What Mentorship Startups Really Need

Danielle Sosnick has extensive experience in marketing, business development, and startup management. She played a key role at 500 Global, an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator, supporting over 1,800 investments. She co-founded Altitude, a portfolio accelerator focused on post-investment services for venture firms and governments.

How do you build lasting professional relationships when meeting new people?

It's tough. Sometimes, you can apply the same formula to one person, which works, and then to another, which doesn't work. Focus on building trust first. Don't ask for something. Your first reach out shouldn't be "Help me do this" or "Buy this." You're in it to help the other person, learn from the other person, and you build that out over time.

"Focus on building trust first."

Think of it as a relationship-building exercise. So show up, reach out, see how you can help them, be interested in what they're saying, listen more than talk, learn about that person, and try to connect with people. You can use a basic Excel sheet to start building out your new contacts and reach out regularly so that you stay at the top of your mind for them. But own that relationship and work on building trust. It may help out for your current startup; it may help out for an intro to someone else. It could help for something in the future, but look at how I will build my network here.

What was your role at 500 Global, and how did you assist startups?

I was first contacted to build their mentor network, which was an exciting problem to solve. I had previously been through their accelerator program, and there were many issues with the mentor program they had set up. How can we ensure that a mentor will stay with a founder from the start of the problem to the end of the problem?

Mentors would schedule chunks of time when I went through an accelerator program. For example, you could sign up for a 30-minute time block, which you would get. Then, they could come back a month or a little later. But you wouldn't necessarily solve that problem in those 30 minutes, and it's not very helpful for the founder to sit.

This is how we initially began developing the mentor network at 500: ensuring that it wasn't just about people showing up so you could meet with them and spend a lot of time in meetings. If it's not helping you solve the problem, then that could be a waste of 30 minutes that you could spend fundraising or getting a new customer.

In my two years there, we staffed and recruited about 150 programs. One of the first things I did was set up an interview process for the mentors. During the interview process, we would talk to a founder they had mentored. For example, you could have someone who has built and sold a company. Just because they've been able to do that doesn't necessarily mean they can teach someone how to do something. Some people are very good at building, but it takes someone unique to accomplish things, break them down, and share. So we always talk to a founder to ensure they have mentor experience and could do that, and then we match them with the right startup.

What support do founders get from Silicon Valley funds?

If they're doing an accelerator program, most funds will have one or two that they run every year. So, it'd be a much smaller database, and they'd probably have just a handful of mentors per program. Now, each fund is different if we're looking at portfolio support. And the most significant thing when a founder is fundraising is they should look at a VC or their first check-in. It is not only money but ask what else they provide. Some funds only offer support within the check or one-on-one support with the person writing you that check.

"Ask when the check-in is. Ask how much support you get."

You might have a monthly check-in and a quarterly check-in with that person. Others have thought through their portfolio support a little more. Maybe they were operators in the past in marketing, so they say, we give you a check, and we have marketing experience to work with you on that marketing side. But ask those questions. Ask when the check-in is. Ask how much support you get.

If you're at a point where you have a couple of different funds that you can choose from, that's something that can go a long way. Some might have Series A investors to whom they can introduce you, so ask about that. When you're fundraising, ask those questions about what else you get besides this check. How are you going to support my business?

From your experience, in which areas do early-stage startup founders need the most help?

With our help desk, we tracked categories like marketing, sales, fundraising, and finance and the type of questions people answered or asked. Some may have closed their seed round if it's fundraising. Some were trying to close their seed round after the accelerator program. That would raise questions about deck feedback, how much to raise, and whether you can introduce them to the right people. A lot of it is intros, reviewing the deck, and reviewing their fundraising strategy. The other thing is finance because many founders have an engineering or marketing background. And if they haven't been to business school, finance is a new world. By learning how investors look at your business, how they assess it, and then the financial language, you're setting yourself up for success if you take the time to learn that early on. And not just: I love my product, I want to get it out there.

How did you come up with the idea of building Altitude?

It's a mix of a couple of things.

One is that there was not much-structured support for early-stage companies a little later than the first check-in accelerator program. Why aren't we running programs that people could take, like short-term courses, rather than one-on-one? Here's a document; here's this: it adds more value.

The other thing is that when I went through an accelerator program, a lot of time was spent just sitting for these inspirational talks or meeting a mentor, where it was like, cool, I heard your story, but that doesn't help me right now. So, founders have minimal time and need specific help with actionable outcomes; they need to be able to apply it to the startup, see that improvement, and move on to the next thing.

Does it relate to your 500 Global experience?

I enjoy supporting founders and wanted to continue on that path, so I started Altitude. What I wanted to provide was more short-term education. It's four to six months long. The assumption is that you don't know anything and must go through that four- to six-month-long program. There is an opportunity for your short-term topic-specific, actionable education modules. What we've done at Altitude is create short-term courses that you can apply to your startup right then. So, if you need help with your business model, sign up for a class, get your business model done, and keep working on your business. If you need help with growth, you can sign up for the Growth Mindset course and move on rather than going through these extended accelerator programs that are not necessarily tailored to your background. Our instructors have built and sold companies before, have years of teaching experience, and have spent quite a bit designing a program with specific outcomes, so you know who should sign up for the class and what you’ll get from it.

What do you like about being a founder?

I like solving problems and learning. And that's what a founder does, right? You have an assumption. You see a problem in the world. You don't know a solution to it. You have an idea of how to build that out, and you run many different tests, and you'll learn a lot from that. So, if you're curious about learning, it's an exciting journey. But it's also full of disappointments as if all your assumptions could be incorrect. So you have to keep a very open mind and be very flexible. That's where pivots come in. I love learning, running experiments, trying to solve problems, and creating solutions.

But the best part is when you get that first customer, and they are just as excited as you are about something you have spent a long time building, whatever type of product and business type. Building a business is a long journey. And anytime you can take a moment to celebrate those small wins, regardless of whether your business works out, take those moments rather than constantly pushing towards the next one. It's essential to recognize what you've done.

If these handpicked highlights have sparked your curiosity, you won't want to miss the full conversation with Danielle Sosnick on our YouTube channel or your favorite platform.