You don't have to go it alone
The five C's of mentorship: Clarity, Confidence, Critique, Community, and Continuous Learning. What the Fast Track mentorship gave me as a mentor.
First Round Capital, one of the most prominent early-stage VC firms, is most known for its impressive contribution to the entrepreneurial journey through content marketing. If they weren't doing enough for the startup ecosystem already, they are also hosting one of the most extensive mentorship programs at scale.
I've been fortunate to participate in the spring 2023 program (Fast Track 14) as a mentor. I say "fortunate" because I benefitted just as much as my mentee—so much, in fact, that I am compelled to share my experience below. Most mentorship content is written about the benefits and experience of the mentee; this is about the befits mentors derive from mentorship.
Fast Track aims for mentors to pay it forward and help their mentee level up professionally. Mentors comprise startup executives/leadership and founders, predominantly someone who's paved the way a few years ahead of the mentee.
I've previously written about the importance of role models and how my mission is to help today’s entrepreneurs become tomorrow’s role models.
I wouldn't be where I am today without the countless formal and informal mentors who paid it forward and saw more in me than I did myself, who made me aware of my blind spots, helped me see ways out when I didn't, and rooted me on—despite the odds and setbacks one expects and experience as an entrepreneur.
Paying it forward holds a special place in my heart and is one of my core values. Something I strive to live by. Growing up, my parents instilled this in me. Even with full-time jobs and four kids, they made it a priority to volunteer to help give back to the organizations and communities that paved the way for them.
After eight years of startup hustling and learning hard lessons like how to get my startup acquired while my body was beyond battery save mode, I realized I hadn't fully lived up to my value of paying it forward.
Earlier this year, during my combined sabbatical and maternity leave, I decided it was time to change that. A former colleague recommended the Fast Track mentorship program, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to align with my values and make a difference.
The program kicked off in March, lasting for 12 weeks. All participants commit to bi-weekly one-hour 1:1 sessions, totaling six hours of quality time together. Mentees are responsible for the agendas and making the most of each meeting. As mentors, we embrace our roles as listeners, coaches, and sounding boards.
Although my mentee and I came from different industries and backgrounds, we clicked on values and work ethics. It was like a match made in mentorship heaven. She was always prepared, eager to learn, and took ownership of her growth between sessions. I watched her blossom over those 12 weeks, and we plan to stay in touch every six weeks. I'm genuinely excited to continue supporting her journey.
The Fast Track team completely blew me away with their support and organization. They provided a wealth of resources on mentorship and how to make the most out of the mentor-mentee relationship. A template for each meeting was the most helpful, anticipating broad areas to cover. While it wasn't mandatory to follow, it was a massive bonus for those who craved a bit of structure.
What I gained as a mentor from this program—my five C's!
Clarity
As I guided my mentee through her challenges, I gained more clarity in my thinking. Explaining my thoughts and offering advice helped me solidify my perspectives. Sometimes, I hadn't fully formulated my opinion or advice on specific situations and topics until she asked for my thoughts. Our conversations brought me clarity.
My mentee highlighted that I patiently listened without interruption, allowing her to provide all the necessary details to capture the nuances of a situation. Then, I would play back what I heard, giving her more clarity. For instance, when she talked about a challenging conversation with her superior, I asked, and she confirmed that she didn't feel the psychological safety to express her thoughts fully—these moments of clarity helped us pave the way for a solid action plan.
Another example was that my mentee was reasonably new at her company, and we discussed approaching her role progression in a top-heavy team. I emphasized that if a startup is successful, there will be plenty of room to grow as the company moves fast and new needs arise. Instead of worrying about the team's current top-heaviness, focus on ensuring the company scales, and room for growth will naturally follow. If the room doesn't open up, it might be a sign that the company is stagnating and it's time to explore other opportunities. Lo and behold, just during our three months of working together, there's been plenty of movement at her company, and her valuable contributions are paving the way for her to get a seat at the table.
