Framework curated by Meghann Coleman, Director at MindFrame Connect

As a mentee, it’s important to do your research before meeting with a mentor to gain an understanding of their background, experience, and particular areas where they can provide support. It’s also beneficial to connect with peers who have worked with a mentor before to understand how best to be prepared for your interaction.

Any experienced mentee will tell you that the more you connect with mentors, the more you recognize their patterns and personas. Understanding the mentor persona prior to meeting with them will provide you with a roadmap for your experience and what questions to ask to get the most out of your time.

MindFrame Connect has identified six key mentor personas with a proposed action plan for approaching your time with them.

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Persona
Insights Mentor

Characteristics

• Wants to drill into your business quickly
• Wants to understand who they can connect you with
• Offers one insight to help you move forward

Action Plan

• Be ready to explain business in a quick and concise fashion
• Based on their background, be prepared to ask for a specific connection (i.e. into to industry leader)
• Provide context on a particular area you would like their insight on

Persona
Risk Mentor

Characteristics

• Wants to know your biggest risk as a business

• Wants to know how you move your business to the next level
• Wants to understand how you prioritize

Action Plan

• Come with a risk identified that you want to talk through

• Be prepared to share a plan to move business to next level and how you will prioritize
• Identify your top priorities for the next few months
• Understand potential risks, long-term and short-term, and how to mitigate them

Persona
Pitch Mentor

Characteristics

• Wants you to pitch them your business

• Uses the pitch to dissect business and analyze deficiencies
• Makes you re-pitch to improve

Action Plan

• Come prepared to pitch your business

• Be open to feedback and analyzing gaps in your business
• Be prepared to re-pitch on the spot

Persona
How Can I Help you Mentor

Characteristics

• Wants you to provide guidance on how they can support and most effective

• Wants to understand the needs from the mentee directly to support and guide most effectively
  

Action Plan

• Be prepared to ask for specific help based on their skill set

• Research their background and experience so you have context on how to leverage their strengths

Persona
Venture Capital Mentor

Characteristics

• Wants to know how you help them 10x their investment in your company as fast as possible

• Approaches everything with efficiency and focus

Action Plan

• Understand your financials and a plan for the next 18-months

• Be ready to demonstrate how you plan to focus and prioritize to get to scale

Persona
Framework Mentor

Characteristics

• Uses their preferred framework to dissect business quickly

• Process oriented and focused on efficiency

Action Plan

• Research mentor prior to meeting to better understand their approach

• Come to meeting with clear agenda and what you want to get out of interaction
• Share your own frameworks that you use to scale
  ‍

Persona
Personal Growth Mentor

Characteristics

• Focuses more on the individual than the business
• Primarily interested in developing leaders of start-up companies
• Doesn’t focus on growing the founder’s business; takes pride in growing them as an individual, so they can then grow their own business

Action Plan

• Research mentor prior to meeting to better understand their approach
• Be honest and transparent about your personal goals and where you see gaps
• Be prepared to share personal growth areas that they can support you

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