The founder of Lithuanian Business Angels says that mentorship is about the freedom to see and choose

Martynas Kandzeras, founder and board member of the Association of Lithuanian Business Angels, who has been creating and developing companies both in Lithuania and in other European countries for more than 18 years, was asked how, in addition to all his activities, he manages to become the most active Mentor in 2022. He says it's simple:

"At the beginning of the year, I decided to devote 40 hours to mentoring a year. When you commit to those hours at the beginning of the year, they are spread over the whole year, and when a mentee's request comes, you don't have to think much about "oh wait, I need to take that time away from someone or something else right now." In this sense and in this way, that time for mentoring arises."

On the idialogue platform Martynas had a total of 32 mentorships, because he believes that if you can help someone with your insights, why not to help. In addition, he is driven by curiosity - curiosity to get to know other people and hear their stories, learn about new ideas and grow together in the process.

"Another thing is that I have chosen a clear field - entrepreneurship. I am attracted to the process of how an idea turns into reality. So meeting people who have an idea and the opportunity to share my experience with those people makes sense. In mentoring the mentee firstly receives support, and secondly simple insights from my own experience brings new viewpoints to someone".

Martynas shares that he usually meets with the mentee for 1-2 times, where meetings are followed up by 15 minutes  calls or exchange of ideas by e-mail. Martynas' mentoring takes place according to the need: "If certain questions arise, we arrange a meeting again. People come back even after a year or more. My door is always open, so help, advice and discussion are always welcomed."

Finally, Martynas admits: "I am not the guy who knows it all and I don't believe that you can become such even after going through all the fire and waters. Each of us lives in our own context and has different targets moving around us - this is especially true in the startup ecosystem. In mentoring, I can only say "try to look from the other side, maybe you will find something useful for yourself."

Mentoring for me is partly about unscripting yourself, recognizing ingrained views or someone else's instilled ideas and processes. In order to be able to create your unique life script that leads to self-realization, you must first recognize what is not yours, and mentorship is precisely about that."