Thank Your Mentors Week
Yesterday, one of our mentors Bill Flagg put up this post on how mentorship - more so than money, luck, or great ideas - has been the most valuable resource to him as a young entrepreneur. And although we’ve yet to experience large amounts of money or luck (we do think our idea is pretty great though), already we’re learning that great mentorship can truly be invaluable.
Mentorship is important in just about any career, but to be a successful entrepreneur, it’s close to a necessity. Lawyers, doctors, even engineers have a formalized training mechanism that teaches them how to succeed in their careers. While some MBA programs offer entrepreneurial paths, for the most part, the first-time entrepreneur travels forward through an unchartered abyss.
Since getting into TechStars, Ignighter has truly helped us realize the power of mentorship. We’ve accomplished and learned in less than two months what would’ve easily taken us more than a year on our own (we also had a couple terrific mentors before coming to TechStars, without whom we probably would’ve collapsed long before the program even started). From optimizing the usability of our product to the strategy we should employ in our approach to competitors and everything in between. To learn these lessons in the wild takes years of experience in trial and error. To learn them from a book simply isn’t as valuable because the author tries to apply his/her lessons to the generic entrepreneur and doesn’t know your specific company and issues.
Bill really nails it when he defines mentors as “people who help guide, console, and inspire by sharing their own real-life experiences.” And following his theme for the week, we’d like to thank all of our mentors for their guidance, consolation, and inspiration. It’s our goal to one day get to the point where we can give mentorship back (preferably to some beautiful young women entrepreneurs).
THANK YOU MENTORS!
Note to Mentors: Please don’t mistake our gratitude as an implication that we no longer seek your mentorship. In fact we need it now as much as ever. Sorry, you’re not off the hook! 
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