You want a GrowthMentor membership. Your company almost certainly has a learning or development budget sitting there, half unspent. The only thing between the two is one email you have not written yet. So I wrote it for you. Copy it, paste it, tweak the bits in brackets, and hit send.
I have watched hundreds of members do this. The ones who get a yes are not the ones with the cleverest argument. They are the ones who make it a five-second decision for their manager. That is the entire job of the templates below. They frame the membership as a company win, they are specific, and they are short enough that your boss actually reads them.
What you're actually asking them to pay for
Before you hit send, it helps to know what you are asking your manager to fund. Not a pile of courses. This: unlimited 1:1 calls with a full roster of vetted operators, and most of them free to book. Here is who is on the other end.
The full roster
The three things that turn a maybe into a yes
- Make it about the company, not you. Managers approve things that make the team better, not perks for one person. Lead with what you will do with it and what changes as a result.
- Be specific and small. Name the exact thing, name the exact cost, and put it next to something bigger. A membership where most mentors are free is a rounding error compared to one course or one conference ticket.
- Point at the budget that already exists. Most teams have a learning or development budget that goes underused every year. You are not asking for new money. You are asking to use money already set aside for exactly this.
The copy-paste templates
Pick the one closest to your role, swap in the brackets, and send. Each one is built to get read and approved in the thirty seconds your manager actually has.
Copy-paste · Marketer
Subject: Quick ask, a tool that pays for itself
Hi [Manager],
I want to get sharper at [growth / paid / lifecycle / SEO] faster, and I found the most direct way to do it. GrowthMentor is a membership that gives me unlimited 1:1 calls with vetted marketers who have already done the exact thing I am working on. Not a course I will half-finish, and not a chatbot. Real operators I can book the same week I hit a wall.
Concretely, this month I would use it for [the specific thing, e.g. fixing our paid CAC, setting up lifecycle emails, our SEO plan]. Most mentors are free to book, so the membership runs [$X], which is less than [one course / one conference ticket / an hour of an agency's time].
Can I expense it out of our [learning / development] budget? Happy to share what I pull from the first few calls.
Thanks,
[You]
Copy-paste · Product / SaaS
Subject: Expensing a mentorship membership, quick context
Hi [Manager],
I keep hitting decisions on [onboarding / activation / pricing / roadmap] where I would kill for a second opinion from someone who has already shipped it. GrowthMentor gives me exactly that: unlimited 1:1 calls with product people and founders who have built and scaled the thing I am staring at. I can book the right specialist for the specific problem, the same week it comes up.
First thing I would take to it is [specific decision]. Most mentors are free, so the whole membership is [$X], which is a fraction of what we would spend guessing wrong on it.
Can this come out of the [learning / development] budget? I will report back on what it changed.
Thanks,
[You]
Copy-paste · Wearing many hats
Subject: Cheapest way to make me better at all of this
Hey [Manager],
My job is basically ten jobs right now, and I am learning most of them by guessing. GrowthMentor lets me book unlimited 1:1 calls with people who have actually done each of those jobs, so instead of a YouTube rabbit hole at midnight I get thirty minutes with someone who already solved it. Different specialist for whatever this week's fire is.
Most mentors are free, so the membership is [$X]. That is the cheapest way I can think of to level up fast without pulling you into every question.
Can I put it on the [learning / development] budget?
Thanks,
[You]
Copy-paste · The 30-second version
Hi [Manager], I want to expense a GrowthMentor membership. It is unlimited 1:1 calls with vetted operators who have done the exact work I am doing, most of them free to book, so it comes to [$X] out of our development budget. I would use it this week for [specific thing]. Good to go ahead?
Pick your closer
How you end the email depends on your manager and your nerve. Steal whichever line fits.
- The straight one. "It is [$X] a month, most mentors are free, and I will use it this week. Can I expense it?"
- The ROI one. "One good call could save us a wasted [ad budget / bad hire / rebuilt feature]. The membership costs less than a team lunch."
- The honest one. "I will be straight, I want this. But I would not ask if I did not think it would make my work better, and it is cheaper than anything else on the training menu."
- The cheeky one. "Worst case, I get smarter and slightly more insufferable at standup. Best case, I stop guessing on [X]. Both seem fine for you."
Extra ammo, if they push back
Drop any of these into the thread if your manager wants more before they say yes.
- Mentors are vetted hard. Fewer than one in twenty applicants get accepted, so you are not booking a random from the internet.
- It is real experience, not content. Tens of thousands of sessions have been booked since 2018 with operators who have worked at companies you would recognize.
- Most mentors are free, and if one has set a rate you see it before you book. No surprises on the invoice.
- Calls are unlimited. It is not one session, it is as many as I will use, with a different specialist for each problem.
- It is flexible. If it is not pulling its weight, we cancel. Low risk to try.
That vetting is the whole reason it is not just another random from the internet. Here is what the filter actually looks like.
Every application read by Foti. Fewer than five in a hundred get in.
If a few of you want in
One note for the manager reading this over your shoulder. If more than one person on the team wants a membership, do not approve them one at a time. There is a team plan: a seat per person, unlimited calls each, and everyone matched to whatever they are working on. It is per seat with volume discounts, and most mentors are still free to book. It is usually the easier line item to approve, and it takes the whole team off guessing at once.
Covering more than one person? Look at the team plan.
GrowthMentor Teams gives everyone their own seat with unlimited 1:1 calls, matched to their role. Per-seat pricing, volume discounts, and most mentors are free to book.
Getting it expensed, answered
The email is written. All that is left is your part.
Send the email. Then go meet the mentors
your company just paid for.
Unlimited 1:1 calls with vetted founders and operators, most of them free to book. See who is on the other end before you send that email.
See what a membership includesKeep reading
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