Startup mentorship platform Startup Science has announced the acquisition of Sphere, the mentorship methodology and technology created by Colin Christensen. Simultaneously, the company launched its new Advisors module, a system designed to provide structured and phase-appropriate mentorship to founders across the platform.
The development comes at a time when startup mentorship and accelerator access continue to remain highly competitive. While mentored startups survive at twice the rate of non-mentored companies, nearly 97% of founders who apply to accelerator programs fail to secure entry. As a result, many early-stage entrepreneurs struggle to access experienced guidance during critical growth phases.
Through the acquisition, Startup Science aims to address this challenge by creating a scalable mentorship infrastructure for startup founders, entrepreneurs, venture-backed companies, and innovation-driven businesses. The company stated that the advisory ecosystem for startups remains massive yet largely unstructured. Currently, an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 mentors and advisors actively support startups across the United States through informal networks and introductions, which many founders cannot easily access.
Moreover, while platforms such as Fiverr connect businesses with freelancers and contractors, Startup Science believes the startup ecosystem lacks a dedicated infrastructure specifically built for founder mentorship and advisory services. Consequently, the Startup Science Advisors system seeks to bridge that gap by introducing structure, accountability, and intelligent matching into the mentorship process.
Colin Christensen developed Sphere after mentoring more than 2,500 entrepreneurs across five continents. Throughout his work, he trained mentors through translators in communities where entrepreneurship serves as a key pathway out of poverty. In addition, he collaborated with tier 1 VC firms in Riyadh, helping venture-backed founders scale deep tech businesses.
Importantly, Christensen identified a recurring issue within the startup ecosystem: founders need immediate guidance for the problems directly impacting their businesses instead of generalized courses that fail to address urgent operational challenges.
“The mentor-entrepreneur relationship is the most sacred, the most important one in this ecosystem,” said Christensen, now Head of Advisory at Startup Science. “Whether a founder is selling salsa in Honduras or scaling AI in the Middle East, the fundamentals are the same. The difference is whether they have a system to work through those fundamentals with a mentor or whether they are doing it alone.”
The newly launched Advisors module matches startup founders with mentors based on their startup lifecycle phase, business expertise, and operational goals. Furthermore, mentors can monitor founder progress between sessions, track deliverables and outcomes, and manage larger advisory practices without losing continuity or context.
At the same time, founders remain engaged between mentorship sessions through structured check-ins, reducing the communication gaps that often emerge in traditional advisory relationships. Startup Science designed the platform to scale startup mentorship similarly to how Upwork transformed freelance work by introducing infrastructure, matching systems, workflow management, and accountability into a previously fragmented market.
“Colin has experience in startup advisory that is distinct and deeper than anyone on our team, including me,” said Gregory Shepard, founder and CEO of Startup Science. “That is exactly the kind of expertise you acquire, not replicate.”
The Advisors module is currently live on the company’s official platform at Startup Science Advisors.
However, the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.
As startup ecosystems continue to expand globally, structured mentorship and founder support systems are becoming increasingly critical for entrepreneurial success. With the acquisition of Sphere and the launch of the Advisors module, Startup Science is positioning itself to strengthen startup mentorship infrastructure and improve access to expert guidance for founders worldwide.
