<![CDATA[Objective: This study investigates how structured mentoring interventions can bridge the critical gap between technological invention and market-validated innovation, addressing the persistently high mortality rate of early-stage ventures trapped in the entrepreneurial "valley of death." Research Design & Methods: Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, this research conducted a 13-month observation of mentoring sessions for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) practitioners within an entrepreneurial community, culminating in a national entrepreneurship mentoring event. The study specifically analyzed the integration of Design Thinking, focusing on the empathy and definition modes, alongside the Business Model Canvas (BMC) as diagnostic mentoring tools. Findings: The findings reveal that nascent founders frequently exhibit a competency deficit, disproportionately prioritizing unvalidated product assumptions over genuine customer needs. By enforcing a structured, architecture-first mentoring approach, mentors successfully cultivated problem-solution fit. Crucially, this intervention drove a profound cognitive shift, moving mentees from prescriptive dependency to autonomous, analytically rigorous problem-solving. Implications & Recommendations: Incubators and business support systems must shift from generic advice to structural intervention. Institutions should prioritize an architecture-first mentoring approach to prove a venture's viability before providing funding or scaling resources. Contribution & Value Added: This paper contributes to the entrepreneurial literature by introducing the novel "Skeleton Mentoring Model," a reductionist framework positing that sustainable growth requires establishing a robust operational architecture before attempting to scale. It also identifies Diagnostic Adaptability as a critical mentor competency, highlighting the need for future research to standardize and certify entrepreneurship mentor criteria.]]>
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