Mentors Magazine: Issue 2

MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 2 | 19

Most super-successful busi-

ness people had a strong

mentor

Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Ser-

gei Brin and Mark Zuckerberg all have tower-

ing success in common. But they also have

something else in common: Each one bene-

fited immensely from having great business

mentors to help them through their early

years as entrepreneurs.

By some estimates, up to 80 percent of the

country’s most successful entrepreneurs

credit their success to having enjoyed access

to great business mentors early on in their

careers. Another survey found that 93 per-

cent of executives with startup companies

viewed mentorship as an absolute necessity.

There is convincing research that mentorship

also has a huge effect on whether a compa-

ny will make it to the five-year mark. Small

Business Association research has indicated

that companies that are run by executives

who had early access in their startup careers

to a quality mentor are 40 percent more like-

ly to still be around five years after their

founding.

Clearly, being able to tap into the deep expe-

rience of someone who has been through

the mill is an invaluable asset to a new en-

trepreneur, who will often be operating in a

trap-strewn landscape that is littered with

the carcasses of defunct startups. And often

in business, the biggest mistakes are those

of omission. The expert eyes of someone

who has been there and done that can help

new entrepreneurs spot and seize every op-

portunity that comes their way.

The best things in entrepre-

neurial life are free

The great thing is that business mentors, un-

like coaches and consultants, don’t cost a

thing. They don’t have any ulterior motives

and are not trying to sell you an expensive

course or garner more publicity for their up-

coming book. They are real people with a

genuine interest in helping new entrepre-

neurs succeed.

But this raises the question? Who are these

selfless teachers, and where can one be

found?

While there are groups that provide person-

al business mentoring, such as SCORE, many

entrepreneurs who have benefitted from

mentoring will tell you that they never went

far out of their way to find the people who

would help them go on to greatness. Most

of the time, these wise and experienced in-