Mentor the founders who actually need what you know.
Pick your expertise areas, the stages you are useful at, and how often you can show up. We surface founders whose current ask lines up with your experience — and tell them exactly why you, so nobody’s time gets wasted on a bad first call.
- 20
- 1–4
- 100%
- GTM · Pricing
- Pre-seed · Seed
- 2 sessions / month
- Fintech · SaaS
Fewer names. Better reasons.
Startup Connect AI is not a directory you scroll. It is a short, ranked list you can interrogate — and a set of controls that keep the volume where you want it.
Matched on what you actually do
Expertise areas like GTM, pricing, hiring or enterprise sales — combined with the stages you are useful at and how close your experience sits to what a founder is building.
Your calendar stays yours
Say how many sessions a month you can take, accept only the intros you want, and share a Cal.com link when you are ready to meet. A match carries no obligation.
Founders arrive with context
Their stage, sector, current milestones and a pinned “currently asking for” line are all on the profile before the first call — along with the reasoning for why you were matched.
Credit that compounds
Endorse the claims you can personally vouch for, earn responsiveness badges from real activity, and build a track record of founders you have actually helped.
Four steps, and you are in the loop for every one.
Tell us your expertise
Areas you can genuinely help with, the stages you are useful at, your availability, and a session fee if you charge one.
See founders matched to your stage and skills
Founders are scored against your expertise and stages. Weak fits are filtered out instead of being shown as a maybe.
Accept an intro when it fits
Founders request; you accept or decline. Declining costs nothing and takes one click. Messaging opens only after you both agree.
Meet, then log how it went
Book through Cal.com, meet, and record the outcome afterwards. Your private notes are never shown to the founder.
You see why you were matched, before you say yes
Every line in an explanation is traced back to something the founder actually filled in, or to your own expertise profile.
“Stage match (Seed), and she is asking for help taking a B2B product into enterprise pricing — two of your strongest expertise areas.”
- Seed — founder’s profile
- Enterprise pricing — founder’s pinned ask
- GTM, Pricing — your expertise
- Fintech SaaS — founder’s profile
Worth checking: She has no enterprise deals closed yet, so expect groundwork before pricing strategy.
Give time on your terms
Built for India’s DPDP Act, and designed so that saying no is as easy as saying yes.
- Availability and session fee are yours to set, and every intro still needs your explicit accept.
- Notifications are in-app only — no email or WhatsApp blasts in v1.
- Withdraw matching consent to disappear from matching without losing your profile.
- Export everything as JSON, or delete your account with a 30-day restore window.
Before you sign up
Is this paid mentoring?
That is up to you. You can record a session fee on your profile, but payments do not run through the platform in v1 — you arrange those directly with the founder.
How much time does it take?
As much as you agree to. You set sessions per month on your profile, every intro needs your accept, and declining takes one click.
Do I need a verified badge to be useful?
No. Verification is coming; until then your expertise, your endorsements from founders you have helped, and your response history do the talking.
What if a founder isn’t a fit?
Mark “not a fit” with a reason. They drop off your list, and the reason is stored to tune how future founders are ranked for you.
Your experience, pointed at the founders who need it most.
Set up a mentor profile in about three minutes and see who is asking for what you know.