Mentorship Guide

A NOTE ABOUT OUR EVENTS

The great joy of our work at the Redemptive Lab is the time we spend in person as a community with a cohort of founders. This is a unique time for each of us to unplug, be present, learn, listen, and encourage. While we know everyone is busy with much to do outside of the event, we ask that everyone be fully present during the entirety of this gathering. Our events are unlike a typical conference where you might be able to step away and take a call; they are customized for each participant, intentional, and relational -- each person plays a key role in each part of the day. Since we only spend 2.5 days in person all together, we ask that founders & mentors plan to be completely unplugged during events, and that you plan your time accordingly.

Preparing for mentorship

Read how we think about Mentorship
Mentorship Manifesto and Preparation Guidelines.

Write out a few thoughts or frameworks on each of the topics you'll be mentoring on.

Get to know the other Mentors with whom you will be leading mentor sessions.

How we think about mentorship

We think you’ll be inspired by Labs founders. Our hope is that while you’re with us you might be open to more than just giving advice, and consider cultivating lasting relationships that, for some of you, might mean longer term advisory roles or even board participation. But first, just get to know our founders. For starters, we have a few key ideals for mentorship:

The Bible is rich with references to wisdom

Here are two verses that help us think about mentorship:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ."
Colossians 2:8 NIV

We think the best answers are often great questions

Be thoughtful about - and share!

How your faith impacts your work and the way you practice your expertise. (This often requires a lot of reflection, but we’ve found it to be a fruitful exercise.)

Help our Fellows

Help our Fellows think about their entire lives, not just their organizations. The two are inexorably linked.

Be encouraging while honest.

We should be spurring each other on, while demanding excellence of each other.

We’re also fond of the Mentor Manifesto, created by David Cohen, the leader of TechStars:

Be socratic.
Expect nothing in return (you’ll be delighted with what you do get back).
Be authentic / practice what you preach.
Listen first.
Be direct. Tell the truth, however hard.
Clearly separate opinion from fact.
Hold information in confidence.
Clearly commit to mentor or do not. Either is fine.
Know what you don’t know. Say "I don’t know" when you don’t know. “I don’t know” is preferable to bravado.

Guide, don’t control. Teams must make their own decisions.
Accept and communicate with other mentors that get involved.
Be optimistic.
Provide specific actionable advice, don’t be vague.
Be challenging/robust but never destructive.
Have empathy. Remember that startups are hard.

HOW TO PREPARE

Please review each session description for a basic overview of the tone and leadership of the session, and also review your co-leaders' backgrounds in the Mentor Bios section. Make notes in advance as to key points you would like to cover for the topic.

We encourage you to have an advanced-level conversation - our founders are generally past the need for basic 101. Frameworks for thinking and shortlists can be helpful to prepare for tangible takeaways, and we’ve also provided a few key questions that may be asked but may also be deviated from.

Mentors are welcome to ask questions of each other and have spirited debate, sharing what they don’t know as much as what they do. Additionally, while you have been asked to mentor in part for your humility, please share the best of your stories—who you are and how you do things differently as a Christian. This is a small window of time to have incredible influence over the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and should not be missed.

Mentors
Preparation

WEATHER & ATTIRE

LOCATION
& LODGING

How we think about mentorship

We’re also fond of the Mentor Manifesto, created by David Cohen, the leader of TechStars:

HOW TO PREPARE

WEATHER & ATTIRE

LOCATION& LODGING

How we think about mentorship

We’re also fond of the Mentor Manifesto, created by David Cohen, the leader of TechStars:

HOW TO PREPARE

LOCATION
& LODGING