
Ask HN: How much would you charge to mentor an aspiring entrepreneur? - jessehorne
If you&#x27;ve seen success in your entrepreneurial endeavors, would you be willing to spend some spare time mentoring an aspiring entrepreneur? By &quot;mentoring&quot; I mostly mean having email conversations when you have time to respond to any questions asked. For example, imagine a young web developer who&#x27;s attempting to start another business, but wants to avoid mistakes he may not even know he could make.<p>What factors would influence your decision?<p>How much would you charge for your time? What would be expected of the &quot;apprentice&quot;? What would make it worth it to you?
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ipqhctbvvccf
I do this. It's called being an advisor to your business.

I charge US$325/hour or take a % in equity (mostly standard vesting terms with
a cliff).

I work with 3-5 startups at a time. What I do depends entirely on the startup.
For some I just end up being a sort of confessor or therapist. For others I
participate in strategy meetings, give feedback on products or services.

And while I charge, I don't do it particularly for the money. I found that if
I didn't charge something, if there wasn't some cost, then my time got treated
as an unlimited resource, which it isn't

And no, I'm not looking for additional mentees at this time.

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100100010001
You need to do some research! Apprentices don’t pay. You pay them! You teach
and offload boring work to them. That’s how it has worked for hundereds of
years. Stop being a selfish greedy mortal.

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jessehorne
I appreciate your response. It was fairly entertaining to read. I wanted to
note a few things, which I've done in a convenient and aesthetically pleasing,
numbered list, below.

1\. I do need to do a LOT of research

2\. I thought I would specify that payment could be offloading boring work.

3\. I am willing to go against tradition if it's necessary to succeed.

4\. I'm not as selfish as you may think!

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100100010001
Ahh, so eliminate poor people with amazing skills and focus on mediocre
apprentices who can pay? How is that not selfish?

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jessehorne
Who said I could pay? I didn't say I could pay at this time. I would figure
out if it would be worth it and how I could potentially pay for it after we
agreed on something.

This is me, by the way. [https://blog.usejournal.com/my-story-as-a-homeless-
developer...](https://blog.usejournal.com/my-story-as-a-homeless-
developer-5874731c42ed)

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100100010001
First off, you shouldn’t change subjects. We were talking about how your
request for an apprentice is unfair. However, I’ll allow it since it’s another
bad point. YOU are the entrepreneur! If you can’t pay then you shouldn’t be
paid to teach. Also, if you can’t pay for work then don’t ask for workers. You
are trying to get paying labor (people who work for you and pay for the work)
which is horrible and greedy. Who you are doesn’t change you’re greedy and
selfish.

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jessehorne
I don't think you understand. I am the aspiring entrepreneur looking for a
mentor.

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jessehorne
No problem! It took me so long to realize what was going on in this
conversation. I apologize for not being more clear. I ended up just posting a
more blunt Ask HN here if you'd like to follow along. I appreciate your time
and response!

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20340953](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20340953)

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vikramkr
None? Usually if someone asks you to pay them to mentor you that's a complete
scam. I think anyone willing to pay for that from some self proclaimed expert
has already failed. Advisory shares tied to specific deliverables are
different- if a world renowned researcher is willing to help you out and
connect you to industry leaders and all then a few advisory aharea to bring
them on as a board member makes sense, but that's tied to helping the company.

~~~
jessehorne
It's not a scam, I guess I'm just desperate. I asked this simply out of
curiosity and was hoping something would come from it. I am overwhelmed with
information that I think is useless and a lack of direction. Sure, I don't
need a mentor! I just am in the early stages of finding one. Because that is
what I think could really help me to stop running in circles.

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vikramkr
Are you running a company? If so your mentor is your customer. Ask them what
they want and build it for them. Otherwise, I went through startup school,
that was pretty good. A good investor can be a great advisor as well.

~~~
jessehorne
Both of these responses are great and I appreciate the time you're taking to
help me. Perhaps the reason I'm offering to pay is that I know the type of
mentor I need is someone who wouldn't ask me to, and those people are more
likely to respond if I am able to convey the type of person I am. That's a big
IF, on top of biggers IFs. But it's worth a shot, even in the dark.

