Mentor Hours

Meet the minds behind the unicorns and get advice from people who’ve done it all before. Mentor Hours connects rising startups with established experts for 45-minute meetings.

Apply for our 2025 startup program, and join us next year in Lisbon.

What is Mentor Hours?

Mentor Hours is a series of pre-scheduled, 45-minute meetings between our high-level attendees and startups.

Mentor Hours has four distinct tracks: lead, engage, build and grow. Each track has a specific focus and mentors with relevant expertise to ensure you discuss the issues most important to your startup.

Mentors spend 45 minutes coaching startups in a group session. This mix of backgrounds means the session will be shaped by individual and collective experiences in the startup community.

Lead

Master the art of leadership, strategy, entrepreneurship and hiring. Our attending CEOs and managing directors will share their experience on enhancing leadership capabilities while optimising your team’s personal growth and company strategy.

Engage

Learn how to tell your story to the world. Our attending brand experts will share their personal experience on marketing, brand identity, social engagement and public relations. This is your chance to ask questions you can’t ask the media or your customers.

Build

Learn more about product development, software, hardware, big data, UI, UX or front/back-end development. Our attending engineers, data scientists and product designers will share their extensive personal experience on all things tech.

Grow

Raising capital or just need financial guidance? Quiz our attending investors and top-level fund managers on the do’s and don’ts of financial management, or ask your burning questions about negotiating investment or applying for a business loan.

Meet our 2024 mentors

Carla Viegas-Barber
Carla Viegas-Barber
Founder & CEONimbld Ventures
Stefan Despotovic
Stefan Despotovic
DevEx & Startup PartnershipsInfobip
Cian Hughes
Cian Hughes
Head of Venture Capital AI EMEAOracle
Dora Trachana
Dora Trachana
PartnerUni.Fund VC
Jana Budkovskaja
Jana Budkovskaja
PartnerBeamline fund
Francis Ireland
Francis Ireland
Investment AssociateGresham House Ventures
Marie Fabiunke
Marie Fabiunke
Co-founder and CEOCosmyc Partners
Rafiq Ahmed
Rafiq Ahmed
Manging DirectorDipalo Ventures
Xiaomin Mou
Xiaomin Mou
Regional Lead, Turkey, Central Eastern Europe + Central AsiaIFC international finance
Patricio Hunt
Patricio Hunt
Managing PartnerIntelectium Ventures
Silvina Moschini
Silvina Moschini
Founder & CEOUnicorns
Gil Azevedo
Gil Azevedo
Executive DirectorUnicorn Factory Lisboa
Alicia Grimes
Alicia Grimes
Co-FounderThe Future Kind
Flo Akinbiyi
Flo Akinbiyi
International Presenter
Franz Diekmann
Franz Diekmann
PrincipalCapnamic
Menaka Gopinath
Menaka Gopinath
Chief Marketing OfficerProject Management Institute
Rudolphe Cabral
Rudolphe Cabral
Founding PartnerDjassi Africa
Deepak Ahuja
Deepak Ahuja
PartnerGreen Shores Capital Limited
Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes
Founding PartnerChasing Rainbows
Jeffery Potvin
Jeffery Potvin
Founder/CEO, GPSUPPORTERS FUND/OPN
Web Summit Centre Stage viewed from a distance, with a packed crowd.

"Web Summit is now the largest gathering of entrepreneurs."

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Speaker Sebastien Borget, The Sandbox, on Centre Stage during day two of Web Summit 2022

"The world’s biggest tech event."

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Kubo Robotics co-founder and CEO Tommy Otzen celebrates with arms in air after winning PITCH at Web Summit 2016.

"The largest technology conference in the world.”

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