Why, What And How Free Lean Startup Mentoring Calls
My hope behind offering free mentoring calls is to save you time, money and a lot of pain, by being that person to talk to that I couldn't find when I started out.
But let's take a step back.
The backstory
In 2007 I was living in London and working as an engineer. The startup wave started in the Silicon Valley was beginning to be heard more loudly on the British's shores and it reached my ears.
I was dazzled by it.
My roommate of that time started his own company and I worked with him through the initial year, on the side of my day job, doing what I could to help him build his platform.
It was new, it was exciting, but it was just him, his cofounder and me. Finding anybody else to share experiences with, at least where we lived, seemed almost impossible.
Fast forward a few years and I had now refined some of the ideas I had on how to go about startups thanks to the Lean Startup movement. With no business training or experience I had no methodology, but when I ran into Lean it instantly made sense, maybe because as an engineer the scientific-method like approach made a lot of sense to me.
It was 2011 when, after having gone back to consulting, I tried to build my very own first product. I spent the good part of 9 months trying to find someone to work with because I couldn't do it all by myself and I failed.
Everybody was talking about doing a startup, but then held on their full time job and did nothing. On the other hand those that did, emigrated to the valley or were in general out of my reach.
Connecting with folks was hard, people were busy and I had nothing to show to enter the exclusive club of the cool startup kids.
So I did the only thing I knew how to do: I worked hard and studied and experimented, made the best I could of the resources I had to build the app I was dreaming of.
The pay off
And I guess it eventually paid off. I got a gig in San Francisco for another startup, went there and got in touch with a great guy who had mentored tons of startups on Lean methodologies.
He agreed to meet for 15 minutes to talk about my startup, but when we got together that conversation only lasted about 5 minutes. That's how long it took him to point out the glaring holes in my perfect plan.
I was destroyed and yet happy that someone cared enough to take the time to speak with me. And it was immensely helpful. Nine months later my startup failed, but I learned tons, and if you buy into Lean you only fail when you don't learn.
You should in fact treasure those failures because they represent the building blocks of your future successes.
Why
So here I am, some successes to show off and lots of scars to remind me of the lessons learned.
Over the years I got a lot from people in the entrepreneurial community and cherish those exchanges. There is a wonderful group of people out there, of whom you're probably part of if you're reading this, that is trying to solve problems and make things better.
My hope behind offering free mentoring calls is to save you time, money and a lot of pain, by being that person to talk to that I couldn't find years ago.
What and how
So what's the deal? I try to set aside a few hours a week for people that would like to get on a call to discuss their business problems with me.
I've talked to hundreds of entrepreneurs over the last few years, which coupled with co-running the Lean Startup Circle in San Francisco, exposed me to a lot of startups struggling to get their first customer.
That gave me a pretty solid understanding of the problems early stages startups have and what solutions are best suited depending on the situation. I'm focused on helping founders understand their early adopters, do customer development, create a business model, building MVPs and in general anything to get to product market fit.
I'm not really involved with scaling out a business since I don't have direct experience with it even tho I worked for several startups that had viral growth and also big companies like Google, but those experiences are mostly from the engineering standpoint.
The slots are 30 minutes long, you cannot book more than one slot per week and it's all on a first come first served basis.
To book a call just click on any time from the list below.
Hoping to hear from you soon and I wish you best of luck with everything you're doing.
Spike is awesome! He got to the heart of our challenge quickly and provided our team with wonderful insight that helped put us on a clear, straight path to getting our product to market - in just one phone call! Even better, Spike is a generous man on an authentic mission to help people be successful in life and business.
― Michelle May, Shenami
Spike was just great. He gave me the helicopter view of the path we are on, what we could choose to do now, and what lies ahead. He was generous with suggesting practical steps for right now, and also things to work towards. I hope to talk with him again.
― Carrie N Ballard, Utrecht Area, Netherlands
As soon as Spike started to speak - in a thoughtful, careful and considered way, I knew I was going to really benefit from listening to him. Spike had some good answers to my questions around pricing and ways to look at it not only in terms of finding a sweet spot, but also using it as a way to assert our values. And great follow up advice by email - thanks!
― Bridget Harris, YouCanBook.Me
I approached Spike unsure of what my next steps should be. He helped us to figure out just that and identify the key actions to build an experience that will wow our customers. Spike also pointed out very interesting strategies for testing monetization and getting that engine of growth going. Very useful. Thanks!
― Anders Hasselstrøm, StartupTravels, Denmark
Spike is incredibly insightful. He has a way of asking the right questions that gets you to see problems from a new perspective and with greater clarity. Every conversation with Spike, I walk away with an 'Aha!' moment that helps me move forward.
― Steven Kim, San Francisco
I am incredibly inspired by Spike's advice + expertise in regards to applying lean start-up to my business. Spike is very knowledgeable, sharp and supportive. He's just the mentor we need and I am excited to be part of his mentoring program!
― Nicole Kasal, Cleanse Culture, Chicago
Spike has a sharp mind and a well articulated analytic sense that cuts to the core of any question. The help he provided on Startup Advice allowed me to clarify my goals and refine who I think my audience is. I highly recommend talking to Spike!
― Paul V. Weinstein, Deal maker and fundraiser, SF
Spike asked hard questions and within the first few minutes of our conversation homed in on the core of most of my confusion. I now have an actual plan of attack that will get me the information I need to make the right decisions to move forward.
― Katrina Owen, exercism.io
