We went through Startup School program too [^1]. From what I read in your post, it seems every mentor had its own way of conducting the Office Hours. For example, we didn't have the feedback loop on how the office hours went you mention.

Ian, our mentor, went through every project and asked questions that made us make great progress. In our company's case, we went from Idea to MVP, then to Product and Launch in 10 weeks (thanks Ian!).

Also, Office Hours are great because it gives you the accountability needed to push forward every week.

One thing I noticed is how sharp in timing the Office Hours were. They were 1 hour length mostly all of the times. Same with Startup School lecture videos which consistently were around 50min long.

Is this sharp control over timing something in American culture? As an European I find surprising how you guys make things last the exact amount of time you want even when you don't control the input (like in office hours where 10 startups have to show their progress)

[^1] http://www.TechLeaks.org -> A Glassdoor tailored to Software Engineers.