 Today we are very happy to have with us Mr. Amit Chaudhary who is the co-founder of Lenskart and he is also a great mentor to startups in today's ecosystem. We are going to talk to him about how do you really become a good mentor. Today startups are a reality of our ecosystem and startup ecosystem is only looking to grow bigger and in the times to grow and of course because the founders are very young they also need a lot of mentoring and holding along with the funding that is being offered to them in order to be able to deploy that funding correctly and be able to achieve the growth that they are really looking at. So I am going to talk to Amit for the next 15 minutes and really understand that today if you are going to mentor and help startups to grow what is it that you need to do in order to be a good mentor. So welcome Amit and it is so wonderful to have you here with us. It is always a pleasure to be with you and learn from you. To answer your question let me start with my experience of mentoring startups. I think it was few years back when we realized that the things which we are doing at Lenskart is not something which has been done before. So a lot of pioneer work in terms of Omnichannel, D2C creation, how do we marry tech to business. While doing all of this we realize that there are a lot of other people not necessarily in our category but beyond our category are trying to do same things. And while we have done our fair share of mistakes it was okay for us to share that to the other startup founders mostly when we met them we felt that why not we share them. So we took this approach and we say that you know why not make this a formal thing and at least I spent half of my Saturdays meeting startup entrepreneurs more frequent now because of COVID lockdowns it is easier to do it on Zoom than to schedule it in person. But I think mentoring has taught me personally that you know most of the problems which we look back 10 years from now when we started, when we wanted you know small small answers to the questions which are very easy or very adaptive right now for us to react in a particular way for that problem which was not easy back then. So it is now when we look at these entrepreneurs who are coming to us and we are trying to help them out it just becomes very easy for them to realize that we have been into that position and mentoring just gives you that perspective that you know you have to look back your journey and say that you know what are the mistakes you did what worked and what did not work and help them out in this particular step of yeah mentor-mentee relationship. Obviously when you started LensCart all of you founders were very young yourselves in your 20s I believe and you know what were the things you at that point felt that you know if we had a mentor to help us with this we could have done things differently now that you look back your journey 10 years back so you know what are the things that really mentor brings to the table. I think mentor brings focus you know one of the best mentors we had was Ronnie Scruwala you know when we started he came in as an investor but I would say he came in as a mentor to us and when he came in you know we were we were diversifying a lot we were opening bags cart watch cart Jules cart like we were opening too many carts but the focus was not there and that is that is he as a mentor brought this you know brought the focus in saying that you know our passion lies in something we really need to focus on that thing. I think that is where every entrepreneur you know gets swayed away from what the public feels you know when you are young when you are starting a company you are trying to get opinions and feedback from everybody around and everybody will have their way of looking at the problem statement which the entrepreneur is trying to solve and in all that you know there is so much noise and there is so much entropy in the mind that we tend to you know move away from the focus area of what we wanted to do and of course with the addition of funding and talking to investors you know all this just adds up and and we get you know away from the focus and I think that is what what's the best role of a mentor is saying that you know since I am not part of your business I am not part of your day to day work life can I just step back and take you also step back to realize that you know this is this is where you are going right and you should just focus on that while everything else is a noise can you just you know see the longer term dream but by choose the path which you feel is right right because you know entrepreneurs you know are a are a are a I would say a breed a breed right which which which doesn't listen to anybody I don't think mentors are are coaches here which are putting the entrepreneur daily you know in a particular regime right they are essentially just showing the path and probably sharing their experiences which the entrepreneur can pick it from right more than anything else you know when when we look back like one of the first investors of ours you know they helped us raise a particular amount of capital right and that was you know he mentored us why the right capital and I still remember you know while we were talking to the IC of theirs and they told that you know if if you less capitalized you'll be there here not there that is such a great advice you still realize that one advice back then you know is is helping us till now and you just just keep these things in your mind I've always realized that you know you can have two of us called with your mentor but you'll pick up one thing that stays for life even if you're doing monthly or quarterly those one or two things it's is really helpful for you to just gather for life and that becomes part of you that is how I think mentors help a lot in the journey of entrepreneurship and scaling up so you know I mean you've had now several mentors in Lenskart and today you yourself are a mentor so what are the quality traits do you think you have seen in mentors you know what is it that they really help or what are the areas that really help the startup in which is very helpful for the founder as he's building up his startup I think first of all to to become a mentor you have to like it doesn't come with any I personally feel it should not come with any financial logic in mind right there there is no transaction there you know if whatever we have seen like for like whoever has helped us during the course of building this organization or even whom I am helping in any way you know it it can't be a transaction right it is a you have to feel like that you're part of the business and you have to suggest the right thing for the entrepreneur but you have to also feel that there is nothing in it for me and you have to just you have to just keep that in mind because if you're continuously thinking that you know what is in it for me as a mentor then you're essentially not a mentor then you're almost like a consultant here right and what I what I have always practiced at least the startups I have felt is you know a lot a lot of people will come up to me and say that you know Ahmed why don't you take advisory shares