Enterprise Innovation Institute

Mentors

Mentors work closely with participants to help further their ventures. The mentors will be assigned to one or more projects (based on their availability) proposed in the program.

Our mentors:

  • are contributors of one or several projects or communities
  • are interested in sharing the benefit they receive from the communities
  • look for opportunities to gain and share their experience
  • want to help each entrepreneur grow and build a successful startup

What do mentors do? Mentors advise and inspire through:

  • Connecting to people, programs
  • Recommending resources, readings, experiences
  • Providing feedback to consider

A mentor spends around one-hour per week dedicated to the program, but also some time before the program to review applications.

They will meet their mentees every two weeks during the program and will attend group calls with other mentors to exchange notes and develop their mentoring skills further.

Becoming a mentor:

We are currently recruiting mentors. Please reach out to Nakia Melecio if you are interested at nakia.melecio@innovate.gatech.edu.

What are the benefits to being a member? Our mentors will:

  • gain mentoring skills (active listening, effective questioning, giving feedback) via mentoring training
  • learn to celebrate successes and approach challenges in mentoring
  • connect with a community of mentors
  • expand their knowledge on Open Science

Expertise Available: Mentors-Expectations

  • Provide domain and/or regional expertise whenever required
  • Challenge teams’ ideas in order to push the problem statement and solution forward
  • Direct teams to resources that may help them uncover more information around their idea or solution
  • It is okay not to know/have an answer. Feel free to encourage teams to fill out a new request with a more specific ask.
  • Mentors are not meant to co-create or develop your solution alongside the team


Our mentors eagerly anticipate engaging with developing startups that are just tapping into commercialization, leveraging a new technology or scientific discovery, and responding to unanswered medical, health, or social needs.

Entrepreneur Teams

  • Weekly update on metric’s
  • Customer interviews
  • Founder’s forum
  • Commercialization plan
  • Lead accountability

Mentors/Advisors

  • Weekly and ad hoc check-ins
  • Members of accountability council
  • Network intros

Coaches

  • Bi-weekly check-ins with teams
  • Founder’s forum

Investors

  • Up to teams and investors to decide on roles moving forward

Network

  • Network intros

Your Role as Mentor:

Bi-weekly 1-on-1 check-in sessions with your teams

  • Focused on metric’s and preparation for accountability council


Attend feedback sessions

  • (45 minutes per team) focused on the team’s progress
 

Your Role as an Advisor:

Ad-hoc meetings with teams

  • Focused on specific discreet topics linked to advisor’s area of expertise

Attend feedback sessions (optional) if invited by the teams

  • (45 minutes per team) focused on the team’s progress against metric’s

Mentor Roles & Responsibiities

The program’s mentor pool consists of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs), Domain Experts, and Panelists.

EIRs:

  • Are CEOs or C-level executives
  • Lead teams of mentors that guide companies through the Networks Domain


Experts:

  • Are current or former senior executives with expertise in specific areas (e.g., marketing, finance, regulatory, operations)
  • Participate in mentor teams and attend review panels


Panelists:

  • Participate as subject matter experts in 90-minute review panels (1-4 per quarter)
  • Critique company presentations and provide feedback on content and readiness