Powerful questions from mentor to entrepreneur

As an expert in mentoring, I can give some examples of powerful questions that a mentor might ask his or her entrepreneurial mentee

• What excites you most about your project?
• How would you describe your vision to someone who has never heard of it?
• What values are important to you and how are they reflected in your company?
• What obstacles do you anticipate along the way and how do you plan to overcome them?
• How would you define success for you and your company?
• What stops you from making an important decision?
• What are your strengths and how can you use them to achieve your goals?
• What did you learn from your previous failures and how can you apply those lessons in the future?
• How do you stay motivated when facing challenges?
• What changes could you make in your business to have a greater social or environmental impact?

These questions are only examples, and a mentor should always adapt his or her approach to the specific needs and circumstances of each mentee.

However, Asking powerful and open-ended questions can help the mentee to reflect more deeply on his or her project and goals, and to find creative solutions to the challenges he or she faces.

Watch this dialogue between a mentor and his entrepreneurial mentee in which the powerful questions are clearly seen.

• Mentor: Hi, how are you today, how is your project going?
• Mentee: Hello, well, thank you. Well, the truth is that I'm a bit stuck. I'm having a hard time making people aware of my product.
• Mentor: I understand. What have you done so far to promote it?
• Mentee: I have placed some ads on social media and sent emails to potential customers.
• Mentor: And what results have you obtained?
• Mentee: Well, I have received some visits to the website, but not many sales.
• Mentor: What do you think might be going on, maybe there is something you can improve in your promotion strategies?
• Mentee: Well, I don't know. I thought maybe I need to invest more in advertising, but I'm not sure that's the solution.
• Mentor: What if you try to make some changes in the way you present your product? Have you thought about making some kind of special offer or promotion?
• Mentee: I hadn't really thought of that. I think it might be a good idea.
• Mentor: How about trying to talk to some people who have already bought your product to find out what they thought of it and what you could improve?
• Mentee: Yes, I think that would be very useful. I am going to do that.
• Mentor: I'm glad to hear that. What else can you think of that you could do to promote your product?
• Mentee: I don't know, but I will think about it. Thank you for your questions, they have helped me to see things differently.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

• Mentor: Hello, how are you today?
• Mentee: I'm fine, thank you.
• Mentor: I'm glad to hear that. I wanted to ask you, how are things going with your new project?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: Well, it's been a bit difficult to get funding, but we are making some progress.
• Mentor: What strategies have you used to seek funding?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: We have been looking for angel investors and have presented our idea in some startup competitions.
• Mentor: How has the response been so far?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: We haven't had much success yet, but we are still working on it.
• Mentor: Have you considered other financing options, such as bank loans or crowdfunding?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: Yes, we have been investigating these options as well, but we have not made a decision yet.
• Mentor: I understand. What worries you more at the moment, the lack of funding or the competition in the market?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: I think both are worrisome, but the lack of funding is the one that worries me the most right now.
• Mentor: What measures are you taking to deal with competition in the market?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: We are trying to differentiate ourselves from the competition by focusing on exceptional user experience and high quality customer service.
• Mentor: How do you think your differentiation efforts can help you get funding?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: I believe that if we can demonstrate that our focus on user experience and customer service is unique and effective, we could generate more interest from potential investors.
• Mentor: That sounds promising. What other plans do you have to present your project to potential investors?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: We are planning to make a presentation at an entrepreneurship event in the next month, and we are also looking for opportunities to talk to individual investors.
• Mentor: Excellent. Have you practised your presentation and are you prepared to answer difficult questions?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: Yes, we have been working on the presentation and on answering difficult questions that may arise.
• Mentor: I'm glad to hear that. Is there anything else I can help you with or that you want to work on in our next session?
• Entrepreneurial mindset: I would like to continue working on how to present my project effectively and answer difficult questions. I would also like to explore more funding options.
• Mentor: That is fine. We will work on that in our next session.