Expectations for Tsai CITY Mentors

The purpose of this detailed description is to clarify expectations in advance forthose seeking to engage as mentors through Tsai CITY’s mentoring programs to support Yale student innovators and entrepreneurs.

  1. Tsai CITY mentors acknowledge that confidentiality is essential for the success of a mentee's venture. Therefore, mentors agree that they will preserve the confidentiality of any venture-related information a mentee conveys to them in confidence and only use that information for the purpose of teaching and mentoring the mentee(s), absent specific written authorization from the mentee(s).  Examples of information presumed to be confidential includes, but is not limited to,
    1. the identity of potential investors
    2. the technology being developed by the venture
    3. the business model of the venture
    4. advice generated or received in connection with mentoring activities
  2.  Tsai CITY mentors are volunteers and are not to request or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation or anything else of financial value in exchange fortheir support for mentees.
    1.  This includes receiving equity, gifts, commissions, fees, or favors or benefits from mentees or third parties for recommending mentees’ ventures or encouraging mentees to purchase goods or services in which mentors have a financial interest.  
    2. Additionally, to provide unbiased mentorship and preserve the trust of mentees, mentors must not accept or continue a mentoring relationship if they have (or reasonably could be seen to have) a financial or other incentive that might arise from this relationship.  
    3. Also, to further avoid conflict of interest, mentors must disclose upfront if they are currently serving competing clients. Should a mentor decide to establish a formal business relationship with, or make an investment in, a mentee’s venture, the mentor must immediately notify Tsai CITY’s executive or managing director in writing and resign from the mentor role with that venture prior to negotiation of any terms.
  3. Yale University has policies on sexual and other forms of misconduct or harassment to provide an environment of trust between members of its community (e.g., students, faculty, staff and other institutional supporters, included but not limited to guests and consultants). Serious consequences exist in case of violations of such policies. Tsai CITY mentors belong to this community and thus agree to these policies as they may be updated from time to time, including the Policy on Teacher-Student Consensual Relations The University Title IX Coordinator has responsibility for ensuring compliance with Yale’s sexual misconduct policies, which are available at  http://smr.yale.edu. Questions regarding these policies can be directed to the University Title IX Coordinator at  elizabeth.conklin@yale.edu.