The Mentor Manifesto

for a moment I've been wondering why "The Conscience of a Hacker"[0] had become popular again.

[0] http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3&mode=...

I'd add a "mentee manifesto" too, since mentorship is a proverbial two-way street. I actually wrote an essay on that topic from an education perspective: "How to get your Professors’ Attention — along with Coaching or Mentoring" (http://jseliger.com/2010/10/02/how-to-get-your-professors%E2...) because I noticed that some students systematically make mistakes they may not be aware of when it comes to seeking mentors or advice.

   Be socratic.
   Listen too.

In my mind these two are basically the same and I'd summarize them as "Use the 70/30 rule. Listen 70% of the time and talk only 30%".

   Expect nothing in return (you’ll be delighted with what you do get back).

To me this is what differentiates great mentors from others more than anything.

>I’ve been running TechStars for six years now. . . . we’ve seen those companies go on to raise about $100M in funding (averaging about $1M each post TechStars)

I would have been more interested to read about valuations than about amounts raised.