Jacques Renaud Mentor

A technologist, entrepreneur, and maker with more than 30 years of leadership experience in multiple industries I have to date:

• Advised well over one hundred company founders and leaders.
• Founded, grew and exited an international enterprise software company.
• Led turnaround of underperforming multinational manufacturing plants.
• Led the development of award-winning software to optimize production line planning and scheduling for The Coca-Cola Company.

Building a successful company is one of the hardest projects you will ever undertake. I have built a technology company from the ground up, learned some hard lessons, and survived all sorts of forces that tried to kill my project along the way. I successfully sold my company a few years ago and am now giving back to the entrepreneurial ecosystem by helping founders navigate the full rollercoaster business building journey.

We have open, honest and candid communications. You are fully committed to your venture. As a mentor my role is to provide suggestions, thoughts, ideas, and advice on goals, activities, and progress. As a mentee, you drive the relationship. You ask for advice and feedback on the most important things your business needs to achieve in the short and long term and I will do my best to provide assistance where I can.

For a startup – I typically like to start with a conversation about the business they want to build. What is it – what’s your idea? Who’s it for? How did you come up this idea? What’s the hard part? Etc …

For an operating company. I like to start with a quick flyover of your company and industry followed by a discussion about what you believe is the most important thing your business needs to achieve in the next few weeks/months.

Those initial conversations inform and prioritize the questions that need answers and the logical next steps.