speed dating format. Each mentor is a genius in his or her field, and was able to give us unique insight on our business. With 80 different geniuses, came 80 different opinions about what we should do next and where we should focus. This phenomenon is affectionately referred to as mentor whiplash.

Even though it’s hectic, mentor madness was super valuable for us. I genuinely enjoyed meeting and talking with everyone. Most of the mentors seemed to like us (we got good ratings at least!), and I think it’s because we came into each session excited and eager to learn from them. Still blown away by how much people are willing to help. #givefirst

Each mentor is different, but many of their skill sets/personalities can be broken down into a few groups. 5 Mentor Madness Hacks is a list of each type of mentor we encountered and how we approached them. (Note: the odd-numbered list is for click bait; the word “hack” is used because I’m writing a blog about my startup, and if you use the word hack you automatically sound really cool and really, really legit.)

1. Technical Genius Mentor

Hacks: Send CTO and engineers. Know (or ask) about the genius’s background and get answers to specific questions. Ask for resources on where to go for more info. Note: Under no circumstance, should a marketing/sales team member (like me) be allowed to speak at these meetings. Their job is to take notes and smile a lot.

2. VC/Angel Mentor

Hacks: Know what types of companies they typically invest in (like you or not like you?). Ask what investors would want to see from your company before wanting to invest. Ask for connections to people, organizations, etc, but be specific. Make them (genuinely) like you. Stay in touch. Probably shouldn’t expect a term sheet at the end of the 20 minutes. 

3. Bad-Listener Mentor

Hacks: A few mentors think they understand everything about your business after knowing you for appx. 14 seconds. They’ll interrupt you, and give a lot of irrelevant advice. Try to take control by asking specific questions. When that fails, smile and try to stay classy like Taylor at the 2009 VMA’s.

4. Product Mentor (“Sniper”)

Hacks: Give them your prototype (or wire frames). Let them play with it. Ask them to pick it apart. Let them snipe the problems. (“Sniper” is the nickname of one of our favorite product mentors.) Write down literally everything they say. 

5. Branding/Marketing

Hacks: Like a lot of startups, we hadn’t spent nearly enough time ironing out our brand in the early days, which is why great branding people are like gold mines. Bring them your brand and let them pick apart your messaging, color, tone, feel, logo, etc. Be intentional. Might be best to leave the CTO’s behind for this meeting, right Tyler? (Tyler is our CTO. He hates branding meetings.)

Common Themes: Be excited. Research mentors’ backgrounds. Have specific goals for each meeting. Ask specific questions. Ask for specific connections. 

Many mentors charge clients thousands of dollars for their time, so we tried our best to get as much out of them as we could in 20 min. We learned a ton and made some new friends (real ones). Definitely plan to take what I learned and apply it to all future meetings with all future people.

AB

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Wildcards

Americans love the movie Rocky. The underdog fighter gets his shot on the biggest stage, trains hard (punches some frozen meat), shows a lot of heart, and comes out on top. Great movie.

At the very beginning of our first day at Techstars, Managing Director Max Kelly came up to our team and said something like, “You have no idea what it took to get your company into Techstars. You’re not like any company we’ve accepted before, kind of a wildcard. But we love your story and your vision, and we feel like you guys will run through walls to make this thing happen.”

Running through walls sounds about as fun as punching frozen meat, Max. 

Luckily, we’ve got a team that’s willing to do it. For the first two weeks of the program we’ve made a point to put in especially long hours as we push toward Cancer Spot’s public beta in ~3 weeks.

I gained a new insight about underdogs this week: when they succeed, it’s often with a lot of help from a powerful group of people surrounding them.

The American Revolution would have failed without the French (shoutout to Stéphane Bura and our friends at Weave.ai). Sam and Frodo never could have destroyed the Ring of Power without Gandalf & co. Even Rocky had Mick and Adrian!

And we have Techstars.

