EntMent is a Mentoring club for Software Entrepreneurs. The club is packed with abnormally intelligent people who enjoy nerdy jokes, even though some consider those attributes to be mutually exclusive. Conversation is usually mind-expanding, as we help each other create software-enabled businesses (aka: e-biz or e-business, web-services, cloud SaaS architectures, stand-alone applications, widget, hosted whatnots and virtual dodads).
* ent [pronounced "ehnt" from Monty Python En•tre•pre•neur "ahhhN-tRuh-pRuhhh-nŒŒŒRRRHHH"].
(a) –noun: a person who takes risks to launch an innovative business.
(b) –noun: a talking tree in Lord of the Rings.
(c) –verb (used with software object): to boldly go where no person has gone before.
(d) –verb (used without software object): to attempt battle without a primary weapon.
An older, more experienced, and thus potentially wiser, Ent.
Not all business visionaries know what a flux capacitor is. Yet, some of our coolest members are business development people, smooth operators, socially, but that does not mean they tell the best jokes. In fact, coolness, when defined in a less sociometric... OK, OK, whatever. Maybe some of our Ents are nerds who can't "sell" their ideas very well, but some sales people can't always problem solve, touché.
Nothing.... Well, unless you want to buy the drinks, we don't mind if you do that. We do sell tickets to our annual Demofest Unconference. You can buy those at the door if you like.
Each month we organize a local and informal gathering for members. Ents demo their offerings, or give a visionary pitch about their intentions. Ments tend to be Serial Entrepreneurs, Angel Investors, Legal Experts, Venture Capitalists, Investment Bankers, Bartenders, Innocent Bystanders, etc. Sometimes we organize a Q&A with a CEO or CTO of a local startup, but typically not in their boardrooms, but we prefer less corporate places where you can get alcohol and chips.
Each local club chapter has its own favorite spots. In Mississauga, Ontario, we use a big table at a pub, coffee shop or restaurant. In Denver (US), we meet at Dave and Busters or in the Tattered Cover Bookshop cafeteria. If there is no local club near you, SiteClone and start one.
Check Events to see if someone has already planted the EntMent flag in your town. If not, SiteClone and start one. Its free if you get there first, but if you are too late you could shower bribes on whoever got there... just kidding. We are a not-for-profit club, remember.
EntMent provides all the support you need to get your own local chapter up and running, you only need about an hour of effort to edit your own website. But be warned, the first few months can be slow, because it's all about giving and gaining trust. You might not start to feel the love for several months.
Please only plant an EntMent flag in your local area if you are the type of person who gives back. Only the most benevolent of crusaders should plant flags!
Check out the Demofest Unconference teaser video
Ments volunteer their own time to advise Ents, without getting paid. Yeah, it amazes us too! Some of our Ments are successful serial Entrepreneurs, co-founding companies with $billion market capitalizations, they could easily be earning a LOT of money instead of helping Ents.
Even though most Ments are serving senior executives with busy day jobs, who typically enjoy giving back because they too were helped by Ments when they started out. We suspect they gravitate to those Ents who remind them of themselves.... and yes, that kind of "Entcharisma" may be the only qualification you need to get them on board.
To persuade a Ment to spend serious time on your startup, show the Ment you are serious, e.g.
Most Ments say their success was only possible because great people helped them. Everyone who succeeds gets a choice: they can sail off into the sunset, or they can turn around and show others where sunshine comes from. What would you do?
Of course, Ents sometimes offer Ments a deferred income for providing project-specific services. Sometimes, after Ents receive funding, they will retain their Ments as interim-executives or Advisory Board members. Ments can also offer to buy equity in Ents they are inspired by, or they can offer to work pro-bono in exchange for "sweat equity".
However, Ents are never obliged to purchase anything from any Ment, and any transactions between Ents and Ments is private between them, and not part of EntMent's not-for-profit mandate.
Of course they can.
Ments are more-experienced Ents, so they can also be paid with equity instead of cash . For example, Ents can offer a Ment sweat equity, (x chunks of equity for y days work). Ents rarely offer any equity to a Ment until the Ment has shown some of what she/he can do, and Ent+Ment matchmaking can take a while, so take your time and pick your partners wisely.
To retain control of your startup, you should aim to keep more than 50% of the voting equity shares. It is up to you whether you want to sell some of your startup's equity to a Ment (for cash or sweat), or to any other investor.
If a Ment invests in you, they may expect the same rights as other founders, relative to their minority ownership position. However, there should be no reason for a Ment to want special or controlling interests in your company, and they have no God-given right to insist on a Board seat or any other uncommon investor privileges.
But really, it's all up to the Ent, everything is negotiable, right?
No, not unless they are using a lot of software. We help launch technology-enabled companies which are typically web-based. We help software companies, software product companies, software service companies. We also help "un-companies" who try to make the world a better place using information technology. We prefer to help scalable companies (where an increase in sales volume increases the unit value of everything sold), and we prefer startups that will globalize.
We are not much help to startups in banking/finance, military, biotech, medical or desktop-IT consulting sectors, and we can't really help service providers that have no runway beyond a market niche that will soon tap out. Also, we aren't really geared-up to revive dying companies, we just help to create new ones.
There is no such thing as a lone Ent. Without a team, you are not an Entrepreneur, you are just a dreamer. However, dreamers also make the world a better place. BTW, a dreamer who can inspire others to help them is called a visionary, and apart from selling, having a vision is perhaps the most important thing a CEO can do.
A lone Ent's startup is already lacking more skills than the Ent can even imagine. To start with, a lone software developer might look for business and/or marketing experts. A lone salesperson might not make much progress without a decent developer helping them.
You can be the only founder, and then hire a team that owns zero equity, but only if you have enough cash. If you do it this way, don't expect the same passion or dedication you can get from Entrepreneurial co-founders. Keeping all the equity for yourself is sometimes compared to hording the entire cake at your Birthday party, even if you must die in order to eat more than is humanly possible.
Some Ents have customers and funding already, some Ents don't yet have a company set up, just a vague idea of what they want to do. Being an Ent is not about business status, it is a state of mind. If your idea will help people, if you will nurture a dream into life even if it takes years, then you, my friend, are an Ent.
We don't need the recipe for your secret sauce to understand how to help you. However, we will ask lots of questions, and it is always prudent to show off only what you are comfortable showing.
It is up to individual Ments whether they will sign an NDA with you, and it is up to you whether you wish to trust them. We believe EntMent can survive the occasional misdemeanor by an Ent member, but it will not last long if a Ment member does anything unethical.
For Ments, business creation involves high-level contacts and powerful reputations, so Ents are required to avoid doing anything that will harm Ments' reputations, and of course, vice versa.
