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Mentor Agreement

Last updated: 14 May 2024

Introduction

The primary goal of a Virgin StartUp Mentor (“VSU Mentor”) is to build productive, mutually beneficial, sustainable and trusting relationships with our founders, in order to enhance their knowledge and ability to start, maintain and grow their business.

In this regard, we ask all VSU Mentors to take the time to read this Agreement carefully and agree to it – it’s there to protect you and to pave the way for sustainable, trusting relationships. This Agreement explains a number of things including, for example, the rules covering your use of the Community Platform as well as other information regarding your rights.

Please note that this Agreement forms part of our Terms of Use. Any capitalised terms in this Agreement are either defined in this Agreement where they are first used or a definition is included in our Terms of Use.

This Agreement may change from time to time and, if it does, the most up-to-date version will always be available on the Community Platform. We will indicate at the top of this Agreement when it was last updated. By continuing to provide the Mentor Service(s) after this Agreement has changed, you will be confirming that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by any revised Agreement.

You acknowledge that you have read and understood this Agreement and you agree to comply with this Agreement and our Terms of Use.

Mentoring Roles

The different categories of VSU Mentor roles (each a “Mentor Service”) are as follows:

  1. Join the community and shape discussions: Start a thread on the Community Platform, answer questions and share your comments on posts.

  2. Join a peer group: Share resources, tools and tips and industry knowledge in the peer-peer groups on the Community Platform.

  3. Mentor Office Hours: Dedicate time to Mentor Office Hours, where founders can book individual online sessions with you to discuss their specific business concerns, seek advice, or gain clarity on strategic decisions. These sessions provide personalised support and guidance tailored to the needs of each founder.

  4. Power Hour Workshops for Our Founder Community: Share your expertise and insights by leading a Power Hour workshop for our founder community. These workshops provide a platform for mentors to deliver focused sessions on specific topics, addressing key challenges or providing valuable skills and knowledge to our Community.

  5. Mentorship for Empower 100 Accelerator and Scale-Up Cohorts: Express your interest in becoming a mentor and guide an underrepresented founder on their Scale Up journey for 6 months. VSU Mentors play a crucial role in providing valuable insights, guidance, and support as founders navigate the various stages of their founder ventures.

  6. Attend a Changemaker event: Come join us for a speaker session and networking with our community of aspiring founders and early-stage businesses.

VSU Mentor Statements

You agree to the following VSU Mentor Statements:

  1. I accept that in exchange for providing the Mentoring Services as agreed with Virgin, Virgin shall grant me free access to the Community Platform for the duration of this Agreement;

  2. I agree to adhere to and be bound by the Code of Ethics for a VSU Mentor and the Community Guidelines, which are appended to this Agreement at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2;

  3. I acknowledge the Role Description of a VSU Mentor, which is appended to this Agreement at Appendix 3 and agree to fulfil said responsibilities to the best of my ability;

  4. I agree to act in an approachable and non-judgmental manner when providing support and guidance to the founders and to act in the interest of the founders at all times;

  5. I agree to encourage and motivate the founder and to challenge the founder, when appropriate, in a positive way;

  6. I agree to keep all information about the business and the founder completely confidential, sharing only with Virgin, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the founder;

  7. I agree not to have any commercial interest at all in the business or the founder for the duration of my role as a VSU Mentor;

  8. if I participate in Mentor Office Hours, I agree to provide Virgin within one week of each call with a founder, a feedback report summarising my contact with the business and the topics discussed;

  9. and I acknowledge and agree that VSU Mentors are independent contractors and are not employees, agents or representatives of Virgin and that Virgin or any member of the Virgin Group (as defined in the Terms of Use of the Community Platform) is not liable for the acts or omissions of VSU Mentors.

