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The Mentors

How often they meet: Frydryk and Peet used to visit about once a month. Now they meet irregularly.

Best advice given: Peet told Frydryk, "Before starting your own business, you really would be wise to make your mistakes on the payroll of someone else's business. It's a very sound theory." --Stephanie Gruner

Mentor: Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman Marcus

How they met: Leveen read Marcus's book Minding the Store and wrote him a fan letter. Marcus wrote back.

Best advice given: "No sale is a good sale unless it's a good value for the customer." --Stephanie Gruner

Mentors: Tara Donohue, co-owner of a children's clothing wholesaler called Loo NÄ, and Cecilia Lynch, a strategic-planning and brand-development consultant at Beam Inc.

How they met: Lane found Donohue and Lynch through WISE (Women's Initiative for Self Employment), a microlending program through which Lane qualified for three loans and a mentoring arrangement.

How often they meet: Lane spent six months each with Donohue and Lynch, meeting with each woman twice a month for up to five hours at a time.

Best advice given: Lynch stopped Lane from hiring the wrong key manager. "In one case, Cecilia helped me screen candidates for a management position. She was really instrumental in helping me choose the right person for the job. I probably would have hired the wrong person. She's very seasoned. And I was completely new at it. It was really helpful to have another opinion." --Stephanie Gruner

Mentor: David Pitassi, founder of Drypers, a $287-million baby-diaper manufacturer

How they met: At a luncheon sponsored by the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO), a networking organization. Pitassi was speaking at the luncheon, and Eldredge approached him.

How often they meet: Pitassi and Eldredge meet every three months.

What mentor has learned from the relationship: "You learn just as much from mentoring someone as you do from having a mentor. I've learned a lot from Kevin. Like the fact that I don't have all the answers. I've also learned a great deal about the software industry. I'm much more technologically savvy than I used to be. I now invest more in software companies--not only public but also private companies." --Stephanie Gruner

Mentor: Bob Metcalfe, founder of 3COM

How they met: Luck--Marcus met Metcalfe on a buffet line at an MIT Media Lab reception in Boston. They both went for the chocolate-chip cookies at the same time and struck up a conversation. As Metcalfe has since recalled the meeting, Marcus wouldn't let him leave the conversation until he gave her his business card.

How often they meet: Periodically. Marcus estimates that she tracks Metcalfe down every three or four months. He often hosts "entrepreneurial salons" at his home, and she always tries to attend.

Best advice given: That networking is critical. Marcus's first company, Exos Inc., went through a rather dramatic metamorphosis--from a serious medical-products research-and-development company to a designer of video-game joysticks. Metcalfe put Marcus in touch with entrepreneurs who made mice for PCs. Out of that meeting, the change in strategy was born. "Bob's a fantastic networker," Marcus says, "and it's one of the very most important things we entrepreneurs do. What can be more boring than standing in a food line at a reception, and yet what could have had a more material impact on the history of my company than that moment? Bob has taught me not to overlook any interaction that you might have with anyone. Every successful entrepreneur is a master networker." --Mike Hofman

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