Stephanie Schomer | Page 5

Rockets of Awesome founder Rachel Blumenthal had found a valuable mentor in Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures. And when Green invested in Blumenthal's business, their relationship only got stronger.

Naomi Kelman is the CEO of Willow, a sleek breast pump that launched earlier this year. To get it just right, she and her team surveyed moms across the country.

Sophie Kahn founded Aurate while she was still working full-time at Marc Jacobs. And it was all her boss's idea.

Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson had a plan in place -- it just didn't involve launching a startup. Here's how they found the guts to follow their passion and launch custom-fit shoe company Margaux.

Priti Krishtel applied to the Echoing Green Fellowship to help her nonprofit, I-MAK, get off the ground. But she got more than she bargained for when she found a lifelong mentor.

Lauren Kleban's fitness classes are beloved by Hollywood tastemakers, but she found a larger audience by filming and streaming her content.

Entrepreneurs share their smart (and sometimes painfully simple) approaches to finding out how to better serve their customers.

Bunny and Taran Ghatrora looked outside their network and industry to connect with a mentor who could help take them from point A to B.

Dana Pollack knew her macarons were different from others on the market. She just had to make sure her potential customers knew what set them apart.

The founder of K Period Media has a sisterly relationship with her mentor, who's been a support system and close friend for 12 years.

Karen John's startup, Heartwork, creates sleek, functional office furniture. But before she launched, she had to focus her idea, support its development and ignore her family's advice.

As co-founder and CEO of Orchard Mile, Jennie Baik wants to change the way we shop in the digital age. And her co-founder and close advisor, Morty Singer, helps her separate the big issues from the tiny hurdles.

After an entrepreneurial failure, Miko Branch launched a new business out of necessity -- and identified a lucrative, underserved market in the haircare industry.

Aimee Kestenberg launched her eponymous handbag line in 2012, with her husband, Sean Elan, as her business partner. Together, they find balance between her creative, visual thinking and his business-minded brain.

Co-founder Rosie O'Neill looks back on the early days of building the brand with her now-fiancé: "All of the stories of how we found this concept are wound up in our love story."

GoldieBlox founder and CEO Debbie Sterling wanted to keep her mentor as close as possible -- so she hired her to be president of the company.

Lara Mead, co-founder of athleisure brand Varley, quit her job and sold her house -- and it paid off.

Ariel Kaye is building a fast-growing bedding and bath brand, and she gets welcome reminders from Kelly Mullens Brown, a marketing and strategy pro, to take time for self-care.

At 18, Amanda Zuckerman co-founded dorm décor brand Dormify with her mom. Now, she's a 27-year-old creative director for the fast-growing brand she build from the ground up.

Just Speak founder Brittni Kellom has no shortage of passion for her organization's mission, but she looks to her mentor for wisdom and guidance.

Absolut Art CEO Nahema Mehta turned her rent-to-own art startup into a profitable reality thanks to sheer persistence.

B-360 founder Brittany Young is a self-described optimist who always expects the best. So her mentor helps her manage expectations and navigate when things go wrong.

Lily and Hopie Stockman transformed their long-distance art project into a fast-growing business -- by not heeding advice from Harvard Business School and staying true to their vision for a socially-minded brand.

Sophia co-founder Eva Breitenbach leans on her mentor, a fellow MIT alumna, to expand her network and find her own answers to her questions.

Knix founder Joanna Griffiths built a company to serve women -- all women. When her wholesale partners were failing her customers, she made a drastic pivot.

Follain's Tara Foley started with zero experience in starting a clean beauty business -- but support from her mentor Jodie McLean, CEO of real estate company Edens, helped open doors.

Before she launched Create & Cultivate, Jaclyn Johnson founded No Subject, a marketing and events firm. But she never intended to be the boss.

Savitude founder and serial entrepreneur Camilla Olson talks about what it's like to be an older female entrepreneur, and how she leans on her mentor for support and to hear 'I'm not crazy.'

Michelle Kennedy took her expertise as a leader in the swipe-right dating world and created Peanut, a networking app for moms.

To implement successful advertising and social media campaigns in the franchise world, franchisors and franchisees must communicate, collaborate and cooperate.