Indemnity

In providing the Mentor Service(s) you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Virgin and all other members of the Virgin Group, each of their respective subsidiaries and holding companies, each subsidiary of their respective holding companies and each of their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, representatives and agents (and you shall continue to indemnify them and hold them harmless) in respect of all losses, liabilities, costs, claims, damages, expenses and demands suffered in connection with your conduct as a VSU Mentor and in using the Community Platform, your behaviour towards us, other members of the Virgin Group, our and their representatives, other users, any breach of law, any breach of this Agreement, the Terms of Use or any breach of any third party's rights.

Data Protection

To the extent that Virgin Data (as defined below) is disclosed in accordance with this Agreement, the VSU Mentor shall:

  1. only process the Virgin Data in compliance with, and shall not cause itself or Virgin to be in breach of any applicable data protection laws, including by only processing the Virgin Data in compliance with data protection laws and the terms of this Agreement; and

  2. only process the Virgin Data on the written instructions of Virgin;

  3. notify Virgin immediately to dpo@virgin.com in the event that any of the Virgin Data is subject to a personal data breach;

  4. not transfer and/or disclose any Virgin Data to any other party nor transfer any Virgin Data outside the European Economic Area without the prior written consent of Virgin; and

  5. fully indemnify and keep Virgin fully and effectively indemnified against all costs, claims, demands, expenses (including legal costs and disbursements on a full indemnity basis), losses (including indirect losses and loss of profits), actions, proceedings and liabilities of whatsoever nature arising from or incurred by Virgin in connection with any failure of the VSU Mentor to comply with the provisions of this clause and/or data protection laws in respect of its processing of Virgin Data.

“Virgin Data” means all personal data in whatever form or medium which is (i) supplied, or in respect of which access is granted to the VSU Mentor (or any approved third party) whether by Virgin, a founder or otherwise in connection with this Agreement, or (ii) produced or generated by or on behalf of the VSU Mentor (or any approved third party) in connection with this Agreement.

Termination

Virgin may immediately terminate: your role as a VSU Mentor and your membership of the Community Platform in the event you:

(a) breach the terms of this Agreement;

(b) breach the Terms of Use of the Community Platform; or

(c) Virgin has reasonable grounds to believe that the VSU Mentor’s conduct in providing its services has been or is likely to be damaging to, or disparaging of, Virgin’s reputation.

You may terminate your role as a VSU Mentor at any time on two week’s written notice to mentoring@virginstartup.org and you acknowledge that at the end of the notice period, Virgin may terminate your membership of the Community Platform and remove any biographical information about you from the Community Platform.

Confirming your agreement

By confirming to Virgin: (a) that you agree to act as a VSU Mentor; and (b) what Mentor Service(s) you are providing; you agree to be bound by the VSU Mentor Statements (as set out in Section 3 above); and all other terms of this Agreement.

Appendix 1: Code of Ethics

We expect VSU Mentors to conduct themselves with the highest level of ethics, integrity, accountability and responsibility. It is the primary responsibility of a VSU Mentor to provide the best possible service to the founder and to act in such a way as to cause no harm to any founder.

Accordingly, our VSU Mentors must subscribe to this Code of Ethics and represent that they will:

  1. at all times operate within the limits of their own competence, recognise where that competence has the potential to be exceeded and where necessary refer the founder either to a more experienced Mentor, or support the founder in seeking the help of another professional, such as a counsellor, psychotherapist or business/financial advisor;

  2. make suggestions but never impose advice on a founder and make it absolutely clear that any final decisions are at the founder’s discretion;refrain from offering professional advice (including any professional financial advice) or information that may be false, confidential, misleading or where it is not possible to assess its accuracy;

  3. not inaccurately represent their own experience, education, employment or knowledge to Virgin or any founder;

  4. respect all copyrights, agreements, work, intellectual property and trademarks belonging to their mentees and comply with laws covering such areas;

  5. be aware of the potential for conflicts of interest of either a commercial or emotional nature to arise through the mentoring relationship and deal with them quickly and effectively to ensure there is no detriment to the founder or Virgin;

  6. not accept gifts, any financial advantage or payment of any kind or profit individually from the mentoring interaction, or from interaction with the founder or founder’s businesses outside of the mentoring interaction;

  7. not exploit the founder in any manner, including, but not limited to, financial, sexual or those matters within the professional relationship;

  8. disclose information only where explicitly agreed in writing by the founder unless required by law or where the VSU Mentor believes that there is convincing evidence of serious danger to the founder or others if the information is withheld; and

  9. obtain advance written permission from the founder and Virgin before releasing founder names as referees.

