The value of professional mentorship has long been established – but the process of acquiring a mentor and building impactful mentor-mentee relationships can be intimidating, uncomfortable, and short-lived. An unstructured, non-methodical and entirely-analog experience, professionals in search of mentorship have traditionally been left to their own devices to source and connect with potential mentors.
Montreal-based entrepreneurs Ashley Werhun and Katherine Macnaughton fell on the problem almost by accident.
Werhun, a professional dancer, and Macnaughton, a filmmaker, spent the majority of their lives in the creative world. As their professional arts careers flourished and began attracting public recognition, they began receiving requests for mentorship from younger artists at large. A mentorship practice in the arts was in-demand – but the process was far from ideal. After speaking with hundreds of artists who had long desired mentorship but “simply couldn’t find or access it easily,” they realized it was a problem that went beyond the creative world.
Werhun recalls they were constantly asking themselves, “Why is mentorship so hard to get? Why isn’t it accessible if everyone wants it?”
Their instincts were bang-on: numerous studies show the vast majority of millennials – over 87% – seek mentorship, but less than 37% actually have one. Companies equally benefit: a mentorship culture can contribute to a 72% increase in retention and employee engagement – a particularly pertinent issue in a distributed post-Covid world of work.
Mentorship, de-intimidated
The solution came to life as Mentorly, a full-service SaaS platform that revolutionizes the mentorship process and experience. A turn-key software solution, Mentorly includes matchmaking and profile viewing, native video calling, calendar bookings, instant messaging, analytics and (much) more.
The result? A formalized, non-intimidating, and digital-first transformation of mentorship as we’ve known it.
According to Werhun, the biggest challenge with mentorship comes from “big intention and low execution.” Mentorly facilitates mentorship by making the necessary resources accessible at one’s fingertips in a down-to-earth experience so those “big intentions” can actually be achieved. By systematizing a traditionally intangible, emotion-driven experience, Mentorly facilitates true relationship-building.
The mission to “de-intimidate” mentorship can be felt at every turn, from the vibrancy of the Mentorly website to the beautiful interface facilitating a fun user experience. But behind the design is a wildly-powerful, flexible tech stack built to easily onboard thousands of users with the strength of any enterprise-level software solution.
The aesthetics/function dichotomy lives even in Werhun herself: she exudes a sense of play and passion with a drive, discipline and a commanding of authority that can be felt even in a brief conversation.
“Mentorship has been left behind in innovation for too long,” Werhun said.
Investment & growth
The announcement of their most recent raise, with participation by Formentera Capital and other private equity investors, affirms Mentorly’s goal to become the category leader in mentorship programs and to act as a catalyst for growth for people and organizations alike is well underway. After spending years perfecting the scalability of the platform’s back-end technology, the latest round of investment will act as fuel to furthering the commercialization of Mentorly Enterprise, onboarding larger customers and scaling its impact.
“Investor fit” for Werhun and Macnaughton is something they never take lightly – and the decision to partner up with Formentera Capital was no different.
“Formentera Capital are simply smart tech entrepreneurs with proven track-records. They retain a connection to the humanistic element behind the technology, which aligns with our core values,” says Werhun. “From an advisory perspective, we feel we can pick up the phone any day, anytime knowing they will be there to guide us.”
While rapidly becoming Canadian tech darlings, Werhun and Macnaughton remain loyal to their roots: the problem they originally set out to solve – mentorship in the arts world – remains a major focus of theirs. Their clients in the arts industry include Canada’s Music Incubator, Creative Manitoba, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, among others.
The future is bright for Mentorly as they continue to help organizations yield a powerful digital solution to fortify human connectivity. Despite the exciting growth and recognition, Werhun confirms every round of financing means another opportunity to impact the lives of others. “We get to continue spending time working on this incredible thing that has been the greatest pleasure of my life.”
Formentera Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in tech-enabled companies that are good for the world.