you know and be part of my growth because I think they felt you know few of the advisors of few of the feedbacks which I gave really help them out but my advice to them you know as an advisor is that don't give your equity in you know that is so precious and these are these are the few things you you realize when when you're saying that you know you're building your own organization and you're still helping the entire ecosystem to grow the entire entrepreneurship culture to grow and all of that you can't be greedy about few things here and there and the the best is that you know if like for an example if you're recalling these mentors today you know they will also recall you and your you'll be somewhere or the other proud of yourself that you've you've enabled so many businesses and I think that is that is a core here I feel for a mentor so do you think a mentor should be taking equity instead of actually taking you know let's say a financial as you said that you know financial payout or a monthly payout do you think that is better overall I think depends I think depends on the entrepreneur like I am very clear I don't want anything from it because I feel that's not the right way to it because if I commit I will have to like I'll have to deliver on that right and I think if you're taking any financial obligation or equity you know there is an obligation but as a mentor at least from my side my first priority is my own business right and apart from Mentors are also people who think of mentorship as a complete profession by itself so from their perspective if from their lenses if you look at it they are just like mentor instead of really doing a business so what is your advice to them that should they actually go for equity or should they go for a financial? I feel it should be a mix depends on you know what's the what's the aim of that mentor-mentee relationship but if there is a skin in the game and long term thought thought process is there it is way better to just focus on building it along with the entrepreneur and you know again coming back to the same point a mentor is somebody who is not part of day to day operations right he or she is part of taking a step back and realizing whether the path the entrepreneur is choosing is right or wrong and I think in doing that if the business is scaling big and growing big I think the mentor has a huge appreciation for doing that so I think it should be part of a long term thing again depends on the mentor of what he wants but I am sure it's also the entrepreneur who should feel right about that he or she deserves this else it is again a transaction so you know just like we see a lot of exits happening from one fund at a certain level of growth and then you know that fund exists and then another fund sets in who brings a bigger capital do you think mentor should also be like that from a start up or a founder's perspective you know that at certain stage this person would need one mentor the founder would need one mentor and then they need a different kind of a mentor yes yes of course you know like in our stage of the company right now we need a lot of mentors who can help us get a better IPO right and this was not true 5 years back or 10 years back right so at every stage you will need different kind of mentor some would be you know who have been there done that you know and some would be who are just life coaches in that way where they are giving advices of how to manage time because right now the mentors we seek for are who are who will be able to get us not focus because focus is there but how to manage time for that focus how to so many things together so I think different skill set and different requirements at different stage of the business they should of course and the only thing is the gratitude for the ex mentor shouldn't die because I think they have helped you reach there so that shouldn't be a scenario and like at least in our scenario again we feel that you know we have at least maintain that balance of getting mentors again and again over the years but we have also kept the ex mentors from with us to make sure that they are part of the journey sure so you know while I understand that a mentor certainly helps the founder but how can they also support his teams because you know the teams are also fairly young I've seen in startups and you know there is just so much on in the hands of a young founder that you know how can mentors play a big role in sort of putting their team also in focus and not just the founder alone to many a times it's so indirect and contiguous thought process because if the founder picks up something you know as I mentioned you know they will he or she will pick up one thing in the entire session with the mentor and that one thing actually trickles down the organization right if like the focus thing I was talking about the entire organization of ours just started focusing on on on lens card and it is because it trickle down that way so directly or indirectly the mentor is doing this to the entire team but many a times we have also seen that you know for an example if I'm doing a one on one with somebody in my team and I realize that you know they need a specific session with my mentor I'll probably you know have a calendar done with him and see how he or she requires because you know mentor-mentee relationship is also not it's almost like a marriage you have to the compatibility is not same with everyone right it has to be because how I am looking at things and how my mentor is guiding it and how I am taking it right might not be that the other person is also taking it in the same way right so there is there is that compatibility which will keep on you know you have to check it and many times you will realize that this person might be good with this or that at least from your team member perspective but I think we should really encourage because mentors play a huge role in shaping of the organization and you know so now there is another aspect I have seen that lot of startups today they have been able to of course because overall there is an ecosystem in a climate like that they are able to raise fund but I'll see very little being told about what are the best practices to deploy that fund you know now you've got an X amount of funding so how can a mentor play a role in making sure you know you don't want to make mistakes obviously it's an external capital that you've got while you don't have to return it but still you're responsible for using it rightly so how can mentors you know sharpen the lenses of a founder to say that you know okay now we've got the capital in the bank but this is how we really need to be using it I mean I think they bring in frugality to the system or do you think they bring a better more structured approach to use the capital so what are your opinion on this you know what again you know money finds its way to spend right it is like water and that is where and many times you know it's so beautiful to see that we do the same mistakes again and again and again these mentors will come back to you and give you the right advices like frugality you mentioned it is such an attribute to make sure that you're this capital