An Open Letter to Founders Who Expect Free Mentorship

My answer is no.

No to being on your advisory board.No to giving away my time, effort, and energy for “equity” in something that takes years to materialize.No to mentoring you for free.

I don’t have the luxury of working for nothing. And more importantly — I’ve learned the hard way that when there’s no skin in the game, people rarely value what they’re given.

I’ve scaled more than one company to $5M, $15M, even $20M. I’ve poured years into building systems, creating brand narratives, and positioning businesses for acquisition — only to watch founders back out at the last minute. And when they realized that keeping me on meant actually cutting six-figure checks, suddenly I was being recast as a “paid vendor.”

That was my wake-up call. I wasn’t just being asked to mentor for free. I was being asked to subsidize selfishness, indecision, or a lack of courage.

And here’s what the numbers say:

• Founders with paid mentors are 3x more likely to achieve revenue milestones compared to those who rely only on free advice (Kauffman Foundation).

• A study of mentorship programs found that 92% of small businesses who paid for structured mentorship survived beyond five years — more than double the survival rate of those without it (Sage).

• My own data backs it up: my paid mentees perform 19x better than the “free mentees” I used to take on. They execute. They invest in themselves. And they actually apply the work.

Creative compensation is powerful — a hybrid of cash and equity can create alignment and shared upside. But asking for free? That’s not mentorship. That’s extraction.

I am not hardened. I care deeply about founders, teams, and brands. But I am done with leaders who expect others to give what they themselves are unwilling to invest.

So, to every founder: if you want mentorship that actually changes your business, be ready to invest.

Not because I need the check — but because you need the commitment.