MENTORING PLATFORM

Business Need:
Connecting the Start-ups to good Mentors and Creating a Ecosystem that will measure the Quality
of Mentoring at each stage of the Start-up's Growth.
Introduction to the Concept:
The Mentoring Platform is a defined space to nurture the growth of an idea into a successful
business enterprise. Every opportunity needs to be guided by quality mentors to reach its full
potential.
In India today the job market has become very stagnant. There is a growing need to encourage
entrepreneurship among the educated youth not as a academic topic but as a practical alternative
for seeking a job. Traditionally the education system has been orienting the youth towards seeking
jobs in established Corporate Structures, we need to change that and create a system which will
orient them to start new business and in-turn create a web of sustainable jobs.
In the journey to create more start-ups and entrepreneurs we find today loads of start-up
ecosystems, funding options, entrepreneurial development courses and incubation centers are
emerging. While developing these ecosystems the mentoring activity has not evolved . The
Dynamic relationship between mentor and mentees have not be fully defined, planned, measured
and nurtured. The following opportunities need to be capitalized

The need to develop and evolve mentoring as a proper practice in the evolving ecosystem of
Entrepreneurial Development.

A need to make mentoring a remunerative process for the mentors so that this evolve to be a
sustainable engagement.

A need to develop a technology aided tool which help in the proper definition, management and
monitoring of the mentor-mentee relationship.

Different Stages of Mentoring that will be developed under this concept

1. Idea and Business Need Identification (Level 1)
It will help young start-up enthusiast to discuss and develop their idea generation process
through active Brain storming and evaluation of the idea . This will be done through a structured
mentoring sessions. This will include active mentor engagement with the start-up and also elearning module to help the start-up to understand the different options needed to evaluate a
business idea

2. Business Concept and Plan Development (Level 2)

This is stage where the startup has developed and evaluated a business idea. In this level the
startup will be mentor to develop its product concept, business opportunity and business plan.
This will done through active mentoring , activity based assignments and elearning modules. The
mentor will evaluate the quality of the plan and the quality of the startup team. The mentee
evaluate the quality of the mentoring sessions.
3. Pitch and Pilot Development (Level 3)
This is the stage where the start-up will be guided to develop active prototype of the concept, a
pilot launch, market research pre & post of pilot launch, Development of go-to market strategy,
Funding strategy, Development of Funding Pitch(Mock). Team Assessment- Psychometric tests and
elearning courses to develop all the above associated skills.
4. Growth Phase mentoring (Level 4)
This is for the companies to plan their growth path after the initial customer acquisitions and
seed funding. This stage will help the start-up to set up organizational plans, resource
management and financial discipline. This can be a consulting engagement to identify critical
challenge areas and resolve the crisis or management issues. This will be a proper consulting
assignment.
This the opportunity that Mentoring Platform aims to capture and develop.

Mentoring Platform
The Mentoring platforms aims to deliver the following features as product offerings
The platform will include the following features
1. A listing of Start-ups and Mentors
2. Start-up- profile and collateral showcase
3. Mentor profile and profile showcase
4. A platform for mentor-mentee engagement management.
- Video/Audio calling and Screen sharing capabilities
- Common workspace for sharing documents/recording of the online
Video/Audio calling sessions
- Grading Metrics for measuring the online and offline interactions
between the mentor and mentee
- An Elearning and associated evaluation platform
- Online Assessment of the Startup
- Engagement calendar - Managing the availability of the Mentor and Mentee
to plan online or offline sessions
- Knowledge Repository of Case studies, templates and industry reports
5. Online payment gateway for payment of fees for mentoring assignments
6. A online matching of mentor and mentees.

Mentoring Platform Engagement

1.
2.
3.
4.

Idea Generation and Evaluation (Level 1) - Two Weeks Business Concept and Plan Development (Level 2) - Two Weeks
Pitch and Pilot Development (Level 3)- 4-8 weeks
Growth Phase Mentoring (Level 4)- Defined after opportunity evaluation as it is a consulting
opportunity.

Revenue Model
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3.
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Assessment Session - I generic Session with a Level One Mentor

Subscription for the Level identified
Certification for each level ( Additional Charges)
Market and VC reference fee.
Mentors will be paid for per session basis for Level 1 and 2.
Mentors will be paid for consultation fees for level 3
Mentors will be hired as Consultants and paid fixed plus variable the Level 4.
Conclusion:
This business idea is to formalize the mentoring skill and make it available to more people by
building replicable processes, content, technology and knowledge case-lets. This can be a
sustainable model to nurture entrepreneurship initiatives at Rural Levels and Formalize Mentoring
resources reach more categories of learners.