VSU Mentors understand that their professional responsibilities continue beyond the termination of any mentoring relationship – these include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • maintenance of agreed confidentiality of all information relating to clients and sponsors;

  • avoidance of any exploitation (financial or otherwise) of the former relationship;

  • provision of any follow-up which has been agreed; and

  • safe and secure maintenance of all related records and data.

Further, VSU Mentors represent they are not, and have not been, the target or subject of any regulatory or enforcement proceeding brought by any securities, commodities or other financial regulatory authority, self-regulatory organization or other law enforcement body.

Appendix 2: Community Guidelines

The latest version of the Community Platform Community Guidelines can be accessed here.

Appendix 3: Role Description

The primary goal of a VSU Mentor is to build productive, mutually beneficial, sustainable and trusting relationships with our founders, in order to enhance their knowledge and ability to start, maintain and grow their business.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

VSU Mentors are required to:

  • Establish and maintain professional boundaries with each founder

  • Encourage each founder to express and discuss their ideas, concerns and understanding of the business situation facing them

  • Work with each founder to find and translate information, understand problems, identify solutions, implement action plans and review and reflect on outcomes

  • Help founders to reflect and recognise progress, provide encouragement and support and celebrate success, in order to help them learn from mistakes

  • Refer founders to other sources of information, advice or further support when appropriate

  • Encourage founders to take responsibility for their own decisions, plans and actions

  • Strictly adhere to the Code of Ethics for VSU Mentors

VSU Mentors must under no circumstances provide investment advice (which is advice on the merits of buying, selling or entering into specific named shares, corporate/government bonds, corporate bonds, units in investment funds, warrants, futures, options, contracts for differences, personal pension schemes, residential mortgages or insurance contracts).

Key Experiences

It goes without saying that all VSU Mentors are inspirational, impressive and highly qualified, but they will each have different experiences – there is no single accurate description of an appropriate background. In this regard, we ask prospective Mentors to assess their own capability against a variety of traits in the initial application form.

After that, we interview each Mentor to gather more detail and build up a profile of their abilities. It is this profile that is then viewed by potential mentees and used to decide whether they would like to approach you to become their Mentor.

Key Skills

  • Excellent communication skills to include active listening

  • Interpersonal skills

  • Effective time management

  • Relationship building

  • Influencing and negotiation

Commitment

For the 1-1 mentoring of Empower 100 and Scaleup founders, VSU Mentors are required to establish initial contact with their founders and provide face-to-face sessions and/or video calls for a minimum of eight hours over six months. These sessions should occur more frequently at the start of the partnership either through face-to-face meetings, video calls, or a combination of the two, depending upon the preferences highlighted in both your and the mentees profile and your respective locations.

For mentoring on the Community Platform, commitment varies by the activity VSU Mentors are engaged in, for example, one day for Mentor Office Hours and one hour for Power Hour Workshops.

Where a VSU Mentor starts a thread or responds to a question on the Community Platform, VSU Mentors should follow up on such thread or question within two working days.

VSU Mentors can opt to support more than one mentee at a time but must be able to commit that minimum of 8 hours to each mentee with no detrimental effect on the quality of their support. If both parties decide that they would rather have face-to-face meetings than video calls, the matching system for founders and VSU Mentors will consider the geographical distribution of prospective matches in order to minimise travel for both parties where possible.