Why did you decide to become a mentor?
I've always enjoyed empowering others to grow and supporting them in their professional and business journeys. Previously I mentored and coached informally, or by leading teams and helping more junior team members. After my corporate career I started advising and mentoring other founders and found passion in connecting, learning about their businesses and helping them by sharing my perspective. As I mentor, I'm learning a lot myself. I get to learn about people's careers and hear their stories, I'm getting to know their perspective on things, learning about their products and markets. Through mentoring, I think I'm learning just as much from my mentees and they are learning from my experience.
How did you get your career start?
I haven't had any formal mentoring relationships at the beginning of my career (I wish I did), but there definitely have been role models and leaders that I looked up to that supported me in my journey. I think the most impactful advice that I've received early in my career, was to stop aiming for perfection, and start aiming for action instead. Ultimately that advice from my manager back then propelled me to eventually change countries, switch careers and try entrepreneurial path instead.
What do mentees usually come to you for?
I tend to be most helpful to first-time founders, and people who are working on launching new businesses within their existing companies. I help set up the structure for the launch, help them focus and prioritize better, make sure they spend enough time understanding their customers and their problems before they actually build or launch anything. I also help mentees level up their leadership skills, make better hires, empower their teams, and have better connection with their leadership.
What's been your favourite mentorship success story so far?
Most of my mentorships are very different. While most of them focus on launching new businesses, the products and the founder stories are pretty unique. I've helped founders launch mobile apps, marketplaces, helped product managers prioritize their projects for impact while navigating internal company dynamics, and even help founders in their search of their perfect co-founder. I like following mentee's journey overtime, and I can often see how they are growing just within a couple of month. I like seeing how their perspective changes, and how what they though was not possible or feasible, later becomes a reality.
What are you getting out of being a mentor?
I'm learning from each mentorship probably just as much as mentees learn from my experience. I like learning about their unique challenges, understand their products and help them navigate uncertainty. Mentoring helps me sharpen my understanding of the world, helps me better connect with people, and create value. It's also a very empowering experience to be helpful for someone, and that feeling keeps me motivated to grow further and have a fulfilling career. Mentorship is indeed a two-way street and creates tremendous value for both mentors and mentees.