We all know how important the team is to a successful venture. I want to focus a bit on the power of a great mentor, with three reasons (of thousands) why they are so valuable.

I also want to highlight the fact that having a good mentor is just about YOU as it is them. You need to truly put in work to make sure you aren’t wasting their time. It is up to YOU to keep them informed, and maintain a relationship. It’s up to YOU to drive the meetings and request things. Remember, they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, it’s up to you to recognize that and show them value for their time. Also, THANK THEM!!!

Objective Advice:

Yes, we all know you have an amazing idea. It’s the best thing in the world! Everyone will want it! Honestly, it’s likely not that amazing. Your friends and family are supportive - as are your fellow entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is hard, you need the support!

A great mentor, will ask good questions - and challenge you in everything. They are the ones who will ultimately poke holes in your idea, your business plan, your team, your assumptions - hell, even your scuffy beard. They will look at everything from an entirely objective standpoint, because while they want to help you, they have ZERO reason to make you feel warm and cozy.

A weaker mentor will answer questions, give you some insights but ultimately offer no real nuggets of information. This mentor is not truly engaged.

Seek a mentor who challenges you. One who is engaged and believes in you and your idea. Remember, it’s up to you to keep them informed!

Motivation:

You’re motivated, your team is motivated, your dog is probably motivated. But sometimes you get kicked in the teeth. Sometimes you get what is seemingly CATASTROPHIC news and feel like you’re completely hosed. You call your friends, post on facebook or call mom. You seek guidance and support, and you get some, and you feel a little better.

Then you call your mentor, who has been through this dozens of time. And he/she says a few simple words:

Stop worrying about it, and keep going. Your plan makes sense!

Boom, motivation. You realize that while that VC just made you feel like a jackass, or your beta test is as buggy as Charlie Sheen, or you just got rejected from a competition you felt you could win, IT DOESN’T MATTER! You keep going, chugging along and work to your plan. Your mentor may even say some other soothing words:

This is valuable, now you van consider pivoting x,y and/or z and strengthen your offering.

Just like that, you’re re-energized and ready to conquer.

Find a mentor who will take the time to understand what you’re doing, and will help you keep your eye on the prize.

Connections:

When I worked at Lockheed Martin, one of my stupid human tricks was being able to find people who could answer my questions. If I had a question about radome design, I knew a radome guy, and would call and in seconds he would answer my question and save me hours of research.

A great mentor helps you because he/she knows people who can help you. Do you need incorporation advice? How about IP Strategy advice? Do you need help with marketing?

A good mentor will try and help you find the support you need. Some mentors may connect you to people. Others will describe characteristics of people they’ve worked it, for better or for worse. Either way you will get great advice and avoid pitfalls!

A good mentor will help you with people in their network, or knowledge they’ve gained. Remember, if you’re lucky enough that your mentor connects you with people, be respectful and responsive with the people you were connected to - your mentor’s relationship with that person may be negatively impacted if you aren’t awesome.

Thank YOU

We want to thank our mentors, who have been incredible so far:

Mike Cassidy: The Gold-Standard of amazing mentors. Mike has asked us very pointed questions, provided sage advice, and helped us keep our eye on the prize. Also, his motto of “speed as a primary business strategy” has re-defined our idea of how fast we can develop this system. Mike, thank you for everything!

Joe Hadzima: Joe is a treasure trove of great advice. He is an Intellectual Property mastermind, and has helped us understand not only IP Law, but IP Strategy. He has also taught some amazing courses on business plans and IP at MIT. Thank you Joe!

Sunil Rekhi: Sunil is a serial entrepreneur who has lived through the tech boom and bust. He helped us with setting up initial financial models, strategies on how/where/when to incorporate and technology we should be looking at from a software perspective. Thank you Sunil!

 

 

I am lucky enough to be one of 413 students in the 2014 MBA Class at MIT Sloan. I remember coming to visit prior to making my final selection, and being blown away by the entrepreneurial community here.

It is very evident, that entrepreneurship is not just an offering at Sloan - it is engrained in its culture. It’s as much a part of Sloan, as eating delicious food is to me. I was so pumped to come to this school and get started.

When I arrived, I knew I made the right decision, there were so many offerings for courses, talks, events and team formation that I finally believed, for the first time in my life, that I truly could start a company and have it succeed. Something that had felt like a fairytale - was now within reach.

 

Then I hit a roadblock. No, roadblocks are common. I met a 20 lb. sledgehammer. I learned a hard and fast truth – people are scared of hardware startups.

Startups are hard enough, and the barrier to entry for software products is so minimal, and the cycle so fast, that ideas can form and fail in very rapid succession with minimal capital investment. This is not true with hardware, where development requires long churn, lab equipment and investment for usually (expensive) components. While things like the Arduino, have made hardware prototyping a lot easier, we’re a long way to comparing with the speed of a software startup.

Software is so blazingly fast, and can blow up so quickly (look at instagram); but if we don’t continue to build awesome hardware, then the system will fall apart. Good software needs hardware, and good hardware needs software!! Take a look at Raspberry Pi, a $25 dollar linux computer. Imagine the amazing products that will come out of this! Already people are using it to create amazing smart tv’s, music and media servers, computers for cars to analyze performance. Think of a possibilities for a $25 dollar computer, then buy a raspberry pi and make it happen. One incredible startup is using it to analyze temperatures in a home to optimize home comfort! (hint hint!)

So, what does the hardware entrepreneur do? I’ll tell you what, because I am one, PROVE EVERYONE WRONG. When I started here at Sloan, people thought we were crazy to pursue our idea. Two months later, when we had a real prototype people took notice.

This means, that while it’s much harder to get started as a hardware entrepreneur – one you do get started you get noticed. People don’t go to the zoo to look at the deer or antelopes. Yes, those animals are cool and awesome to look at – but the Cheetahs or Pandas are what draw people in.

It’d be nice if our houses used energy as efficiently as our cars did. While Automakers like Ford and Toyota have been investing 10’s of millions of dollars to eke out every last drop of efficiency from the cars they sell, home builders have been producing the same inefficient houses for decades.

Your car has dozens of sensors measuring temperatures, airflows, pressures, acoustics, chemical concentrations, and more – all in an effort to increase fuel efficiency. There are powerful computers in your car running advanced, adaptive software to optimize efficiency under every condition you put your car in. The most advanced material are used in your engine, tires, and chassis to reduce friction and weight so that every gallon of gasoline you put in your tank will take you as far as possible. Automakers have hoards of scientists and engineers pushing technical boundaries out to make each new model year more efficient than the last.

And then there’s your house. Your biggest asset. A big energy user. A huge energy waster. There was no effort made by your home builder to minimize energy usage. Does that sound controversial? It shouldn’t. Installing fiberglass insulation doesn’t’ qualify as minimizing energy usage. Your home builder didn’t employ scientists or engineers to optimize your home’s energy usage. Your home builder didn’t contemplate using advanced materials, developing software algorithms, or using sensors or actuators to direct energy where it’s needed. Your home builder didn’t worry about innovation; he followed the status quo.

The problem is that the status quo sucks.