Rick Rasmussen - Chief of Chief mentors in EIA

Rick Rasmussen
Chief of Chief mentors in Asia-Pacific Innovation Academy 2018

Please write an elevator pitch about yourself

Hi, I am Rick Rasmussen. I was born and raised in Silicon Valley and have lived through three successful careers here. Now working on my fourth. I also teach entrepreneurship at U.C. Berkeley.

Why do startups need mentors at all?
Entrepreneurship is like a journey through the fog. We’ve been on the journey before. Mentors can often help guide entrepreneurs around potential barriers, point out shortcuts and get through the fogginess of it all faster, easier and with fewer pitfalls along the way.

What is the question you should never ask from a Chief Mentor?

Can you write our pitch?

Who has been the Chief Mentor in your career?

My mother. After raising us up to our teen years, she then ran a congressional office in Washington DC as well as the executive staff for Alcoa. Taught us the value of hard work and fairness.

Describe your secret side project that people usually don’t know about?

Raising chickens 🐓

Wise words by our program team: 🤓
Chief mentors step into the program from the beginning on Day 0. They are there to help your team through the initial stages of team formation and who is who in your team, figuring out what is the problem that you are solving and who is your potential customer. They know how to tackle developing a great prototype and the real value of getting validation from your customers. As the chief mentors spend the longest time with your team from all the mentors, use their knowledge wisely as working with them gives you the base for success for the rest of the program. Chief mentors leave after Day 8.

Check out all our awesome mentors:

🇮🇹 EIA Italy
🇵🇹 EIA Portugal
🇨🇳 Asia-Pacific Innovation Academy
🇶🇦 Arab Innovation Academy