Research from Dr. Andrey Kostyuk at the Grenoble Ecole de Management supervised by Prof. Martina Battisti, a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy, and Director of European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, reveals that successful startup mentoring operates as a complex social exchange where both mentors and entrepreneurs must benefit for ventures to thrive. The findings advance the understanding of entrepreneurial mentoring and provide a blueprint for designing more effective mentoring programs that could accelerate sustainable startup growth worldwide.