In 2020, I applied and was selected for the Startmate Fellowship. The Startemate Fellowship seeks to actively create opportunities for women from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences to enter startups, whilst challenging the startup community to think differently about where their talent comes from.
The two-month, intensive program included ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions with global operators, founders and investors, functional workshops, and networking opportunities within the startup ecosystem. We had unique access to phenomenal speakers who shared amazing insights and advice from hard-earned experience. I captured some of these ‘advice gems’ and have published them in the interactive mind map below.
Here's a few ‘advice gems’ to whet your appetite.
Change is like building a muscle ... it gets easier with time.
Own your seat at the table. You won’t be there if you didn’t deserve it
Careers don't get handed to you on a plate. Being hardworking and hoping to be noticed is not a good strategy. Hope is not a strategy. Be bold.
You need to say ‘no’ to the many good things that come your way so you can say ‘yes’ to the great things that come your way.
To see the rest, check out the below.
Want to know more about the Fellowship? Take a look at Startmate Fellowship website.
How to navigate the mind map
You can scroll around the mind map canvas, zoomed in and out, fold and unfold branches. It's an interactive mind map, so you'll need to click the number bubble as shown below to view/hide the advice gems.
Left image - how the mind map should look when the page loads.
Right image - advice gems are revealed when a topic is expanded.
You can also use the tool bar in the bottom right to set the zoom percentage (left icon), go into full screen mode (middle icon), or expand the mind map into a separate tab (right icon).
The mind map aesthetics and user experience are best maintain if only set of advice gems is shown at any one time.
Interactive mind map:
Startmate Fellowship - Advice Gems
Additional Resources
PDF version of the mind map, including text outline, is provided below.