Use your real-world startup experience to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Your experience as a start-up founder is invaluable – and it can be transformative for young people thinking about their future careers.
When you become a START mentor, you play an essential role in preparing young people for the future of work, and introduce the possibility of entrepreneurship as a career path.
START is an SCQF Level 6 accredited entrepreneurship programme that brings the experience of launching a startup business to S6 pupils in schools across Scotland.
Over the course of 20 weeks, school leavers learn the principles of design thinking and entrepreneurial mindsets to go on a journey that begins with real-world problem spotting and culminates in a seed investor presentation.
A key element of creating a true ‘startup culture’ within the programme is industry mentorship from real-world startup founders.
By sharing the highs and lows of your entrepreneurial story with school leavers, you can have a direction-changing impact on the rest of their lives.
The role of a START mentor can be split into three key stages:
Encourage our pupils to build on their bright idea by thinking more deeply and entrepreneurially about their projects.
Once the concept is defined, use your expertise to suggest practical next steps that will enhance their product or service.
Using the judging criteria, provide actionable feedback as startups prepare for the Pitch Final in March.
START mentoring sessions last for one hour each and take place monthly from November to March. Typically, mentors are paired with one or two startup teams from a single school.
To ensure mentors and pupils get the most out of the experience, we try to match you with teams working on projects that connect in some way to your experience and interests.
We normally assign one mentor to each school. Sessions are typically delivered live as this is how pupils gain the most value from them. However, we are open to remote mentors as we grow.
For our 2024/25 cohort, we were proud to partner with Scottish EDGE: Scotland’s biggest business funding competition.
Scottish EDGE aims to identify and support Scotland’s most exciting entrepreneurial talent, with grants and loans of up to £100,000 available to help develop startup businesses, social enterprises, and charities.
To date, 569 businesses have been supported with over £25 million in award funding.
Scottish EDGE is supporting START by helping to provide volunteer mentors for START participants from among their alumni community, to bring the lived experience of building and scaling a startup into schools.
Discover the impact START is having on school leavers.
