Practical lessons from Micromentor for designing, managing, and growing mentorship programs for entrepreneurs. Making the match is only the beginning. Bring your program, or the one you're planning, and leave with six questions that shape a model that works for your entrepreneurs, your ecosystem and your capacity.
Free · Live online · Recording sent to everyone who registers
This is an official activity of Global Entrepreneurship Week, an international movement to empower entrepreneurs and make it possible for anyone, anywhere to start successfully and scale. You are participating as part of the GEW-North Texas Community.
The model has to work for your entrepreneurs, your ecosystem, and your capacity.
What are we trying to accomplish?
Who needs to participate?
What do they need before they begin?
How do we create useful connections?
What happens after the match?
How do we know it's working, and keep it going?
Before you recruit a single mentor: what do you want mentorship to help your entrepreneurs accomplish? The answer decides where your program sits on each of these.
There isn't one “best” model, only the one that fits what you're trying to accomplish.
How we approach each step at Micromentor, what we've learned along the way, and the question to take back to your own program.
Who are your entrepreneurs, where are they in their journey, and what should mentorship change for their businesses? At Micromentor, the experience changes based on who we serve, from broad access to business expertise to structured support around a specific outcome.
Ask yourself What combination fits your entrepreneurs, goals and capacity?
Not just who is willing to mentor, but what expertise your entrepreneurs need. What makes a volunteer model work, and why the best mentor may not be the closest one: local context matters, and so does access to the right expertise.
Ask yourself Which needs can your region meet locally, and which need a wider network?
Expertise, plus mentoring skills, plus clear expectations, makes better mentorship. How our Mentor Masterclass prepares volunteers for the mentoring role, and what entrepreneurs need to know before the first conversation.
Ask yourself What do both sides need before they begin?
Entrepreneur-led matching (our primary model) versus program-led matching (which we use in some higher-touch programs). Need, expertise, fit and availability make a stronger match. Relevance matters, but so does responsiveness.
Ask yourself How much of the matching should your entrepreneurs own, and where does your team step in?
Structure, tools and human support turn a connection into a mentoring relationship. How we combine self-directed relationships, technology-enabled nudges and community support, and how to design the mentoring approach around the outcome you want.
Ask yourself Who, or what, owns the experience after the match?
Reach, engagement, experience and outcomes, because activity doesn't always equal value. What keeps mentors and entrepreneurs engaged after the initial enthusiasm wears off, and how to scale the model, not the chaos.
Ask yourself What would tell you that your mentorship program is working?
Scaling doesn't always mean serving more people. It means building a model you can deliver consistently at the reach you choose.
Experience building and supporting mentorship programs across different communities, geographies, and entrepreneur needs.
years of virtual mentorship.
entrepreneurs and volunteer mentors.
partner programs, in the US and globally.
What entrepreneurs tell us
of mentored entrepreneurs on Micromentor increased revenue, twice the rate of non-mentored entrepreneurs.
of mentored entrepreneurs increased their leadership skills.
average rating entrepreneurs gave their mentorship experience on Micromentor.
Micromentor has spent 18 years learning what makes mentorship work, connecting entrepreneurs with volunteer business mentors across different communities, geographies and needs.
We first shared these lessons with Oregon's Regional Innovation Hubs in October. The questions they asked are the ones every entrepreneur support organization faces: who to recruit, how to match, what happens after the match, and how to keep it going.
In this session we'll share how we approach mentorship at Micromentor, what we've learned along the way, and the questions that can help you shape the right model for your program.
The Micromentor team behind this session.
Works with Micromentor’s partner organizations to bring mentorship to the entrepreneurs they serve.
Works directly with ESOs, CDFIs and economic development organizations to set up mentorship programs with Micromentor. Led this session for Oregon’s Regional Innovation Hubs in October.
Anyone designing, running or growing a mentorship program for entrepreneurs: entrepreneur support organizations, incubators and accelerators, small business development centers, chambers and economic development teams.
Good. The session covers designing, managing and growing a program, so it's useful whether you're planning one or improving the one you have.
Not necessarily. At Micromentor all of our mentors are volunteers, and we'll talk about where a volunteer model works well, what it still requires from your team, and where you might need paid expertise.
Register anyway. Everyone who registers gets the recording.
No. The webinar is free.
Wednesday, November 18 · 12:00 PM CT / 1:00 PM ET · Free · Recording sent to everyone who registers
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