Mentoring a team during the Governor’s Business Plan Contest is a great opportunity to interact with innovative leaders working through the challenging process of building a new business. During the last two phases of the competition, mentors volunteer some time to the participating entrepreneur, assisting them in all aspects of business definition, refinement and implementation planning.

Mentor Expectations

• Approximately 1-2 hours per week in assistance
• Guard the confidentiality of the team they are working with during the Competition.

BPC Mentors are not expected to:

• Write any part of the business plan.
• Work with any BPC participant beyond the competition.
• Provide capital or access to capital during the competition.
• Join the team through a formal arrangement (i.e. contractually or employment agreement).

This is how the process will work:

1. Mentors will provide us with their preferred specialty category either: Finance, Legal, or Sales & Marketing (We encourage participation across several categories if you are able to do so).
2. The mentors will be added to the site's database as a recipient of inquiries submitted to that category.
3. Our Phase 2 contestants will then be instructed where and how to login to the site and pose a question to the respective category experts (Finance, Legal or Sales & Marketing).
4. Once a question is submitted, all mentors within that assigned category will receive an e-mail with the question enclosed.
5. Within that e-mail will be a "hyperlink" that says "I want to post a reply to this question?" This link will drive you directly into a page on the site where you will post your reply. (You are not required to reply to every question, but obviously you are encouraged to reply as often as possible.)

We opted for this online "mentor pool" process because it allows for:

• A more level playing field (i.e. no one participant will benefit from a superior mentor)
• A better cross section of expertise for all participants to draw upon
• As much flexibility as possible when it came to when and where the mentors could address questions.

While we will provide participants the mentor's background (bio) information (Thus allowing the participant an educated analysis of differing opinions or answers), they will be instructed to only communicate with mentors through the online process. Participants will not be allowed to contact you directly through e-mail or phone unless you specifically invite them to do so via a reply to a question.