This is the fifth installment of the series of weekly blog posts written by Jenny Walsh, intern and office mate of John Duffy, 3Cinteractive’s Founder and CEO . This series takes a look at the inner workings of 3Ci and mobile marketing from a fresh perspective.

I had a different learning experience from what I’ve been used to so far. I usually write about something Duff explained to me, but this time I got to sit back and watch Duff mentor someone else for a change.

Duff had a meeting with a guy who wanted to start new technology business. Duff, who has started several successful businesses, was helping prepare this guy for what to expect. Its obvious Duff really enjoys mentoring people. He’s always willing to offer advice and has mentored a bunch of the guys here.

Duff started off by peppering the guy with questions. I think he was purposely trying to throw this guy off his game to see how he would respond. He wanted to make sure this guy considered all the aspects of starting a business. “Do you have any experience managing people? What are your weaknesses? What does your budget look like?”

It dawned on me that I should remember the questions Duff was asking because I hope one day I might be the person sitting on the couch getting grilled.

After the inquisition, Duff turned to giving some advice. He stressed the importance of having a good infrastructure, great people, sufficient money, and experienced mentors. He also talked about having a good elevator pitch, which my dad previously explained to me, was a thirty-second overview of your business, to draw in potential customers or investors. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t sound easy. But as Duff likes to say, “Even successful entrepreneurs have scar tissue but they have learned from those experiences and become better”. Hopefully this guy will heed some of Duff’s advice so he can avoid some of the more painful scars.

Pictured, from left to right: John Sculley, Jenny Walsh, and John Duffy