BECOME AN EIA MENTOR
Out of approximately 8 billion people worldwide, only 400 million are entrepreneurs.
Let's change that together!
Before becoming a mentor, here are a few requirements
ARE YOU MENTOR MATERIAL?
Our programs have 8 types of mentors and experts (business mentors, marketing mentors, design mentors, software mentors, hardware mentors, life coaches, IP lawyers, and investors. Their main goal is to be the inspiration and the motivation for participants. In addition to the following:
- Previous mentoring experience in an accelerator, incubator, hackathon, bootcamp, or startup program
- More than 3 years of experience working in or closely with successful startups or top multinational tech companies.
- Proven interpersonal skills and the ability to work with and in a team
Our mentorship is pro bono.
How the process works:
As a pitch coach and business mentor, it is always an inspiration to see how EIA enables future generations to solve the problems that matter with innovative business ideas by bringing the brightest minds together in a program that just works every time.
Dirk Lehmann
Pitch Coach & Innovation Advisor | Dirk Lehmann & Partners
2019 was my inaugural year as a marketing mentor for EIA. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside such bright, creative minds and passionate hearts from around the world. Being a part of this team has made me very confident that the future is very bright.
Katie Gilstrap
Assistant Professor of Marketing | VCU
The reason why I have the highest possible respect for the people who organize the EIA is the mission they carry. They’re creating a safe environment for students, so they could have hands-on experience and opportunity to experiment building their first-ever company with 0 risks.
Rene Rumberg
Founder | ConsultLab
"I've had the great opportunity to participate as a Marketing Mentor in six different editions of European Innovation Academy, and each one of them left me with some incredible memories.
As a mentor, I try to listen as much as possible, guiding startups along their way but without controlling them because I do believe that teams must make their own decisions.
Diego D'Aquilio
With a fair set of successes and failures in the startup world, I was hoping I’d be a valuable asset as a mentor in the EIA program. But I never expected to get that much back from the students! Their passion, work ethic, and incredible ability to adapt to unknown situations were so refreshing and inspiring.
Merily Leis
Head of Marketing | Klaus
It was an amazing time spent with lots of smart students around the world. I enjoyed every day due to the super-smooth organization. It was an intense and fulfilling experience which needs to be repeated 🙂
Arvydas Pleta
Co-Founder and CEO | Aichom
I've loved being a lecturer and mentor with EIA. The students are incredible, with such creativity, passion, and ambition - they are a pleasure to work with and teach. I've kept in touch with many of the students I've mentored, helping them get jobs and build connections even after EIA. It's been a joy watching these incredible young people grow and thrive.
Shira Abel
CEO & Lead Strategist | Hunter & Bard
The program provides an entrepreneurship school in a setting that doesn't depend on the lectures and textbooks. We build companies here and learn by doing. Everybody rolls up their sleeves and builds companies from scratch.
Rick Rasmussen
Industry Fellow | UC Berkley
With EIA, I was to share my expertise in building startups and developing products and the frameworks to many students across the world. Thank you for EIA to help bring forth my mentor skills.
Anand Arivukkarasa
I have been with EIA for 7 events in the past 5 years and that means a lot to me. The chance to give back and learn from the experiences of tens of teams every year makes it possible to see the world develop into a much more creative place. The EIA Events are a very unique thing to experience.
Fred Moritz
Creative Art Director | Reval STC
Innovation Academy is a high-energy program that brings out the best in its participants. I enjoyed watching each team and their ideas grow week-over-week and I am grateful to have had the chance to share my startup experience with the next wave of young self-starters.
Maeghan Smulders
Mentoring with EIA is like going back to school. It’s the ultimate learning challenge - developing your skills and growing your career by teaching others.
Maido Parv
Senior Visual Designer | Microsoft
EIA is not only a start-up program but is a family where participants, mentors, and the staff create a positive environment where it is good to be For me, even as a Mentor is a great growing experience.
Dario Olivero
Design Director |DORODESIGN
The European Innovation Academy is one of the foremost and advanced programme of its kind and I feel honoured being part of it.
Matt Kuppers
Founder & CEO | Startup Manufactory
EIA attracts very talented and dedicated students whom it is a joy to mentor. I love the mix from sharing best practice by mentors and other thought leaders and accompanying the student teams on their journey from idea to start up that can pass the grilling by potential investors. Therefore I keep coming back as a Chief Mentor.
Dagmar Eisenbach
The program is extremely well crafted and the work of the mentors is precisely defined, allowing us to work as a cohesive team with the sole goal of making the projects successful and delivering a superior educational experience to all participants.
David Carvalhão
Portugal Business Liaison | Vigil365
EIA 2020
During our programs, participants go through all the steps they need when building a company: starting with finding the right team and ending with presenting their solution to a large audience.
The goal of the programs is to facilitate learning. Obviously, we encourage our teams to continue working after the program, but it is more about changing the mindset, teaching them our methodology and tools.