From VPE to solo mentor: 317 billed sessions in year one

· by Marian Kamenistak

Marian Kamenistak speaking at an engineering leadership event.

From VPE to solo mentor: year one cover

Achieving €300,000 revenue with my Central European Software Engineering Leadership venture.

Year one data (July 2022 → July 2023)

Mentoring

  • Volume: 317 billed sessions across 26 mentees from 16 companies or individuals.
  • Funding: 19% self-funded, 81% company-funded.
  • Global reach: 64% Czech Republic, 12% US, 12% Slovakia, 6% UK, 3% Poland, 3% Israel.
  • Conversion: 76% post-intro client conversion rate.
  • Feedback: 9.03/10 average since I started collecting formal ratings in Jan 2023.
  • Composition: 52% debutant Engineering Managers, 19% mid-level managers, 29% CTO/CPO ranks.
  • Remote: 93% online via video.
  • Avg engagement duration: 7.3 months.
  • Inbound funnel: 74% word-of-mouth, 17% social media, 9% website.

Advisory (fractional CTO / audit)

  • Volume: 79 days billed across 3 firms.
  • Scope: engineering metrics, internal audits, due diligence, structural shifts, career frameworks, agility.
  • Rate: €1,550-2,100/day excl. VAT.
  • Funnel: 100% word-of-mouth.

Phase 0: Pre-launch

My last full-time role was VPE at Mews, where I helped the company survive Covid, stabilise R&D, and grow engineering from 8 to 80 teams. I built a new team every month in the last year while keeping quarterly roadmap delivery over 80%.

We turned engineering into a differentiator. Mews reached Series C on that engine.

Under the surface, I’m an introverted person deep in my mind. I push myself to polish how I talk and listen. The 16personalities test flagged me as “Doctor / Defender” (ISFJ), which pointed me at my niche. I feel best when I’m helping or earning the trust of the people around me.

I have a Computer Science degree from MFF UK: my bridge to tech experts and math-brain CTOs. I get the tech world because I was that geeky coder for 14 years before turning to leadership.

Marian Kamenistak with hand on forehead, looking at his laptop, contemplative.
Pre-launch, still an introvert running the numbers before making the leap.

The most precious career investment I’ve preserved for two decades is a strong learning routine. 4-8 hours a week, curated sources, purely technical for the first 14 years, progressively shifting to leadership as time went by.

Phase 1: Fuelling

April 2021: I relaunched the Czech Engineering Leadership meetup I had started in 2019: private, small, invited only people with something unique to add. Even virtual, the connections became strong.

Then I stepped out of the introverted comfort zone: I started blogging about leadership on the Mews tech site. My first post (“Building Trust with Engineering Teams”) took 11 evenings. Writing became my canvas and my weapon. It untangled thoughts I didn’t know I had.

Phase 2: System check

Back in 2021, my ex-boss Honza Široký planted the seed: try mentoring at PlatoHQ. I did, for two years. Alongside, I facilitated PlatoHQ circles with 12 people at a time.

The more engineering teams I led, the more urge I felt to support my line managers. I set up an internal New Team Lead Growth Programme: a three-month structured foundation for new managers. I didn’t want to wait two years to find out who would thrive and who would struggle, especially while hiring aggressively and guaranteeing 80%+ quarterly delivery.

Phase 3: Ignition

The aha moment: when PlatoHQ changed its compensation policy to zero and I decided to leave, one of my mentees said he wanted to keep going, and pay for it.

Seven weeks later I had three more clients from my close network. My heart raced the day I got my first payment.

By mid-2022 things got tricky. Day job + evening coaching. I saw the worry in my wife’s eyes. I was a millimetre from burnout. I had to choose.

The defining moment

June 2022:

  • Current job: I loved my VPE role at Mews.
  • Side gig: four billable clients in the evenings. Inside I felt the pull to build my own venture as a 6-month experiment.
  • New offer: to validate market value, I ended up with an offer of ~€230k/y compensation package (salary + bonus + stocks) for a full-time division lead role in Czech Republic.

