Jude Conway’s Mentoring Club is Entrepreneurial Advisors, Inc.’s (EAI) flagship program for advising and supporting early stage entrepreneurs. Jude Conway is a twenty year veteran of the venture capital industry. He is the author of the “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Understanding Angel and Venture Investing,” he is a frequent speaker at local and regional conferences and has taught entrepreneurial finance at a major Midwest university. Mr. Conway is the founder and CEO of Entrepreneurial Advisors and has counseled and advised hundreds of small business during his career.

Mr. Conway understands that “one size fits all” does not work when it comes to solving the unique problems faced by individual entrepreneurs. The best way for entrepreneurs to learn is through pragmatic real world cases. They learn from the experiences of those that have already faced similar problems in the past as well as from their peers who are facing similar issues in real time. We know that entrepreneurs develop new solutions to common problems when they network with business owners at a similar stage of development.

How it Works

I am limiting the number in the club to 21 entrepreneurs at a time and an additional 20 in a "virtual club"! 

Some have tried mentoring one hundred or more on a virtual basis but I believe this size group suffers from lack of personal contact and dilution of the mentor’s time and focus.

1. All entrepreneurs must have started business operations. No one will be accepted to the group based only on a concept or idea for a business.
2.  There will be three groups that will meet for 90 minutes each week in Des Moines, Iowa from 7:00 am to 8:30 am.  
3. No one will be accepted into the group if the entrepreneur is located more than 60 minutes from Des Moines. It is Mr. Conway’s experience that the farther from the venue the less likely the entrepreneur will make meetings. Those living farther than 60 minutes away see “Virtual Mentoring Club” below.
4. Depending on issues to be addressed Mr. Conway may bring in an expert in that field. Topics not discussed will be responded to by e-mail and may be held over for discussion the following week. 
5. Groups will be divided by stage of development or customer base with a limit of 7 in each group. Meetings will be initiated once a minimum of five entrepreneurs have registered for any one group.

 Tuesday Breakfast Club will be made up of no more than seven entrepreneurs who sell or plan to sell product or services to consumers as opposed to other businesses (retailers).  

Discussions will be based on problems or issues submitted by club members each week. On the Thursday prior to the meeting the list will be distributed to participants to prioritize, but Mr. Conway will have sole discretion on the final ranking. Mr. Conway will announce the topics to be discussed on Friday of the prior week.  

Thursday Breakfast Club will be made up of early stage companies that have had at least $20,000 in revenue for three out of the previous four months and sell goods or services to other businesses.  

Discussions will be based on problems or issues submitted by club members each week. On Monday the list will be distributed to participants to prioritize, but Mr. Conway will have sole discretion on the final ranking. Mr. Conway will announce the topics to be discussed on Tuesdays.  

Friday Breakfast Club will be made up of start-ups who plan to produce goods or services that will be sold  or are being sold to other businesses but have either no revenue or less than $20,000 in monthly revenue at the point of joining.  

Discussions will be based on problems or issues submitted by club members each week. On Tuesday the list will be distributed to participants to prioritize, but Mr. Conway will have sole discretion on the final ranking. Mr. Conway will announce the topics to be discussed on Wednesdays. 

Breakfast Club Members will also receive:

• A one hour session of one on one personal business counseling per month by Mr. Conway; 
• Responses to up to twelve e-mail inquiries a month by Mr. Conway or others on the EAI team; and, 
• Up to 30 minutes of Mr. Conway’s time via telephone monthly. Each member will be responsible for their own breakfast expense, as it is too difficult to predict attendance. 

Virtual Mentoring Club - Those more than 60 minutes from Des Moines may join the club virtually. This will not include the weekly meetings but will include 75 minutes a month of Mr. Conway’s time in any combination of personal and telephonic meetings.  

Any personal meetings will be held in the Greater Des Moines area. Meetings outside the Des Moines area are possible but travel expenses and a fee for Mr. Conway’s travel time must be negotiated.

Virtual clients will also receive responses to up to twelve e-mail requests per month to Mr. Conway and others on the EAI team.

People in the Des Moines area may also register for the “Virtual Membership”.

Virtual memberships will be limited to 20 entrepreneurs at a time

What it Costs

Regular Membership $169.00 per month or

$429.00 per quarter more than a 15 % discount!

Virtual Membership $119.00 per month or

$299.00 per quarter more than a 15% discount!

To Register

We will not accept registration fees until we have at least five persons in a group. Please e-mail Mr.Conway at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Provide him with the following:

• Business Name
• Average Monthly Revenue
• Whether your customers are other businesses or retail consumers
• Also provide him with the city in which the business is located

We will contact you when a group is large enough to get started. Remember admission is on a first come basis. Those too late for the initial group will be placed on a waiting list and notified when there are openings. 

Space is extremely limited. Get your application in Immediately!