Building Boards that last a Lifetime

Hey folks, I'm Swati.

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter.

This newsletter is those conversations: what I'm seeing, thinking, and what I'd tell you if we were grabbing coffee.

This week's edition is about building a personal board of advisors for your career.

But before that:

A student came up after a session last month and said she was trying to figure out her next move after graduation.

I asked if she had anyone she spoke to regularly about this.

She said she'd done a couple of Topmate sessions and found them helpful, and was planning to book another one when the next decision came up.

I've heard this a lot lately.

A 30-minute paid call with a stranger is not a mentorship. 

The person on the other end doesn't know your history, what you tried last month, or what you're worried about. 

They give you the best answer they can in the time they have, then move to the next call i.e. a consultation.

It leaves you feeling like you did something, even though nothing was actually built.

Most people have a few names they'd call mentors.

It could be a senior you met at an event who gave you their card, a manager who was kind to you at your first job, or even a college senior you still message when something goes wrong.

None of them are tracking your career right now, and you haven't set it up for them to be able to do so.

A company's board comes together as founders identify what they need, recruit for specific roles, and set a cadence for how the board stays useful over time.

One mentor cannot cover everything you need. 

Deep industry knowledge, the willingness to say hard things, and connections that open actual doors rarely live in the same person.

The other thing I hear often is why would a senior person invest time in someone early in their career. Especially in today’s times, where everyone is busy and access feels hard.

Senior people mentor younger folks to grow and to stay close to what’s happening in their field. 

That's reason enough to reach out.

What I'd do:

Before you start looking for names, get clear on what you actually need. 

Maybe it’s guidance from someone in the field you want to move into, honest feedback you won’t always like, access to the right introductions, or just a perspective from a few years ahead. 

Once you’re clear on that, the names start to feel obvious and the gaps become harder to ignore.

Start with people who already have some reason to care, like professors, seniors, or past managers rather than strangers. 

If you’re going to an event, collecting cards becomes useless as by the end most have dozens if not more. They will struggle to remember your face. 

Research and understand who’d be at these events. Pick one or two people in advance, research about them, nudge them for time before the event, meet with them and build a relationship.

​​However you find them, don't lead with an ask. 

Connections like your college alumni, former colleagues, and people from companies you've been part of, are easier to open because you already share something. 

A lot of people will be willing to talk simply because of that common ground.

One of our students wanted to connect with the Head of Revenue at a Sequoia-funded startup after just three months of using the product and thinking about it.

He didn’t have a mutual connection but he still put together a short deck with specific observations on where it was losing users and what could be improved in terms of retention.

Then sent it with a note saying he'd been following the company and wanted to share his thoughts.

The POC replied, they got on a call, and it turned into a mentorship that later became a job.

Senior people get dozens of "can I pick your brain" messages every week. 

Most go unanswered because there's nothing in it for them.

What works is showing you've done the thinking, like a sharp observation about their work, or a question only they can answer.

Understand what they do and see if you can find a gap and validate it before sending it to them.

If you’ve done something that they can use, that’s a foot in the door for you.

The relationships that die are the ones where people disappear and only come back when they need something.

A simple way to avoid that is to send a short note every quarter.

Share what you’ve been working on, what you’ve learned, and one thing you’re trying to figure out. Keep it to two paragraphs and one question so they stay updated without needing a call.