Half my family said stay on the regular-job trajectory: the war, cost-of-living crisis, uncertainty. They were brilliant at constructing reasons not to start. The other half was supportive.

Marian Kamenistak standing in front of a brick wall, hands together, smiling.
Standing on the decision that ended a €230k offer and started this venture.

Meanwhile I researched hard. I saw the scene: people who got famous for a single topic, people relentlessly active on social, people refurbishing others’ content, people selling books or certificates.

From my learning habit, I saw:

  • how Gergely’s Pragmatic Engineer newsletter had traction,
  • how sharp and inspirational Will Larson’s Irrational Exuberance was,
  • how tight Jade Rubick’s weekly newsletter courses were,
  • how spot-on John Cutler’s Beautiful Mess scenarios were,

Together, these signalled there IS a way to build a solo venture on unique perspectives with a balanced (not manic) social presence. Close to my nature.

The click

One Saturday morning, listening to a podcast by Ondrej Kobersky about stock investment: he explained why timing the market is a poor idea. Compare that to consistent investment through good and bad years: the consistent approach wins.

It clicked with my venture situation of waiting to gain a competitive advantage instead of persisting to invest regularly despite unfavourable indications. Iterative discovery.

I made my lifetime decision in a second: I turned down the €230k role and gave notice.

Y1 lessons: what worked

  1. Niche beats breadth. “Engineering leadership mentoring, CEE roots, EN/CZ/SK” was specific enough for word-of-mouth to work.
  2. Word-of-mouth is the funnel. 74% of paid mentees came from previous mentees or ex-colleagues. Building a real community (ELC meetups) fed this.
  3. Free intro calls, no upfront payments. Removed all buying friction. If we’re not a fit, no money changes hands.
  4. Feedback score at every session. From Jan 2023 I asked for a 1-10 rating after every session. The 9.03 average IS the sales pitch.
  5. Write. Consistently. Blog posts + LinkedIn built the top-of-funnel that word-of-mouth couldn’t cover.
  6. The advisory revenue paid the rent. 79 days × €1,550-2,100 kept the cash flow steady while mentoring compounded slowly.
  7. Don’t wait to feel ready. Iterative discovery beats timing the market. Every time.

What I’d do differently

  • Start writing 2 years earlier. The compounding effect on inbound funnel is enormous. Every post is an asset that keeps working.
  • Invest in the meetup community faster. ELC is now the most valuable long-term asset. I could have built it earlier.
  • Say no more. In year one I said yes to almost every intro call. Half of them weren’t fit. I burned time I should have spent on writing or product.
  • Price higher, sooner. I started at €150/hr and grew to €300+. Should have started at €300.

If you’re considering a similar move: don’t romanticise it, but don’t wait either. The market will not signal “now”. You have to invest through the uncertainty. And if you want to talk through your specific situation, book a free 30-min intro. No sales pitch.

Frequently asked

How much can you earn mentoring full time in year one?+
300,000 EUR in my first year, from 317 billed mentoring sessions plus 79 advisory days. Advisory billed at 1,550 to 2,100 EUR a day and paid the rent while mentoring compounded slowly. The mentoring came from 26 mentees across 16 companies or individuals, 81% company-funded.
How do you get your first paying mentoring clients?+
Word of mouth carried 74% of my first-year mentees, social media 17%, the website 9%. The first paying one was a mentee who asked to keep going and pay for it after PlatoHQ cut mentor compensation to zero. Three more came from my close network within seven weeks.
What qualifications do you need to become a full-time mentor?+
A niche you have lived in beats a certificate. Mine was engineering leadership with CEE roots in English, Czech and Slovak, backed by 14 years of coding and a VPE seat scaling Mews past 100 engineers. That specificity is what made word of mouth work.
Is leaving a VP of Engineering role for solo mentoring worth it?+
I turned down a 230k EUR package for it, and year one came in at 300,000 EUR revenue. That covered 317 billed sessions, 26 mentees, a 9.03 out of 10 average rating and 76% conversion after intro calls. What I would change is the timing: start writing two years earlier.

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