Lend your craft to founders solving real problems.

Most advisors give 2 to 4 hours per month through 1:1 mentorship, workshop delivery, or peer circle facilitation. You choose the cadence that fits your calendar.

We match on expertise, language, time zone, and the fellow's current stage, from early product decisions to fundraising prep, so your time creates maximum impact.

No. Functional expertise (finance, product, GTM, legal, operations, hiring) transfers across contexts. Fellows share the local context; you bring the craft.

Advisor and mentor engagements are pro bono. Some workshop leads and long-form curriculum contributors may receive an honorarium, we'll discuss that during intake.

Fill out the Get Involved form and select 'Advisor / Mentor'. Our team will schedule a 20-minute intake within a few days.

Start with warm channels before cold ones: accelerator alumni networks, sector Slack and Discord groups, open office hours, and structured programs like SCORE, MicroMentor, and YC Startup School. Build a 15 to 25 person shortlist of operators whose last two years of work map to a decision you face in the next 90 days, request warm introductions through mutual contacts first, and only cold-email the remainder. Founders in our fellowship can also request a match through our advisor network.

Do not ask for mentorship in the first message. Ask for one specific 20-minute call tied to a decision you are actively making, keep the note under 120 words, and propose two concrete time options. Mentorship becomes real after 2 to 3 useful exchanges, not after a title is granted. Our guide includes copy-paste outreach templates for warm intros, cold email, LinkedIn, and follow-ups.

The strongest free channels in 2026 are SCORE (US small-business mentors), MicroMentor (global), Founders Network open events, YC Startup School, and country-level programs run by USAID and GIZ partners. Every organization in our entrepreneurial support directory offers at least one no-cost office-hours or mentorship program.

Aim for 3 to 6 active mentors covering the domains where you are weakest, usually product, go-to-market, hiring, and fundraising. More than eight is hard to keep warm, and depending on a single mentor is risky when their view of your market is wrong.

Most early mentor relationships are unpaid, exchanged for learning, network access, or the option to invest later. Formal advisor agreements typically compensate with 0.1% to 1.0% equity vesting over 24 months in exchange for 2 to 4 hours per month. Cash retainers are rare below Series A and usually signal a consultant rather than a mentor. In our network, advisor engagements with fellows are pro bono.

A mentor gives informal, unpaid guidance based on lived experience. An advisor has a written agreement, usually with equity, and commits to recurring time. A coach is paid to build a specific skill (fundraising, hiring, product) on a defined engagement. Most founders use all three at different stages.

Send a two-paragraph brief 24 hours before the call: what the company does, the specific decision on the table, what you have already tried, and the exact question you want their view on. Come with three ranked options, not an open-ended ask. This single habit lifts the quality of every mentor conversation you will ever have.

Two signals: you leave every call with at least one decision changed or validated, and the mentor voluntarily makes at least one introduction within 90 days. If neither happens after three meetings, thank them warmly and reallocate the slot to someone else.