Why Mentoring Marketplace is an Oxymoron
A new breed of platforms are misinterpreting the whole notion of mentoring
There have been a breed of platforms around for a while which position themselves as “mentoring marketplaces”. Some examples are websites like Mentorcruise & Mentorpass. The model of a marketplace is however not apt for something like mentoring.
A mentoring relationship is firstly that - a relationship. Not just a one-time or even multiple-times transactional interactions where information, knowledge or expertise is shared for an amount of money. In true mentoring relationships, value might be created by not sharing anything tangible, but maybe just a word of reassurance or some kind of emotional support.
True mentoring relationships are formed much more organically and are usually based on the mentee proving their worth for the mentor’s time and advice. The mentor gets the pleasure of giving back to someone deserving and hopefully being able to make a transformational impact on someone’s life. Money is not necessarily the driving factor in making the decision to enter such a symbiotic relationship.
These marketplace platforms are more consulting or advisory platforms for expertise - not mentoring platforms. Though terminology is not always important, it is good to be aware of these nuanced differences.
In any case, the services provided by experts in such platforms are so highly-priced that 99.9% of those who might need or benefit from mentorship are priced out of the market. The pricing, though, is quite logical when money is the primary consideration for time spent. However, money should, at best, be an initial indication of seriousness. The relationship should evolve based on actual proof of work demonstrated by the mentee and the enthusiasm shown by the mentor.
Matching people based on such fuzzy incentives and high initial hurdles is incredibly hard and hence building a marketplace platform seems an easy, profitable route to take. But true mentorship is more than the transaction of “tangible value”. It is the building of a potentially long-term relationship - that you can fall back on, whenever you need. At your worst of times. Difficult to put a price on that!