Halfway between mentoring and networking, the NextWomen launched its first Speed-Mentoring event last week, when entrepreneurs and professionals got invaluable advice from leading industry experts, acting as speed-mentors, from across various industries.

TheCube welcomed an inspiring group of 12 Speed-Mentors and 25 Speed-Mentees, mostly founders and CEOs, for an evening of networking and mentoring in a fun and relaxed environment.

To view the full list of Speed-Mentors and their biographies, please visit the event page.

Divided into four groups: Brains, Money, Passion and People, covering most of the issues a business could face, the Speed-Mentors, of which about half were women, were invited to meet each Speed-Mentee individually for 4 minutes.

To make the most out of those 4 minutes, most Speed-Mentees were obliged to exercise their pitch, making it short and straight to the point. Although most of the issues raised involved funding and scaling one's business, advice in all sorts of area were given such as people management or sales and marketing.

In between the two Speed-Mentoring rounds was a networking break. Although all Speed-Mentees already get the opportunity to meet the Speed-Mentors individually, the breaks allowed them to further their meeting but also enabled all attendees to network among themselves.

"I loved the fact that the number of people was limited to a manageable number and we got sufficient time to network with all the other entrepreneurs and mentors. It was also refreshing to meet lots of other single founders and not only polished, VC ready teams as is often the case." Stefan Richter, Founder of Scribblar.com

After rotating through all the 12 Speed-Mentors, Speed-Mentees rated the overall group of Speed-Mentors 4.6 out of 5. 39% of the Speed-Mentees found the time spent with Speed-Mentors from the Financial Services sector and Online Marketing/Strategy area (SEO and e-commerce experts) to be the most worthwhile.

Speed-Mentors were impressed to see such a wide variety of businesses led by motivated and ambitious entrepreneurs.

"I really enjoyed being a mentor at The Next Women Speed Mentoring event, the calibre of mentees and their passion was fantastic. Some truly great minds and ideas out there, it made me excited about being an entrepreneur again."

Lisa Myers, CEO of Verve Search (Speed-Mentor)

Speed-Mentees left not only with insightful custom advice from industry experts as well as from their peers, but also many new contacts - entrepreneurs, consultants and professionals.

"This event was one of the best I have attended yet. I left not only inspired but also having made numerous connections with key players who have the ability to help improve the trajectory of my overall business.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Zuhairah Scott, Founder of The Billion Dollar Girls Club (Speed-Mentee)

As the NextWomen learns from its first speed-mentoring event, it becomes clear that different stage companies have more or less questions around funding and legal, while most companies have questions around marketing, product development and business development regardless of their stage. As attractive as the thought of receiving advice from experts from many different areas may sound, some Speed-Mentees have suggested seeing less Speed-Mentors - either being able to choose them or having targeted events in each area.

More than a simple networking event, the NextWomen Speed-Mentoring event allowed attendees to receive invaluable guidance to help grow their business, and real networking depth which they don't usually have in other events. It is safe to say that most of the entrepreneurs left with more confidence, action items to improve their business, and valuable new connections.

The NextWomen Speed-Mentoring event has been made possible thanks to the help of its sponsors: Knowledge Dock and the European Regional Development Fund and our partner Telecom TV.