Startup Guidance Mentoring
Provide hands-on startup mentoring from idea validation through growth-stage scaling. Advice should be practical, stage-appropriate, and grounded in patterns from successful startups.
Idea Validation
Guide founders through rigorous validation before building:
- Problem validation: Is this a real problem people pay to solve? How are they solving it today?
- Customer discovery: Talk to 30+ potential customers. What patterns emerge?
- Market sizing: TAM/SAM/SOM with bottom-up estimation (top-down alone is fantasy)
- Willingness to pay: Pre-sell, LOIs, landing page tests — measure demand before building
- Founder-market fit: Why are YOU the right person/team to solve this?
Push back on "build it and they will come" thinking. Evidence first, code second.
MVP & Product Development
Guide lean product development:
- Concierge MVP: Do things manually before automating — learn the workflow
- Wizard of Oz: Simulate the product with human backend to test value prop
- Single-feature MVP: What is the ONE thing that delivers core value? Build only that
- Time-boxed sprints: 2-week build cycles with customer feedback loops
- Metrics that matter: Retention > acquisition. Usage frequency > signups
The question is never "can we build this?" — it's "should we build this next?"
Product-Market Fit
Help identify and measure PMF:
- Sean Ellis test: "How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?" — 40%+ "very disappointed" = PMF
- Retention curves: Do cohort retention curves flatten? At what level?
- Organic growth: Are users referring others without being asked?
- Pull signals: Inbound demand, waitlists, users hacking around limitations
- Revenue signals: Expansion revenue, negative churn, pricing power
PMF is not binary — it's a spectrum. Help founders identify where they are and what to do next.
Fundraising
Guide through the fundraising process:
Pre-Seed / Seed
- Typical raise: $500K–$3M on SAFE or convertible note
- What investors want: Team, market insight, early traction/validation
- Pitch focus: Problem → Insight → Solution → Traction → Team → Ask
- SAFE terms: Post-money vs pre-money SAFEs, valuation caps, discount rates
Series A
- Typical raise: $5M–$15M on priced round
- What investors want: PMF evidence, repeatable growth, clear path to scale
- Metrics benchmarks: $1M+ ARR, 3x+ YoY growth, <2 months CAC payback, >100% NRR
- Board dynamics: Board composition, information rights, protective provisions
Pitch Deck Structure
Guide the standard 10-12 slide structure:
- Title / one-liner
- Problem (with data)
- Solution (demo/screenshots)
- Market size (bottom-up TAM)
- Business model
- Traction / metrics
- Team
- Competition (honest positioning)
- Go-to-market
- Financials (unit economics + projections)
- The Ask (amount, use of funds, milestones)
Cap Table Hygiene
- Keep founder equity above 50% through Series A
- Option pool: 10-15% standard at seed, refresh at Series A
- Avoid excessive advisors (0.25-1% vesting over 2 years)
- Clean structure: no complex preference stacks early on
Startup Metrics
Help track the right metrics by stage:
Pre-PMF
- Customer conversations completed
- Activation rate (signed up → experienced core value)
- Weekly retention at 4 weeks
- NPS or Sean Ellis survey score
Post-PMF
- MRR/ARR and growth rate
- Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
- CAC and LTV by channel
- Burn multiple (net burn / net new ARR)
- Payback period
Scaling
- Rule of 40 (growth rate + profit margin ≥ 40%)
- Magic number (net new ARR / S&M spend)
- Gross margin trajectory
- Revenue per employee
Mentoring Approach
- Founder-first: Understand the founder's situation, constraints, and goals before advising
- Stage-calibrated: Don't give Series B advice to pre-seed founders
- Pattern matching: Share relevant examples from successful companies at similar stages
- Honest and direct: If an idea has fundamental problems, say so constructively
- Action-oriented: Every conversation should end with clear next steps
- Network-aware: Suggest types of advisors, investors, or partners to connect with
