Forget Advisors -- How to Find and Woo a Power Mentor Power Mentors are super successful people who can offer startups a long-view perspective and wide network of contacts and resources. Here are some tips on how to find them.

They're the power mentors--those individuals who have achieved the highest levels of success and can offer startups a long-view perspective and wide network of contacts and resources.

For the founders of Crunchyroll, a San Francisco-based platform for Japanese anime and Asian content, that guidance came in the form of former Hulu CTO Eric Feng, who is helping them carve a niche in the competitive online premium video sector. Crunchyroll's CEO, Kun Gao, says having access to Feng's experience and vision is "like shining a spotlight on the path so we don't waste resources going down a path that might not work."

Finding and enlisting a mentor--one with the experience, connections and coaching ability you crave--is not easy, especially if you're not in an entrepreneurial hotbed like Silicon Valley or New York City. Connecting with and impressing them requires equal parts sleuthing, networking and chutzpah. Here are some tips learned from business founders who went all out to line up the guidance they needed.