Fund India

🧠 Why Founders Flee When You Mention Paid Mentoring or Consulting

…and why only 3–7 out of 100 are actually worth your time

Let’s get this straight.

Everyone’s enthusiastic when they hear “I help startups raise capital, fix GTM, or scale operations.”

But the moment you say “My fee is ₹X,” the energy changes.

 Suddenly they're “restructuring”, “talking to investors”, or “looping back in Q3.”

 Translation? ❌ They just wanted free gyaan, intros, or pitch help.

📊 What the data and reality say:

Out of 100 founders/startups:

✅ 3–7 will pay without blinking

 • They’ve burned their fingers before and know the cost of free advice

 • They’re likely second-time founders, or funded, or just sharp

 • They value time over pride

🤷‍♂️ 10–15 are maybe

 • They need to hit a pain point first ,failed fundraising, stuck GTM, poor CAC

 • They’ll “come back” once they realize Google, ChatGPT, and friends aren’t enough

 • You’ll waste time converting them

❌ 75–85 will NEVER pay

 • They think advice = charity

 • They confuse mentorship with therapy

 • They want investor intros, pitch rewrites, go-to-market plans all for free

🎯 Why Do They Run When You Mention Payment?

They’re Broke

Not a crime. But they won’t admit it, they’ll just ghost. If ₹10K is a blocker, what are they doing building a startup?

They’ve Been Burned

Everyone’s been scammed by some “7-figure coach” who sells funnels or fluff. Now they treat every consultant like a con.

They Want Execution, Not Strategy

Translation: “Can you do the work while I call myself CEO?”

That’s not mentoring. That’s co-founding. No thanks.

They Value Tools Over Brains

They’ll pay ₹15K/month for Notion, Canva, and Slack, but hesitate to pay ₹ xxxxx K for advice that could 10x their outcome.

Their Ego Won’t Let Them Learn

 “Our CEO built this company, I know it best” until reality slaps them with churn, no PMF, or a Series A rejection.

🔥 Real Talk

If you’re too cheap to invest in insights, you’ll pay heavily in mistakes.

If you expect free mentoring, ask yourself this:

 Would you give me 10 hours a week of your time ,for free, to work on my startup?

Just to be clear: mine is a "X" M$ revenue-generating, profitable, bootstrapped company, Still feel like volunteering?

If the answer is no, don’t expect it from anyone else either.

😱Mentorship is not a charity.

👍Consulting is not “helping out.”

 If I’m giving you time, strategy, network, and clarity, I’m saving you lakhs in mistakes, not charging you for conversation.

🚀 I Don’t Work With Freebie Seekers

I work with founders who:

Know the value of speed + clarity

Are in the 5% who act, not just ask

Want strategic direction + tactical moves, not pep talks

Treat consulting as an investment, not a cost

If you’re one of them DM or drop “MENTOR” in the comments.

If not, please continue asking ChatGPT and LinkedIn gurus for free tips.

We’ll catch up when you’ve spent 18 months going in circles.