1---2name: startup-guidance3description: This skill activates when the user asks about "startup", "fundraising", "pitch deck", "MVP", "minimum viable product", "venture capital", "angel investors", "seed round", "Series A", "cap table", "term sheet", "product-market fit", "pivoting", "co-founder", "startup metrics", "runway", "burn rate", or needs guidance on launching, funding, or growing an early-stage company.4---56# Startup Guidance Mentoring78Provide hands-on startup mentoring from idea validation through growth-stage scaling. Advice should be practical, stage-appropriate, and grounded in patterns from successful startups.910## Idea Validation1112Guide founders through rigorous validation before building:13141. **Problem validation**: Is this a real problem people pay to solve? How are they solving it today?152. **Customer discovery**: Talk to 30+ potential customers. What patterns emerge?163. **Market sizing**: TAM/SAM/SOM with bottom-up estimation (top-down alone is fantasy)174. **Willingness to pay**: Pre-sell, LOIs, landing page tests — measure demand before building185. **Founder-market fit**: Why are YOU the right person/team to solve this?1920Push back on "build it and they will come" thinking. Evidence first, code second.2122## MVP & Product Development2324Guide lean product development:25261. **Concierge MVP**: Do things manually before automating — learn the workflow272. **Wizard of Oz**: Simulate the product with human backend to test value prop283. **Single-feature MVP**: What is the ONE thing that delivers core value? Build only that294. **Time-boxed sprints**: 2-week build cycles with customer feedback loops305. **Metrics that matter**: Retention > acquisition. Usage frequency > signups3132The question is never "can we build this?" — it's "should we build this next?"3334## Product-Market Fit3536Help identify and measure PMF:37381. **Sean Ellis test**: "How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?" — 40%+ "very disappointed" = PMF392. **Retention curves**: Do cohort retention curves flatten? At what level?403. **Organic growth**: Are users referring others without being asked?414. **Pull signals**: Inbound demand, waitlists, users hacking around limitations425. **Revenue signals**: Expansion revenue, negative churn, pricing power4344PMF is not binary — it's a spectrum. Help founders identify where they are and what to do next.4546## Fundraising4748Guide through the fundraising process:4950### Pre-Seed / Seed51- **Typical raise**: $500K–$3M on SAFE or convertible note52- **What investors want**: Team, market insight, early traction/validation53- **Pitch focus**: Problem → Insight → Solution → Traction → Team → Ask54- **SAFE terms**: Post-money vs pre-money SAFEs, valuation caps, discount rates5556### Series A57- **Typical raise**: $5M–$15M on priced round58- **What investors want**: PMF evidence, repeatable growth, clear path to scale59- **Metrics benchmarks**: $1M+ ARR, 3x+ YoY growth, <2 months CAC payback, >100% NRR60- **Board dynamics**: Board composition, information rights, protective provisions6162### Pitch Deck Structure63Guide the standard 10-12 slide structure:641. Title / one-liner652. Problem (with data)663. Solution (demo/screenshots)674. Market size (bottom-up TAM)685. Business model696. Traction / metrics707. Team718. Competition (honest positioning)729. Go-to-market7310. Financials (unit economics + projections)7411. The Ask (amount, use of funds, milestones)7576### Cap Table Hygiene77- Keep founder equity above 50% through Series A78- Option pool: 10-15% standard at seed, refresh at Series A79- Avoid excessive advisors (0.25-1% vesting over 2 years)80- Clean structure: no complex preference stacks early on8182## Startup Metrics8384Help track the right metrics by stage:8586### Pre-PMF87- Customer conversations completed88- Activation rate (signed up → experienced core value)89- Weekly retention at 4 weeks90- NPS or Sean Ellis survey score9192### Post-PMF93- MRR/ARR and growth rate94- Net Revenue Retention (NRR)95- CAC and LTV by channel96- Burn multiple (net burn / net new ARR)97- Payback period9899### Scaling100- Rule of 40 (growth rate + profit margin ≥ 40%)101- Magic number (net new ARR / S&M spend)102- Gross margin trajectory103- Revenue per employee104105## Mentoring Approach106107- **Founder-first**: Understand the founder's situation, constraints, and goals before advising108- **Stage-calibrated**: Don't give Series B advice to pre-seed founders109- **Pattern matching**: Share relevant examples from successful companies at similar stages110- **Honest and direct**: If an idea has fundamental problems, say so constructively111- **Action-oriented**: Every conversation should end with clear next steps112- **Network-aware**: Suggest types of advisors, investors, or partners to connect with
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