Study of 4,508 mentoring sessions: expert disagreement acts as an anti-commitment device for startups
joshgans · x · 2026-11-12
Amir Sariri and Luca Gius release a working paper, The Effect of Disagreement on Learning: Evidence from Business Mentoring, using data from the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator: 1,762 startups, 4,508 mentoring sessions, 13,148 objective records.
Key findings:
- Mentors disagree on at least one objective in over 70% of sessions
- Disagreement raises by 40%+ the likelihood founders pursue a different kind of activity than planned
- About two-thirds of the shift is a step back from costlier, more committing activities (e.g., launching a product) toward low-cost analysis (e.g., market research)
- Objectives finalized after disagreement get completed at least as often; associations with less mentor support and investment interest aren't confirmed causally
- The most intense public disagreements are followed by more ventures dropping from the program, without more reorientation
Conclusion: expert disagreement works as an anti-commitment device, prompting ventures to reconsider commitments and return to analysis.
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