Someone here said mentorship was overrated. I actually agree.
You cant mentor anyone by force. They have to be willing to open up to you and be vulnerable. Same with guidance and counseling. I think the best people who know how to mentor and coach, learn to create comfort first.

I remember meeting an entrepreneur at an accelerator who was very defensive. I later realized she had Ivy League degrees and didn't believe that someone without them like me could be of any help. She didn't say it but I sensed that she was defensive. I decided on another approach

I made the conversation not about the business but the market and the understanding of it. I realized that was where the weakness lay. I also didn't exploit this weakness to prove any point. I kept just pointing to it. She came around eventually to thank me and admitted her flaws

I met another guy who ran a Unicorn and had a Harvard MBA. He had also led a fund before the startup. Same method. His problem was actually with managing people. That is where I have had the PhD in failure. I used my failures as lessons for him to know what could happen.

The beauty of mentorship is learning with each session. The mentor who mentors several startups and has less credentials is probably much better off than the ”successful entrepreneur” with limited knowledge.

I saw the results of the new digital banks and I was laughing hard.

Raising money is really sales and marketing. Running a business is management and strategy. Truly successful entrepreneurs keep trying to master all. The secret is that there is really no ”successful entrepreneur” still running a company. The successful ones are all dead.