is not yours right as a founder this is your company's capital and this is your organization somebody has put a lot of faith in it to make sure you grow I'm not saying that we need to be in Pennywise Pond foolish but frugality is a art and I think most of the top mentors we have met who have you know built big billion dollar businesses and when you when you talk to them I think you'll just see that you know it's not even that they meant they telling you this you can just see it by meeting them that you know how frugal they give they will still talk about you know how to save money in small small things electricity cost of a store right we just got this advice for somebody and and we you realize that you know the these all small small things you learn from these people and you implement in your business is the real real way to find that success path that is where mentors come very handy and gives you advices which are like like one of my one of my friends now whom I also call my mentor Jemith right used to work with Kotak now works with Aditya Billa like he will still talk to me and Piyush about you know how to save money marketing are we doing right or wrong and the irony is that when you have less money you look at those things and you have more money you don't tend to look at those things but that is where the company's you know bottom line gets impacted in a severe way and these advices and these mentors help you stick to your basics no absolutely and I think it's something that a lot of founders probably need to learn across the way so obviously you know I see that Piyush has made so many investments in Lens Garden today you have so many varied startups shock tank yeah at shock tank yes so what is it that you know you are considering that you know their businesses are very different the lines of work are very different so how is it you are going to be mentoring them you know what is it you are going to do honestly they are mentoring us they are teaching us the new way to do businesses and you know it is again amazing to see how these young people are not choosing the usual way of getting a job and trying to break the norm and doing businesses the good thing is that all this series of what you guys have been doing for years now what shock tank is at least telling the world that this is possible and from our perspective from our mentoring perspective again you know I don't think mentor is just about focusing on the business as I mentioned it's about telling them what worked for them and what didn't work for them most of the businesses are not related to us at all right it's neither retail it's neither e-commerce neither but at the end of the day there is a buyer and a seller in e-commerce and like if for an example if you talk to anybody any founders at LensCard or any team member they will the customer obsession is so high so if me if us as a mentor is able to just pass on that value in some way or the other to our mentees you know that will trickle down and whatever business they are doing right at the end of the day if consumer obsession is there it will help them in growing their business so I think it is it will bring you know somebody is a gem in marketing like if say Aman is an amazing marketing person he understands marketing so he will have his own expertise of making sure that how marketing is and so I think everybody brings on their different mentors have their experience and that is what they pass on to the mentees absolutely so you know I mean this is going to be my final question you know take it so much of the time so when you are actually doing a meeting with a mentor let's say it's a 2 hour meeting how do you keep it objective how do you make sure that you know that is I mean the meeting gives the maximum fruit to both you as well as to the mentor and I mean and even when you play the role of a mentor and you know how does the founder take the maximum from it so what is your best way for a mentor-mentee meeting to be very very objective and to be very result focused I think the best thing and I have learnt this you know generally when you when you are classifying somebody as a mentor and a mentee the mentor has a upper hand right and the whole focus is that you know what is mentor going to tell the mentee to make sure that the mentee learns but it's essentially the opposite because most of the times the mentee wants to express wants somebody to be heard and I think the listening skills of the mentor matters the most in at least most of the mentoring sessions I do I just listen I just you know I just want the entrepreneur to get out what is in his mind because the solution is I am not a person who is you know I am not a person who is sitting where analyzing the problem and giving a solution it is a solution is in entrepreneur's head you know you are just helping that you know helping to figure out that focus and that answer which the entrepreneur wants and that cannot happen without listening right you have to just focus most of the times you know many mentors you also meet who are just like talking for 2 hours and giving their life examples that is good but you have to also understand is the recipient what is running in recipient's mind you know and most of the time at least at that stage where you are stock or you want to understand how to scale it is very important for them to you know just talk and express because most of the time they don't have anybody to talk to most of the time they are sitting with their team members you know whom it is with them it is almost like guiding all the time but somewhere they need to share you know they can't share with their family because they will feel that this person is in stress but most of the time it is just listening for the mentors and I think that is what I have done and I just love you know most of the time they will come you know while talking to I realize that this is the solution wow because they just got a platform to speak now absolutely and I think even both the mentor and the mentee have to be good listeners in order to be able to help each other and sometimes as you said you have to be able to just solidify the solution which is already in the mind of a founder and make it more purposeful for them to say this is the direction you are not running for him right he is running you are just guiding him yeah so I mean it is so wonderful talking to you I mean it is you know the coaching business coaching industry is just becoming bigger and we know I mean the way the startups are growing and way young founders and today even you know I see college graduates starting up they need so much coaching today to happen I mean recently we saw somebody in a school getting funded so now if we are going to see that kind of ecosystem there is going to be immense need for business coaching in our country and not just the startups but the coaches also have to be prepared to be able to give the right advice to our founders train the trainer thank you thank you so much indeed I think some of the advices that you have shared with us today would serve as great insights for future coaches who are going to be mentoring the young founders thank you thank you so much