🚀 From 0 to 800 Sessions: The Mentorpedia Launch Strategy

How we validated product-market fit, built trust at scale, and activated hundreds of student-mentor connections — with zero paid ads.

TL;DR

Mentorpedia was launched to solve one clear problem:

“Students want mentorship, but they don’t know where to find the right people or how to reach out.”

We went from idea → MVP → 800+ 1:1 sessions in just a few months by building credibility early, activating micro-communities in colleges, and creating a booking flow that felt more like a conversation than a transaction.

This post covers our real GTM plan — user personas, positioning, launch strategy, and metrics.

🧠 The Challenge

In India, students face a mentorship gap:

• Career confusion post-COVID

• LinkedIn DMs rarely lead to real conversations

• Lack of affordable or accessible platforms beyond coaching centers

Yet, thousands of mid-level professionals are willing to help — if you make it easy.

Mentorpedia was built to match these two audiences — but trust was the missing bridge.

🎯 User Personas

1. The Curious Learner (Mentee)

• Age: 18–22

• 2nd to 4th year undergrad student

• Confused about internships, career paths, or higher studies

• Prefers learning from people over videos

• Fears reaching out to strangers on LinkedIn

🗣 Messaging: “Book a 1:1 call with someone who's already walked your path.”

2. The Mid-Career Giver (Mentor)

• Age: 26–35

• 2–7 years into career at Swiggy, Zomato, Razorpay, Google, etc.

• Wants to give back, improve public speaking, or explore side income

• Doesn’t want spam or unstructured calls

• Prefers curated, serious mentees with scheduling control

🗣 Messaging: “Impact a student’s life in 30 mins a week. We handle everything else.”

🚀 Go-To-Market Strategy

Phase 1: Stealth Mode Validation (20–50 Users)

• Built MVP with mentor sign-up, booking engine, and Google Meet integration

• Reached out to early mentors via cold LinkedIn + warm networks

• Manually booked sessions via Google Sheets + Calendly + WhatsApp

• Used Notion for internal tracking + feedback loop

✅ Goal: Validate supply-side interest + real mentee demand
📊 Result: 45 sessions booked in 2 weeks

Phase 2: Beta Launch with Campus GTM (50–400 Users)

🧲 Acquisition Channels

• College Clubs & Placement Cells (starting with GBU, Graphic Era)

• Designed shareable referral links with credit rewards

• Ran live webinars: “How to break into UI/UX”, “How to get your first internship”

• Built ambassador program: 1–2 volunteers per campus as “Mentorpedia Guides”

📄 Landing Page Strategy

• Created campus-specific landing pages (e.g., /mentorpedia/gbu)

• Used social proof from real students and mentors

• CTAs: “Book Your First Mentor Call – Free Credits Inside”

✅ Goal: Create viral loops via peer sharing and clubs
📊 Result: 410 sessions in 30 days

Phase 3: Organic Growth + Trust Loops (400–800 Sessions)

🔁 Loop Design

• Credits for attending, giving feedback, or referring friends

• Mentors who got high ratings were featured on home screen

• Added WhatsApp-based nudge bot: “Book your next call” with pre-filled mentor list

📈 Optimization Experiments

• Reduced friction on sign-up form (cut steps from 6 → 3)

• Switched homepage CTA from “Explore Mentors” → “Book Your First Call” (conversion ↑ by 22%)

• Highlighted student testimonials on booking flow pages

✅ Goal: Reduce CAC to near-zero and scale via habit loops
📊 Result: 830 sessions booked in ~10 weeks from launch
👥 Avg. session rating: 4.8/5

🧪 Campaign Measurement & Metrics

MetricValueTotal Sessions830+Avg Session Duration38 minutesMentee to Mentor Ratio6.2:1Session Completion Rate88%Feedback Form Fill Rate67%Referral Participation31% of usersCampus Reach20+ universities in India

📥 Tools We Used

• Figma → UI/UX, mentor profile templates, social banners

• Firebase → Booking engine backend + real-time database

• Google Meet API → Auto-generate call links

• Typeform → Session feedback & ambassador onboarding

• Notion → GTM planning, mentor onboarding SOPs

• Framer → Landing pages

• Zapier + WhatsApp Cloud API → Booking nudges

• Glide App → Internal ops dashboard

💡 Key Takeaways

1. Trust > Features

A smooth UX didn’t matter until users trusted the people on the platform.
That’s why we led with mentor credibility, not fancy UI.

2. Personal Networks Scale Faster Than Ads

Our earliest 500 users came from:

• Referrals

• WhatsApp shares

• Ambassador credibility
  We spent ₹0 on paid ads.

3. PMF is felt when you remove friction

Once students could:

• Find a mentor

• Book in <2 mins

• Join via Meet
  ...they didn’t need onboarding. They just used it.

Final Thoughts

Launching Mentorpedia wasn’t about going viral.
It was about earning trust at scale — 1 call, 1 session, 1 story at a time.

And when 100+ students told us:

“I wish this existed in my first year” —
That’s when we knew we were on the right track.

🚀 Want to explore more case studies or product strategy behind the scenes?
Visit → amishsri.framer.website
Connect → LinkedIn