After launching the private beta of Fowndr and getting 1000 invitation requests, something occurred to me which struck a chord with my own experience in startups. I think there is a real lack of great tech mentors that are easy to reach out to and connect with.

I just wish there had been a group of founders I could have asked questions to a few years ago when I started my SaaS business. Quora didn't exist then, and now there is a surge of similar websites where people can ask questions - and that's great. But what about being able to really reach out and be mentored by them.

It seems evident that there are lots and lots of startups out there wanting to learn, grow and belong to a community of founders who they can follow and be mentored by. I know because I've seen a massive interest in @fowndr.

What I, and others want, is a place where we can read stories about how startup founders have tried stuff out, how they've learnt lessons, how they've experimented with PPC or Reddit advertising, how they've gained a reputation for great customer support. While reading this stuff I want to be able to actually discuss it with them and ask questions, I want to be able to vote up their post and give them experience points, I want to be able to find others who also are learning off these 'mentors'.

So that is how I want to position Fowndr. At the moment it's taking on a Forrst style posting system but there aren't a huge amount of founders sharing their experiences on there (ok so there's only 50 of us actually in the private beta at the moment!). The reason why, I think, is because there is no real incentive for me as a founder to be vulnerable and share my failed projects, likewise I'm not sure that I want to share my best kept secrets about say 'increasing goal conversion rates' to everyone without knowing who is following the thread and perhaps gaining a bit of kudos for doing it. I want to know who I am actually helping.

There needs to be a real vision and drive behind Fowndr and a good reason to come back, so that's why I'm introducing a new feature that will effectively form the ethos and the building blocks of what makes Fowndr.

Introducing Mentors

So when you log in you will be presented with a Dashboard saying who your current mentors are, and who your followers are (anyone can be a mentor, you just need to have something you want to share). You'll see recent posts from your mentors (that's the stuff I really want to read and look forward to seeing), and you'll see posts from everyone (public posts).

If you see a public post and like what someone is saying you can request for them to be your mentor, then if accepted you can Up-Vote their posts and give them experience points.

Each mentor will have a channel (or tag) which they tend to post in. That way you will be able to filter and search through your stream by what you are currently needing help with, for example 'pricing models' or 'pivoting'.

Remember, that as a mentor your posts will only be read by those you accept to mentor (unless you want to share with the wider network). This provides a certain level of trust and allows you to know who is reading your posts.

Incentive

Yes there is still the old chicken and egg problem in trying to get mentors to share experiences, but I hope that by making this feature the drive behind Fowndr (instead of the casual Forrst style posting), there will be a lot more incentive to share lessons, stories, tips, experiences and thoughts on Fowndr. Why? Because...

• Mentors will get experience points based on the success of their post
• Mentors will be able to find out who is following them and connect
• Mentors will be able to get feedback on new ideas they want to try out

All of this will happen inside a private network which the mentor creates, and that private network will be made out of a wider private network of founders who have only come in because they too have been invited and trusted.

Anyone can be a founder, but it takes more to be a mentor who is willing to share what they've learnt, and that is what I hope will really make Fowndr a success.

The feature won't take me long to build so I'll be working on that this week, then I'll bring in another batch of users from the waiting list hopefully by the weekend.