Mentors are guides who can help you with a shared experience. Tricky decisions can be talked through and played out on paper. Mentorships come about through relationships and favors, but a mentor doesn’t usually have skin in the game. At the end of the day, you are on your own.

Allies are people who have aligned interests where a particular outcome is mutually beneficial to both of you. If those interests diverge, then the alliance won’t last. That’s how alliances work.

Co-conspirators are in it together. You conspire together, plan together, lose together, and win together. The plan only works if you trust each other and work together hand in hand.

Seek out co-conspirators who have the same values as you. You need people with skin in the game when things get tough or when things go well.