How do I find a mentor for one specific gap like sales, hiring, or pricing rather than a generalist?
The short answer
General 'startup mentors' are overrated. What moves the needle is someone who solved your exact problem 18 months ago. If you need sales help, find a founder who just built a repeatable sales motion in a market like yours, not a retired executive. Search by problem: look at who wrote the best thread or talk on that topic, who leads that function at a company one stage ahead, and ask your network for one intro to 'the best person you know at X'. Specific problem, specific person, specific ask.
Go deeper, your way
3 hand-picked resources, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
📄 Article
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Why we picked it
First Round Review is a primary, canonical startup-operations source, and this is a tactical playbook on landing high-caliber advisors even when you're a nobody, exactly the 'my network is all corporate' problem. It reframes advisor outreach as earned through specific, valuable interaction rather than cold asks.
Why we picked it
Written by a fund built entirely around go-to-market, so it treats sales/hiring/pricing as distinct functional problems, not one 'mentor' bucket. It forces the specificity the question demands: don't seek 'a marketing advisor,' seek 'someone who built a content-driven motion in B2B SaaS selling to finance.' It also separates topical advice from functional support from coaching so you match the person to the exact gap.
Why we picked it
India-founded (Bengaluru) and thick with Indian operators who solved your exact problem recently: growth leads, founder-led sales builders, and hiring/HR heads at companies one stage ahead. You search by topic and book a paid 30 to 60 minute call, so you get 'the person who built a repeatable sales motion 18 months ago' without needing a warm intro or handing over equity for a single question.
