I initially came to Mikhail for guidance on how to best structure a career transition. Mikhail is a great mentor, and is able to provide valuable insights into how to best communicate with potential employers, what the expectations are, and how to best navigate future career uncertainty. I now feel much more equipped to take on future challenges!

As someone coming from a purely corporate background, I approached Mikhail Sidakov for guidance on launching my first startup. From the very beginning, Mikhail provided valuable support in helping me understand the fundamentals of venture building and the lean startup methodology. He clearly explained the importance of validating and testing business hypotheses early on and illustrated these concepts with examples from his own entrepreneurial experience, which made the learning process much more tangible. One of the most impactful moments was when Mikhail arranged a call with the ex-CTO of a similar startup. This gave me a realistic understanding of potential challenges ahead and helped me refine my approach. He was also very mindful of my full-time job and proposed several validation strategies that allowed me to make progress in validation process without overcommitting resources. Mikhail guided me through competitor analysis and business model development, offering strategic insights that I hadn’t considered before. In addition to that, Mikhail played a crucial role in helping me understand how venture capital works and what investors typically look for in early-stage startups. He explained how VCs evaluate startups—what traction metrics matter, what signals capture investor attention, and how to communicate a clear and compelling value proposition. Overall, Mikhail’s mentorship has been instrumental in shaping my first steps in startup journey. His thoughtful guidance, startup experience, and investor perspective make him a strong mentor for any aspiring founder. If you are planning to launch your startup, validate your startup hypotheses, define your fundraising strategy, improve your pitch to investors, raise funding for your existing startup, or simply learn more about the startup world—I can highly recommend Mikhail as a mentor.