Confidence
Many of our conversations revolved around my mentee's challenges and what she felt she should do about them. More often than not, she already had a gut feeling about the right course of action but lacked the confidence to proceed until she got my "approval." Supporting her decision-making process revealed the power of trusting one's instincts and having the confidence to act. As I witnessed her follow through on her convictions, I gained a more profound belief in my mentoring abilities.
One example of confidence was when my mentee wanted to build rapport with the leadership across the organization. She had thoughts about how to approach it but lacked confidence about how. We discussed different strategies to proceed and how to be as valuable as possible, strengthening her position and understanding of the company and assessing challenges across the team. She became better prepared to strategically assist the team with the near term and 18+ months perspectives.
Critique
My mentee gave me feedback towards the end of the program. I wasn't specifically aware of these strengths, but the more I thought about it, they reflected on what I expect as a baseline for good communication when the table is turned, and I'm the mentee; to lead by example! Getting feedback from my mentee was a great way to verify whether my actions aligned with my values.
For example, during our calls, I muted notifications and focused solely on our conversation. I avoided checking Slack, browsing, or checking emails; it was all about our discussion.
On the rare occasion when my child's nap schedule didn't align with our call (partial maternity leave, you know), I would let my mentee know and step away momentarily. I would do my best to seamlessly jump right back into the conversation when I returned, wasting no time getting back up to speed. My ability to be present in conversations made my mentee feel valued, heard, and safe.
Community
Fast Track doesn't only connect mentors and mentees; it fosters a vibrant community. Instead of typically being one of the few women in the room, the First Round's community brought together a mix of people with diversity in identity, gender, and ethnicity, as well as industries and company maturity. From the pre-seed founders to the "I'm hitting early retirement after working ten years at Netflix". This level of diversity may be the result of the Fast Track team's dedicated focus to improve its diversity through: "We're specifically seeking women, underrepresented minorities, and people who have had unconventional paths to tech." (Source)
First Round organized several in-person gatherings, and it was fantastic to meet new people and embrace the serendipity that the San Francisco startup scene has to offer. I attended a Mother's Day event, book launch, and “end of the program” event in San Francisco. They also hosted a kick-off at the program's start and an LGBTQIA+ event. Since the program is open to participants worldwide, I was also happy to see remote events on the schedule.
These gatherings weren't your typical networking events; the Fast Track team anticipated our collective rustiness after years of isolation due to COVID. They organized break-out sessions with engaging questions and talking prompts. Examples were:
What's your best travel hack with kids (from Mother's Day event)
What was your most valuable lesson learned from your interaction with your mentee/mentor (End of the program event)
Continuous Learning
I firmly believe that we never stop learning. This program reinforced that belief through my interactions with my mentee. I've been consuming a ton of content and practicing Building a Second Brain (BASB) to organize my knowledge and learnings.
In our conversations, I would often reference relevant material that I believed would benefit my mentee's thinking on various topics, such as how to navigate a new organization, how to run effective executive meetings, do you need an executive coach, and how to think about your career. Best of all, she reported that the content was spot on.
My mentee found my desire for continuous learning and improvement highly inspiring and motivating. She was impressed by how quickly I pulled up these relevant resources (I remembered the content of relevance AND where to find it), which proved extremely helpful for her. It even led to a screen-sharing session where I demonstrated my BASB system to her. Here's the best quick intro to BASB.
Through the benefits of the five C's; Clarity, Confidence, Critique, Community, and Continuous Learning, I found the Fast Track program incredibly rewarding. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in mentoring.
I really felt like I could pay it forward and make a difference in my mentee's career trajectory.
Most people I discuss mentorships with don't know how to find a mentor. Fast Track is open to anyone across the world. If you're curious and want to apply for the next cohort, here's the link you need.
If you are looking for ways to pay it forward or to unlock your potential, it's a growth journey you want to take advantage of and the most rewarding 6 hours I've spent this year! I’ll for sure re-apply for the next one and hope to see you there.
A special thanks to , and for your valuable feedback while writing this.