I’ve been blown away by how many people are willing to give us their time, their talents, their contacts, and their support. Techstars really is a big family (a sometimes-dysfunctional, crazy family from all over the world, but we wouldn’t have it any other way). Give First is a pretty powerful concept.

We’re building an amazing product and learning to build a great business. But, like all great underdogs, our success will come largely from the help and guidance of our more experienced compadres. And we’re cool with that.

AB

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To begin.

“So we went to Guru’s…”

Never mind. That’s a dumb inside joke that my two cofounders and I default to in conversation when we don’t know what to say (like right now, just in written form). It references a restaurant named Guru’s where one of us (Spencer) went on a first date. With a girl. It was pretty awesome. Ok, I guess I’ll start with the story of how we know each other.

It started with three of us: Spencer (see above), Rowan, and Alex (that’s me). Spencer is from the SF Bay Area. Rowan was born there too, met Spencer a few days after birth, and they’ve been friends ever since. Rowan moved to San Diego when he was 12, where we met and became friends.

Spencer basically lived at Rowan’s house every summer and the three of us bonded over the same stupid shenanigans that you and your best friends probably do. That is, if you and your best friends are three teenage pyros with a penchant for homemade lightsabers, caffeine and toilet papering the houses of girls you like. 

Right before we turned 13, Rowan was diagnosed with bone cancer, Ewing’s Sarcoma. That was really scary at first, but to be honest none of us really grasped the gravity of the situation at the time. Rowan went bald. We shaved our heads with him and adjusted to a new lifestyle the way kids do. That lifestyle consisted of playing copious amounts of Madden 2004 on PS2 with Rowan in the hospital and making up funny stories to tell the kids at our middle school about why Rowan had left. Sometimes, I’d kind of forget that he had cancer until he would leave his hospital bed to go throw up in the bathroom (#ChemoSideEffects).

After 15 rounds of intense chemotherapy and a few surgeries (which left Rowan without a fibula in his right leg), he was cancer free.

But it didn’t last long. About a year and half later (now 15 years old) Rowan’s cancer metastasized to his lungs, and his diagnosis got much more daunting. Now older, we actually understood the severity of the situation. It was serious. But we did our best to be as jovial as possible (it’s a natural talent). We made jokes. We teased Rowan for being bald and for getting fat because of his steroid meds. We ate lots of food and played more video games. After more chemo and more surgeries, Rowan underwent a radical stem-cell transplant therapy that only nine other people in the world had undergone up to that point.

Thankfully… it all worked.

Fast forward nine years and Rowan’s healthy, alive, and cancer free at age 24. We joke a lot, but are truly grateful for that. We know that many aren’t as fortunate.

Rowan’s cancer experience provided the spark for the idea that eventually became Cancer Spot, a mobile app that connects everyone in the world affected by cancer. It gives cancer fighters, survivors, and supporters the ability to connect and talk with others who best understand their unique circumstances (I’ll let him write his own post about that later). 

So Spencer, Rowan, and I (Alex) formed Spot Tech, a startup dedicated to building communities around chronic illnesses. Given our backgrounds in design, development, business, and cancer, this project was a no-brainer for us. We dropped out of college and began building and working full-time six months ago. Since then, two talented engineers (and good friends) have turned down higher-paying jobs to join us on our mission to connect those who need it most. Tyler and Jacob couldn’t be a more perfect fit, from both a talent and personality perspective. We are all getting pumped to release the Cancer Spot beta in a few weeks.

Also, we got accepted into the Tech Stars London 2015 cohort!!! We’ve been in London for a week and are loving every minute (except for the minutes spent on a crowded subway, pressed up against large, sweaty European men). We’re the youngest, most inexperienced team of the eleven teams here, but it’s inspiring to work alongside a diverse group of the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and mentors. 

We’ll use this blog to tell the story of five guys from the American West who spent all their money to move to London, learn from the best (@techstars), and build a product that will change the lives of millions of people.